On 13/04/2017 7:37 PM,prescottt@... [TramsDownUnder] wrote:
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> Trams have always tended to be all-door exchange in Australia but there was one famous example of experimenting with passenger flow in Melbourne with, as I recall, the arrival of the Zs. I'd be interested to know during which years this experiment prevailed, whether it was for all trams (apart from the Ws I presume) and when and why Melbourne trams reverted to all-door exchange. (I mean I can guess why, but good the hear these things from the horses mouth so to speak!)

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Melbourne flirted with the idea of pasenger flow with the Y1 class trams in 1930, but only implemented it with prototype tram 1041 in 1973. It was subsequently applied to the Z class trams (Z1, Z2 and Z3) which were painted orange to alert passengers to the need to enter via the front door and had NO ENTRY signs on the steps at the centre exit. Some of these remained long after all door loading resumed.
http://tdu.to/94_SwanstonSt-4May2003.jpg

The design differed from the classic Peter Witt design in that the conductor was seated quite close to the front entrance rather than being adjacent to the centre exit.
The result is pictured in the attached photo by Trevor Triplow.
http://tdu.to/75_SpencerSt_8Oct1979_TrevorTriplow.jpg

Front entrance and seated conductors were abandoned with the A class design of 1983 and the consoles in the Zs subsequently removed and replaced with standee space.

Mal Rowe - observer