On 10/10/2017 8:57 PM,prescottt@... [TramsDownUnder] wrote:
>

> On that last note, yes Maclean referenced the Brisbane dropcentre as I said, but what interested him most about it was the ability to also exchange passengers through the ends of the car as well as the centre (the Brisbane cars originally had open platforms at the ends before the cabs were enclosed). This car was the most direct prototype of the R and overcame the problems of the "cave", the dead end saloons in the Adelaide and Melbourne cars.

>

If I may add another factor to your "history dreaming"...

The original Australian drop frame trams - elegantly designed in Melbourne by Mr Dix of the P&MTT had far more entrances than an R or an R1 including end platform entrances - and so did the even earlier Boon drop-centres in Christchurch.
Evidence attached.

For whatever reason, in the next P&MTT design, which became the M&MTB L class, end platform loading was eliminated.

Perhaps the longitudinal seats in the Melbourne saloons gave a freedom of movement that the lateral seats so beloved of Sydney folk don't permit.

Mal Rowe - who wonders if Mr Dix had an NZ holiday in 1912