Don,

You are in error - Clyde and Comeng are not the same company. Comeng was previously Waddington's and was located on the northern side of the railway at Clyde. Clyde Engineering was located on the southern side and was previously Hudson Bros.

Bob M

----- Original Message -----
From: Don Campbell
To: TDU
Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2010 12:07 AM
Subject: [TramsDownUnder] 1954 Royal Visit Decorated Sydney Trams.

Ratting through the slike collection, I managed to locate a snap of one of the two cars painted white. Car 1951 is shown decending inbound in William St. Darlinghurst, bound for Queens Square. Note that all the Royal Visit stuff, the crowns, the EIIR cyphers etc. were all removed once the Queen has shot-through. The tramcars remained in their unique painted livery until their time came for the next paint job to fell due. For example, car 1951 was painted for the royal visit in 1954, and was repainted in back to standard colours in 1957. The small car numbers were introduced at about the time these decorated cars started running, and were some of the first car treated.

Questions have been asked about any identifying features to seperate pre-war and post-war R1-class cars. The range of car numbers of course is the best guide,

Clyde Engineering Co. - 1933 to 1987 built 1935-36 Pre-War
Commonwealth Engineering Co. - 1988 to 2087 built 1950-53 Post-War

Clyde and Commonwealth where in fact the same company, having had a name change during the war. The jigs used to fabricate the tramcar bodies started life in 1933 fabricating R-cars.

but there wereare identifiable differences in the interior. The post-war cars had smooth moulded Masonite ceilings, the pre-war cars had tongue and groove timber ceilings. The post-war cars had unpainted stainless-steel hand rails, the pre-war cars had handrails treated with white baked enamel, and lastly the driver's collapsible rests (seats) in each drivers cab had a wafer-thin padded cushion attached.

Regards,

Don Campbell in Sydney, who still writes with a biro. Doesn't everyone?