Thanks Len for the info. At least this is one impost that the trams avoided!
Regards
Dudley Horscroft
----- Original Message -----
From: "Len" len.millar@...>
To: tramsdownunder@...>
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2019 10:26 AM
Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Johnston Street cable tracks in Melbourne
> Hello, Dudley!
> Much as municipal councils would've liked rate revenue from state and
> Commonwealth sources, such was not the case - at least in Victoria. For
> example, the Commonwealth paid no (state) land tax, and certainly the state
> government here in Victoria paid no council rates. Similarly, state
> government departments and instrumentalities (read M&MTB) paid no council
> rates. The Tramways Board WAS responsible for road surface maintenance for
> the track(s) area and 18 inches beyond. The Tramways Board would have made
> an "ex-gratia" payment (in lieu of rates) for rubbish removal by Councils.
> Cheers!
> Len Millar
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dudley Horscroft
> Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2019 12:16 AM
> To:tramsdownunder@...
> Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Johnston Street cable tracks in Melbourne
>
> I have a feeling that the MMTB had to pay rates on its tracks - this was
> standard procedure in the UK, and I doubt that Australian
> councils would have given up such a wonderful source of revenue.
>
> So when it appeared that there was little likelihood of being able to
> re-open the tracks as electric lines, it was decided to get
> rid of the cable tracks and avoid the payment of rates. Probably the
> removal cost about same as one or two year's rates, so it was
> worth it. I think all the cable tracks were removed at the same time - the
> exception being where councils had already buried the
> tracks. I remember seeing the Johnston St and Port Melbourne tracks when I
> first came to Australia, and for some time after.
>
> Regards
>
> Dudley Horscroft
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Hal Cain" hegcain@...>
> To: tramsdownunder@...>
> Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2019 8:39 PM
> Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Johnston Street cable tracks in Melbourne
>
>
>> On Sat, Jan 5, 2019 at 3:15 PM David McLoughlin mcloughlin.dj@...>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> A question about what became of the cable tram tracks in Johnston Street,
>>> Melbourne. Known as the Collingwood line, it closed in April 1939 and was
>>> replaced at the time by buses.
>>>
>>
>> The Johnston St cable tracks were removed in the early 1960s from Johnson
>> St, Elgin St, Lygon St and Russell St. It was done while I was attending
>> Melbourne University, and I travelled on the Johnston St bus most days,
>> and
>> watched it being done (apparently by the same per-way gangs that had been
>> relaying tramlines in mass concrete). The North Carlton line in Rathdowne
>> St was also done. I wasn't within reach to see the Port Melbourne line
>> removed soon after, also the line which ran in City Rd between
>> Queensbridge
>> St and Clarendon Stl the remaining stub in Market St, between Collins St
>> and Flinders Lane, also went. The only visible cable tram track left was
>> the couple of yards at the Spencer St end of Bourke St, and they were
>> removed when the Bourke St line was connected into Spencer St as part of
>> the light rail conversion.
>>
>> The rails and slot girders were lifted, the yokes cut off by oxy-acetylene
>> torch, and the trench was filled with crushed rock, and asphalt mix road
>> surfacing was laid on top; previously the road surface on the track had
>> been wood blocks.
>>
>> The only remaining cable tram track I know of is in Abbotsford St (the
>> West
>> Melbourne route, between Queensberry St and Spencer St) which was
>> revealied
>> by excavations some years ago; it's been covered again in the course of
>> changing the roadway.. I think there was an idea about making a part of
>> it
>> visible, but I've heard nothing, and judging from Google Maps image
>> there's
>> nothing to be seen. But at least a small piece of track still exists.
>>
>> The buses replacing the Collingwood route were extended via Kew Junction,
>> forst to Earl St, later to Belford Rd, and then to Burke Rd (where they
>> met
>> the North Balwyn tram). On 2 July 1961 the MMTB took over bus routes in
>> the
>> Doncaster-Templestowe area, and extended the North Kew bus route to
>> Bulleen. The Port Melbourne bus replacing the cable tram was
>> through-routed to North Kew; it was extended to Garden City, but I don't
>> know the date. The North Carlton bus ran direct via Rathdowne St into the
>> city, instead of Lygon St; in the 1950s it was extended via Clifton Hill
>> to
>> West Heidelberg, and more recently to La Trobe University; that route
>> partly replaced the Holden St/Brunswick Rd shuttle tram service.
>>
>> Hal Cain
>>
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