On 04/04/2021 18:44, Anthony Dudley Horscroft wrote:
>

> Now the question is, why was the L class design considered too expensive so the MMTB built the W1 class?

>

The L was built by James Moore and Co.  The company was a large timber merchant based in City Rd South Melbourne and were the first company to build electric trams in Melbourne.

They were very proud of their work and their timber - using the highest quality and the most complex joints to show it at its best.  They aimed to impress - firstly with what became the B class and then the Ls.

Those joints were largely due to the complex curves in the body. See the pic attached, showing the drop centre of L 103 at MTPA, Haddon.

One of the ways the MMTB saved money on the W design was to simplify the shapes - with straight panels - enabling mass production of timber parts rather than hand fitted wood pieces as in the L.

James Moore did build Ws - but the craftmanship required was well below what they put into the Ls.

A second was probably to go for licensed manufacture of a mass market MCB type truck design rather than the Brill 77E.

Mal Rowe - who thinks that the original MCB pattern truck probably came from American Locomotive Co of New York.