As one of the more elderly members of the tramway historians, a small
contribution from me is to recall the non standard point mechanisms used in
the track "fan" at Fort Macquarie Depot.

Almost all non interlocked points on NSW tramways were equipped with below
street level 'bow and weight' mechanisms which were actuated by use of a
'point hook' through a slot between the rails. These mechanisms were
developed from the 'throw-over' type weighted levers commonly used for
points in railway sidings.

Throw-over levers were used for points at most tram depots and also for the
points in non street tracks such as those serving the Sydney Show Ground and
Cricket Ground areas as well as the tracks leading to and from the platforms
at Randwick Racecourse.

Fort Macquarie Depot was unusual for Sydney in the use of spring toggle
point mechanisms which are common in Melbourne and other tramways. The
points at Fort Macquarie Depot were designed for operation by a point bar to
lever them across, although I suspect that they may have sometimes been
actuated using the end of a point hook to change their setting. Point hooks
were standard equipment on NSW trams but point bars were not.

I attach a couple of pictures taken at Fort Macquarie Depot when 'R' class
trams were being removed from the depot in coupled pairs. These trams had
draw-bars intended for emergency towing only and did not have the 'tongue'
as used on 'O' class trams which were regularly coupled for multiple unit
operation. Similar towing of pairs of 'R' and 'R1' cars was used in the
final transfers from Dowling Street Depot to Randwick Workshops prior to
tramway closure.

Noel Reed. Old enough to remember some of these facts.

_____

From:TramsDownUnder@... [mailto:TramsDownUnder@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of Mal Rowe
Sent: Thursday, 3 March 2011 2:01 PM
To:TramsDownUnder@...
Subject: Re: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Fort Macquarie Depot

> Dudley Horscroft transitconsult@...

mailto:transitconsult%40ozemail.com.au > wrote:
>

> Well, I don't know what the original Fort Macquarie looked like (I don't

> suppose any of our more elderly members took a photo before it was

> demolished to provide space for the tram depot??) but the Fort Macquarie

> Tram Depot looked better, and was much more useful and beneficial to the

> lives of Sydney residents than the eyesore which replaced it.


See:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/powerhouse_museum/2362705173/
for the old fort.

Mal Rowe - who prefers the World Heritage listed Opera House to both former
structures

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