Greg, This is a real problem, and yes it wouldn't have been an issue in the days of the M&MTB. Apparently there are 30 or 40 trams out of service with buggered wheels because of this. I experienced it first hand when out photographing a week or two back in your old stamping ground, on a hill on route 57 in Racecourse Road inbound between Moonee Ponds Creek to Boundary Road.. I watched 3 Z3 trams in succession take minutes to climb this short hill. There were sand and leaves on the track. The worst took over 5 minutes to cover the 300 metres from the creek to the top of the hill (there is a tram stop and a set of lights which took up a minute or two of this). Wheels were spinning, sparks flying, then the tram lost power, and it would start again. I haven't seen anything like it ever. Here is a series of 6 photos of Z3 186 having problems over a period of 5 minutes to illustrate this, two attached to each email. Greg I'm sure will be able to explain them RegardsJohn Wayman To:TramsDownUnder@...
From:transitclassics@...
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2011 10:14:38 +0000
Subject: [TramsDownUnder] Re: Melbourne: Dirty Tracks Could Shock You
What shocking story!! There is obviously a union agenda (which may not be a bad thing) probably to get more work for the "suck truck".
All that aside, the system would be a lot better off if they had kept 10 and 11W on the job, manned with operators that cared for the job and not flunkies that were put there, "out of the way" by the union. I remember the driver of 11W bragging that he just ran water and never used the blocks! They also refused to change the blocks. I offered to do the job myself (and demonstrated it could be done properly from Sth Bank depot to Pt Melb) but they (YT) were not interested. Now we have this crap. The silly thing about it is, as it would take all 8 wheels of a Z, A, C, D1 or W (more for D2 and C2 of course) to be insulated, the chances are so remote as to be non existant, I remember back in Sth Melb days, taking an A "out the back" to the per way yard, desperately trying to get it insulated (as an aside, it may have been the last car that far up that track for those who remember it) and, finally succeeding where the track virtually disappeared under mounds of dirt and sand, just to demonstrate to students how to un-stick the beast.
When Ron Sholten and I ran a W2 tour the length of Holden St where we banged over mounds of tar layed over parts of the track and the grooves were filled with crap, we never got stuck, same for taking 340 and later 840 around Cualfied station loop that was up to the rail head with rubbish, did not even look like getting insultated.
A lot of wind about nothing.
Greg
--- InTramsDownUnder@..., John Wayman <john.wayman@...> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> This is from today's The Age newspaper Dirty tracks could shock you: union Clay Lucas June 17, 2011NEGLECT of Melbourne's tram system could lead to a passenger getting an electric shock, the union representing tram workers has warned.Last week Yarra Trams issued an internal notice to maintenance staff about the danger of electrocution from dirty tracks in tram depots reducing the insulation from electric shock.The Rail, Tram and Bus Union's tram secretary Phil Altieri said the problem of ''grossly dirty tracks'' was far more widespread across the city and not just a problem in tram depots. Broken rails also reduced insulation from electric shock.Advertisement: Story continues below <iframe id="dcAd-1-3" src="http://ad-apac.doubleclick.net/adi/onl.age.news/national/victoria;cat=national;ctype=article;cat1=victoria;pos=3;sz=300x250;tile=3;ord=2.6584842E7?" width='300' height='250' scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0"> < /iframe> ''It means that someone getting on or off a tram, hanging onto the tram, they could get zapped with 600 volts,'' Mr Altieri said.Yarra Trams spokesman Colin Tyrus conceded a passenger could get a shock but only in ''extremely rare circumstances''.
>
> Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/dirty-tracks-could-shock-you-union-20110616-1g60k.html#ixzz1PW88A2i8 CheersJohn Wayman
>