Hey all,

I have been loving the pics of the almost new A Class & the
then newish B1 Class and the brand new B2's,so many great memories of my
own from these awesome times.While the M & MTB times were fantastic the
period from Jan' 85 through to Dec '95 was the best time to be a gunzel as
there was always something happening to get your teeth into and love the
tramways.From the brand new A Class & 2 new B1 class in 1985 the awesome
Met livery and the pride in the way the trams looked,all modern trams in
the same livery no mk,1,2,3,lots of tram re-allocations,all trams kept in
service except W2 which were already up for withdrawl anyway as a result of
the B2's,and then until the ridiculous asbestos crap in '92)as before this
date the only cars that were to be retired were all unmodified or non
sliding door cars.You also had the new B2's,the light rail openings,the
fist panto only overhead followed by panto conversions of Z1,2,3 &
A1'S,(although most Z panto conversions were after '95),trams were also
sent where they were needed and any tram could go anywhere,there were still
fan trips and you could still photograph any tram anywhere or even hire a
tram.Z's finally on the Swanston st routes (a necessity due to the mass W
withdrawl,but overdue in my mind),you could go and visit a depot with
permission as long as you didn'tt act like a a dickhead,seeing tram
transfers after last car by R10 of 3-4 Z's at at time from Ess/Bwk to
Malv/Glen.Not to mention the restaurant tram commencing,all the tram
restorations and cavalcades and route extensions..All of this plus more in
just 10 years..brilliant

Now unfortunately everything is boring,it is all so regimented,full of so
much red tape,people not liking their jobs and pretty much just being like
sheep and it is not their fault it is the environment.Now you are
restricted on where and what you can take pics of,you have to get
permission from various people To get a perfectly good running tram from
Hawthorn to Kew depot (IN THE NEXT SUBURB) you need to put i on a truck,
you cannot drive it,yes there are new trams being delivered,but the
delivery rate is ridiculous and then the amount of time before they enter
service is also ridiculous service,when the Z's & A's were being delivered
the more that came the quicker the process got with the E's things are
getting slower and they can only run on 3 routes without a mountain of red
tape..WTF.There is no care anymore and nobody wants to suggest things or
help because everything today is about money and nothing happens without at
least someone getting paid.I read the other day that there is currently 23
trams out of service mainly for L/E works,why so many and apparently that
is the norm not just because things are quiet due to the virus.Also is
there any news about the upgrade to Bwk depot that is to start soon,how
long will it take,how many and which trams will be moved there will there
be route changes,no idea?Everything seems so secretive now,no
projects,service upgrades,route extensions,nothing anymore.