Re: Sydney - tramway relics

[billboltonREMOVE-TO-EMAIL@computer.org (Bill Bolton)]

"Ronald BESDANSKY" <ronbest@bigpond.com> wrote:

> There are some steel plates, about 300 mm square, with "bumps" on them,
> located just outside where the tramway was in various streets. I have heard
> various stories that they have something to do with track drains or rail
> bonding. Anybody know what they were, and why are they still there when the
> track was lifted 40 years ago?

They are found where tramway pointwork was located. The majority of
Sydney tramway points were basically railway style "rail constructed"
points buried in the street rather than the otherwise common cast
"switch/switch" or "switch/mate" set up.  This was basically a product
of Railway control of the Tramway system for so many years, especially
over the period when construction standards were established.

Sydney tramway points had a fairly significant cavity under the street
for the changing mechanism and those square plates are associated in
some way with that cavity.

I'm not sure of their exact purpose but the fact that they are found
at locations where there were tramway junctions or crossovers and that
they remain may indicate they were drain covers for the points cavity,
or similar, and still protect something useful in the street drainage
system.

Cheers,

Bill