I did not notice anyone else reply to this, David.
From what I recall, normally it was only the older Z class that were taken out of service first but when PTV (I think it was) became aware that Sydney wanted a Z for preservation, they recommended 111, knowing it had been overhauled not that long ago and was going to a good home.
I don’t recall what condition it was in when received, but it was certainly returned to the original orange and cream colours thanks to the hard work done at Loftus.
An awful lot of hard work went into stripping the advertising decals off 2107 after receipt, and any restoration work has to be okayed by the government heritage people who own the tram. The last I heard, it was to be kept in the as – withdrawn condition but fortunately the decals were allowed to be removed. These were covered in painted graffiti anyway and it was a real eyesore. So some rust chips could possibly have to remain.
Age of a tram is not the only factor in determining its disposal. And older tram may have had a thorough overhaul done which the newer one missed out on, so the older one in this situation would be in better condition. It’s a condition, not age that matters.
Regards,
Richard
> On 3 Jul 2020, at 9:16 am, David McLoughlin mcloughlin.dj@...> wrote:
>
>
> Matthew Geier wrote:
>
> > Lots of old Melbourne images has prompted me to post this picture of a more contemporary museum scene from another state.
>
> Nice to see such an immaculate Variotram running again. They lasted in service a disgracefully short time.
>
> The Loftus tram that always stunned me on visits was Melbourne 111; because Z trams older and of the earlier type than that as-new specimen were still in daily service in Melbourne. I still shake my head at why 111 and other Z trams newer than ones kept in service were let go like that. They are all gone now of course but that only happened when the Es arrived.
>
> --
> david mcloughlin, New Zealand
> "A handsome and clever man who, despite his undoubted intelligence and even charm, managed to be an excruciating bore, buttonholing one and inexorably imparting information on subjects one was only too happy to know nothing about." -- Diana Mitford.
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TramsDownUnder" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email totramsdownunder+unsubscribe@....
> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tramsdownunder/6d31efb9-5e85-4ab7-87e9-1dd4aa9e59b3o%40googlegroups.com.