The 3 Sydney photos relating to the 1954 Royal Visit raise some interesting points of interest.

1951 still exists, although long ago lost its blue and white colours. By 1976 the late Graham Beller had bought it, maybe from Joadja, and housed it inside a shed on his property at Moss Vale for some years before it went to Loftus, and later Bendigo for restoration (which did not quite happen). Thus it could have in theory been used again for Royal purposes. For me, it was the only Sydney tram I ever drove on government metals, a few tram lengths inside Randwick Workshops after the system closure.

The photo of the R in cream with red trim I believe was taken at the terminus at The Spit (North Sydney lines). By comparing this with Noel Reed's two photos, it appears as though the crown on the roof is somewhat smaller than that on the other two trams which were on the main Sydney system. Many years ago I heard a tale from somebody who said they had inside contacts, who told them that when the tram was first delivered it was taken for a run to Wynyard (underground) tram station where clearance problems resulted in the crown being knocked off, although a second report indicated that the problem was realised sometime before disaster struck. Nevertheless the story could be true, as evidenced by the smaller crown on this car. At Wynyard the tracks were raised up on timber to make the tram boarding compatible with the height of platform built to railway standards, and the roof was not very high in this situation. After the visit, I think the cars continued in service without the crowns until repainted green and cream.

Regards,