Dick Jones' photo of Ballarat tram No.35 at Sebastopol terminus
http://tdu.to/41896.att reminded me of another photo taken at the same
location.
My picture http://tdu.to/31146.att shows Ballarat No. 32 at Sebastopol
terminus with the driver and also Hugh Ballment and Bob Young.
Bob Young was a good friend, a fellow AETA and SPER member and a resident
of Northbridge where I lived from 1939 until 1964. Bob lived in Strathallen
Avenue and his home would have been passed until the mid thirties by the
Northbridge trams. In 1949, I bought 'my first wheels' -- an Italian
Lambretta motor scooter from the first Sydney dealer, the hardware store of
Nock and Kirbys at George & Market Streets. I once took Bob for a short
trip as a pillion passenger on the Lambretta scooter. (attached).
During the several years before I bought my first car in 1954 -- A Morris
Minor - later to be equipped with a tram gong (attached) , I went on
several longer journeys by motor scooter to Wollongong (via Loftus,
Waterfall and Bulli Pass) and to Newcastle via Gosford and Swansea in April
1950. The trip to Newcastle was via the old Pacific Highway which entered
the Newcastle suburbs at the Adamstown tram terminus.
Two days were spent photographing trams in Newcastle with an overnight stay
at the Newcastle station RRR (accommodation booked from home via the NSWR
phone system). The motor scooter was parked overnight at the garage of the
District Signals Engineer, a building which still stands just north of the
buffer stops at Newcastle station.
One of my Newcastle pictures shows the motor scooter parked at the road side
while I photographed 'LP'tram No. 285 in Belford Street, Hamilton.
(attached).
The demise of the motor scooter came several years later when I was riding
along Pacific Highway, Crows Nest. near the Mater Hospital. It had been
raining in the morning and I rode the scooter too close to the wet tram
line, resulting in a low speed wobble and skid and a slide along the road
while the motor scooter suffered terminal damage with the fracture of the
front steering assembly.
So endeth the story,
Noel Reed.
_____
From:TramsDownUnder@... [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, 3 June 2014 2:22 PM
To:TramsDownUnder@...
Subject: Re: TrolleyWire 'Hats'. [was RE: [TramsDownUnder] Skokie swift].
Lovely photo Dick.
Regards,
Peter Bruce.
From: mailto:[email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2014 7:08 AM
To: mailto:[email protected]
Subject: RE: TrolleyWire 'Hats'. [was RE: [TramsDownUnder] Skokie swift]. [1
Attachment]
Hi Mick, Noel and all
The best way to reduce arcing when changing trolley poles is probably the
way we do it at STM and no doubt other museums do the same but of course, we
have an interest in protecting our trams and overhead wiring from arcing. We
do not change the pole on single pole cars while the compressor is running
and on double pole cars, the former leading pole is raised before the other
pole is lowered.
With normal tramway operations, using paid employees, there would generally
be little thought given to following this procedure, as many would not worry
about protecting the equipment and the "hats" would be of some use, as long
as the tram was stopped at the correct location (see photo).
Changing poles in darkness and when the sun is in your eyes is a problem,
which could be solved by the "hats" though.
Regards
Dick
From:TramsDownUnder@... [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, 2 June 2014 8:38 PM
To:TramsDownUnder@...
Subject: TrolleyWire 'Hats'. [was RE: [TramsDownUnder] Skokie swift].
Hi Mick,
They must have been very worried about air raids in Melbourne and on the
other SEC tramways to have needed 'hats' on the trolley wire at a terminus.
Sydney never had inverted Vees (Hats) on the tram overhead wires. In the
early forties, I remember brownouts, practice blackouts and genuine
blackouts in Sydney during WW2,
A real blackout happened when the Japanese midget submarines entered Sydney
Harbour and sank the Sydney ferry 'Kuttabul'. Our family lived at
Northbridge from the forties until the sixties. I well remember the gunfire
and noise of depth charges which we heard during that night.
One of the midget submarines was later recovered from the harbour and placed
on display in a small park at the end of Bennelong Point, directly behind
Fort Macquarie tram depot.
The comparatively thin steel of the submarine had been shredded by the depth
charges and its hull ripped wide open.
Several tram routes to Sydney coastal suburbs were in direct view from the
sea, such as at Clovelly. http://tdu.to/20675.att pictured during an
AETA tram tour after the Royal Tour by the Queen and Duke in 1954.
If the conductor missed the trolley wire when changing ends during a
blackout , the resulting arcs would be easily seen from the sea.
Noel Reed.
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>
From:TramsDownUnder@... [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, 2 June 2014 6:50 PM
To:TramsDownUnder@...
Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Skokie swift
Gday Noel
The inverted Vs were called hats in Melb
AFAIK, they were put up during the 2nd WW to stop arcing being visible from
above.
Dont want to make it too easy for the Jap bombers.
They were removed in the skid days because some naughty drivers let the pole
fly up into them and bust the carbon inserts
Cheers, Mick, who remembers one at Camberwell term.
----- Original Message -----
From: mailto:[email protected]%20%5bTramsDownUnder%5d
To:TramsDownUnder@...
Cc:LRPPro@...
Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2014 11:41 PM
Subject: RE: [TramsDownUnder] Skokie swift
Thanks Dudley,
The CNS&M interurban ran with several cars in multiple unit and the Electro
Liners had two trolley poles. I would not think that they would want to stop
at the changeover locations, so they must have had several conductors on the
trains to attend to the ropes. I assume that they would have trolley
retrievers to avoid damage in the event of a de-wirement at high speed.
If they were able to handle several trolley poles at speed both in daylight
and night on the CNS&M , why did tramways in Melbourne and the provincial
SEC tramways in Victoria need 'inverted vees' at each terminus ?
Noel Reed.
PS Were the Electro Liners air conditioned ? Pictures I have seen don't show
any open windows with passengers looking out.
_____
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