Intransportdownunder@..., Paul of Melbourne reminds us that
today (Sun.24.3.13) is the 45th anniversary of a memorable TMSV trip
(Sun.24.3.68) to Bendigo.
Some magazines mark 25, 50, 75...; mine marks 10, 20, 30... Normally I
don't bother about 45ths. How many people remember their 45th wedding
anniversary? How many remember their 45th birthday? Surprisingly, I do:
friends invited to a mystery dinner, which turned out to be a cruising
restaurant, which sank before the third course was served.
I chased partly as an economy measure: my budget was recovering from a 6
week grand tour of Queensland by train. The Honda 90 wasn't yet a year old.
This may have been its longest trip to date, but that was soon eclipsed when
I chased the ARHS Easter tour to Yelta and Tailem Bend. My motorcycle was
bought to commute to university, not to head to bodgie/widgie dances (or
even jazzers vs rockers; I was an early 1960s teenager). I had brinylon
waterproof gear, not leather, and no boots. Paul would be tickled to
discover that I had kangaroo-fur mittens rather than leather gloves.
IIRC this was the day when Paul was grabbing soundbites of the Victorian
drawl on a Phillips portable reel-to-reel taperecorder so that he could
export the accent to a Sydney radio station, a forerunner of today's
one-size-fits-all national tv broadcasting. I didn't witness the water
pistol fight. With a historic vehicle, I guess that no lightbulbs were
removed from fittings for the journey home.
RM55 really struggled up some of those grades; IIRC 3 h to Bendigo nonstop.
Chasing was easy.
I thought that I had scanned and posted the day already: not so. The only
two online were done for pub and cinema groups. Here is one with easy
access:
680324Su-24-Bendigo-Birney29-TerminusHotel-RSmith-s.jpg
http://tdu.to/30118.att
I found that I had scanned the rest, apparently from negatives (which were
half-frame ones). Hence the contrast is poor, and lots of blemishes get
scanned too. Enclosed are the first three to be neatened. The second one
was a crop from just a small portion of a negative, so the quality is
lacking. Paul (and others) may well be able to identify many of the people.
I am guessing Noel Gipps in the first photo.
I thought that there was a good Honda song, but not so. Everything which I
can find is in 'rap' style: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbBDAImlUvc
I suspect that I was recalling 'Little deuce coupe':
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phucfa-oydU
Nothing beats 'Merry Oldsmobile': www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFruHQJeaRg (a
version which is over 100 years old now)
Aha, Paul's motorcycle images were derived from 'Born to be Wild':
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJS8j9YYB9w
This has now morphed into a version on electric mobility scooters: 'Born to
be mild':
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkUsnTZEGzk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3TmNvHzgA0
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor
Intransportdownunder@..., pn1 <pn1@...> wrote...Today marks the
45th anniversary of a memorable TMSV tour to Bendigo...Travel to Bendigo was
in a special train 55RM and Yarra parlor car...The tram tour was a convoy of
the four serviceable Birneys; 11, 28, 29 and 30...Basil Miller, the
legendary and flamboyant senior inspector was "in charge" of the tram
convoy, resplendent in his black uniform...Traffic staff of course wore a
green uniform with a khaki shirt and tan jumper...Roderick chased the tour
on his motor scooter but I can't recall if he was resplendent in his black
denim trousers and motor cycle boots...Bob Prentice WAS the TMSV in those
days...There was an element of exuberance in the tour - in the form of a
water pistol "fight"...On that day, Birney 15 was languishing derelict at
the back of the depot (accident damage). It was restored and returned to
service in the tourist tram era. The other Birney, 27, had been sold but was
recovered and is now a prized possession of AETM at St Kilda (being a former
MTT Adelaide tram)...Paul in Melbourne