Hi Mal,
The vehicles still with poles and wheels would be the traversers at PWS!!
There are no cars left at North Melb, they were all shipped to Newport. None of the Newport cars will ever re-enter service in Melbourne no matter how much the dreamers in the National trust want it.
Any tram damaged is repalaced by a car from the "Iconic" fleet of 53, example, 842 was replaced by 862 when it was badly damaged by a truck and 862 by 961. The additional Resturant car came from the 53. nothing was ever said about any of those, of course this considerably reduces the 53, which it was YT want. There has never been a time since the general withdrawals of the W's that the entire 53 have been in service.
Cheers
Greg
> Hi Dudley,
>
> I'm not as quick off the mark as others, but do have some information to
> add ...
>
> > Query 1 - are there any operational cars with poles?
>
> Depends on what you mean by 'operational cars' ...
>
> W3 667 was the last tram to operate with a trolley pole in Melbourne
> when it was used in "The Pacific" filming.
> AFAIK it made the entire trip without de-wirement.
> See: http://tdu.to/14138.att?size=o
>
> If you want to include all electric vehicles on the Melbourne tramway
> system, then there are still vehicles with trolley poles in everyday
> service - and they have trolley wheels, not skids.
> ... I'll leave that hang as a tease for now! :-)
>
> > Query 2 - where are the stored Ws stored, and do they have poles? Are they ever likely to re-enter service?
>
> Stored at Newport, Preston and North Melbourne. Yes, they would mostly
> have poles. They may re-enter service. If it's in Melbourne it will be
> with pantographs. If it's on some other line - probably a museum - then
> perhaps with poles.
>
> Melbourne seems to have a policy of replacing any W tram with any body
> problems with a tram from storage ... it's easier than repairing wooden
> bodies.
>
> For example, 928 has been made into a "City Circle" tram after sitting
> at Preston for some time and has been waiting (at least since last
> September) to enter service.
>
> See: http://tdu.to/96634.msg
>
> ... and an update from last week:
> http://tdu.to/5016-862-928_PWS_26Feb2010.jpg
>
> Mal Rowe - in a city with trolley poles ... and trolley wheels ... in
> everyday service
>
