Re: Melbourne Double deckers

["Rod" <comtrain@mpx.com.au>]

Question Everything <skadin@big\"SpAm\"pond.com> wrote in message
HufU3.11614$we.18965@newsfeeds.bigpond.com">news:HufU3.11614$we.18965@newsfeeds.bigpond.com...
> Ummm. sorry, that is not the way that it happened.
>
> The main readon that the red rattlers were taken off the loop line, was
> that the had failure for all the lights in one of the cars.  There were
> 3-4 deaths that were directly attributable to this, and the RRs were
> taken off the loop lines.

I dont think that you are right here.
I was a Driver stationed at Eltham when the loops opened. A lot of
controversy started up in the Melbourne Sun, when some Reporter started
asking what would happen if the Red Rattlers caught fire in the loops. The
rattlers were pretty well imune to fires at this time, but we were losing
Blue trains and Silvers regularly to vandals at Resevoir, Thomastown and
Lalor.
Some trains were even burnt out in Service! It was quiet a sight to look in
your mirror and see your train on fire. Hurstbridge had a two car Tait Set
that plied between there and Eltham and sometimes beyond. It was burnt to
the chassis almost, and almost immediatly, bans were placed on them running
through the loops. It is my recollection that the reds actually outlasted
the Blues.
Rod
>
> I remeber this vividly, as the Clifton Hill line at one stage was a
> mixture of RRs and Harris trains.  The harris' were taken off slowly
> once the platform widening had completed so that Hitatchi's and Comengs
> could travel on the line.
>
> As the loop wasn't open then, they quickly replaced all the Hitatchi's
> and Comengs with RRs once again, when the ruling about RRs in the loop
> came into force.
>
> Not that I really complain about it.  Red Rattlers were the best to run
> on  for trains that were running express Clifton Hill to Princes Brigde
> (Depending on where the footy was on the weekend.  Jolimand and/or
> Victoria Park were stopped at as wel when games were there)
>
> Andrew
>
> Daniel Bowen wrote:
> >
> > James Brook <ajmbrook@ozemail.com.au> wrote in message
> > 38201E94.BC5CEBAE@ozemail.com.au">news:38201E94.BC5CEBAE@ozemail.com.au...
> > >     Can they only take 6 cars? That seems a bit short sighted of the
> > > designers, especially as they were running 7 car tait trains in the
70's.
> > > Anyway, I still think they should increase the frequency of trains.
Perth
> > > trains are only two cars but they are very frequent. I was in Perth in
> > 1993
> > > and during the peak period trains ran every 10 minutes on all lines.
> >
> > Taits were not intended to run through the loop. It happened once or
twice
> > when the loop opened in the early 80s, but it was never meant to happen.
> >
> > I remember riding a Harris through the loop, with the doors wide open
and
> > the lights not working. Very psychedelic!
> >
> > Daniel
> >
> > --
> > Daniel Bowen, Melbourne, Australia
> > dbowen at custard dot net dot au