For 6 months in 1977 I was an apprentice posted to what was left of the Randwick Tramway Workshops. At the time the activities there were some metal fabrication and bus tyre retreading, and there was a mobile crew that went around to bus depots doing routine electrical maintenance.
By that time shunting the flatcar that was once 98u by R1 1979 had finished and the trolley wire taken down, while the body of R/R1 1933 was still being used as a first aid room.
There was still 600vDC available to drive the gantry crane in the fabrication shop and charge bus batteries, and I mostly worked on the crane equipment and charging the batteries - 50 x 12v batteries hooked up in series on the 600v, with a big rheostat to adjust the feed.
On the crane, the machinery was pretty much shagged and needed constant attention. There were three controllers like these ones, one to drive the crane gantry up and down the shop, one to traverse the hoist, and the other to raise and lower the hook. I changed motor brushes (they didn’t last long due to worn commutators) and maintained the controllers, with a lot of filing on pitted contact segments and fingers. In my spare time I could poke around and explore the place, but while it was obvious what had been there, there wasn’t a lot to see by that time.
After that my next posting was to an eastern suburbs railway construction gang, where I spent 3 months installing tunnel lighting and switch gear etc in the Kings Cross and Edgecliff station switch rooms, which was pretty dull in comparison to working on the old machinery at Randwick.
Tony
> On 21 Mar 2023, at 10:53, 'bblunt3473@yahoo.com' via TramsDownUnder tramsdownunder@...> wrote:
>
> I didn't get a close up look, but the controller handle seems to be in a centralised locking niche, suggesting operating in two directions. The are 4 cams on one side of the shaft and four on the other.
>
> Photos taken by another participant show a wagon of some sort with twin trolley poles.
>
> This was the motor part of the trolley.
>
> On Tuesday, 21 March 2023 at 10:40:26 am AEDT, Hunslet hunslet@...> wrote:
>
>
> I was fortunate to have undertaken an inspection whilst the facility was still in operation. Regretfully, I did not view (and thus not photograph) the control room.
> Hunslet
>
> From:tramsdownunder@... [mailto:tramsdownunder@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Ofbillbolt...@...
> Sent: Tuesday, 21 March 2023 10:28 AM
> To: TramsDownUnder tramsdownunder@...>
> Subject: [TramsDownUnder] Re: Controllers
>
> They are basically the same technology as tramway controllers but lack a reversing/lock drum, as what they powered only ever turned in the same direction. The Ball Head coal loader basically used a cable haulage system which circulated wagons on a 20" narrow gauge track between the loading ganty on the jetty and the coal bins, through a tunnel under the bins.
>
> Trolley Wire, December 1975 describes it this way....
>
> "The heart of the system is located in the 26 ft x 21ft winding house which stands near the shore end of the jetty under the elevated section of the railway. Within this house stands a large 125 hp 450 volt D.C. electric motor which drives the winding gear at 600 rpm. The motor is a General Electric of Schenectady, U.S.A. product (Type RG—39, No. 1157990, 213 amp - compound) and the winding gear train reduces the speed in the ratio of 40:1. In more recent years the motor has been arranged to work at 660 rpm, thus speeding the cable winding drums from 15 rpm to 16.5 rpm. This produces a traction cable speed of 3 mph which means that each wagon can traverse the 0.6 mile round trip 5 times each hour."
>
> On Monday, 20 March 2023 at 21:42:43 UTC+11bblun...@... mailto:bblun...@yahoo.com wrote:
> I went on a tour through the former Balls Head Coal Loader in Sydney last weekend.
>
> Some remnants of the former electric "railway" in the tunnels have been preserved.
>
> Think some people here might be interested in the controllers.
>
> Brian
> --
> 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@... mailto:tramsdownunder+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tramsdownunder/ce03e6f5-ab93-42de-810c-aeb9cb0852a4n%40googlegroups.com https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tramsdownunder/ce03e6f5-ab93-42de-810c-aeb9cb0852a4n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer.
>
> --
> 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@... mailto:tramsdownunder+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tramsdownunder/000801d95b85%2453ce0950%24fb6a1bf0%24%40optusnet.com.au https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tramsdownunder/000801d95b85%2453ce0950%24fb6a1bf0%24%40optusnet.com.au?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer.
>
> --
> 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@... mailto:tramsdownunder+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tramsdownunder/326925047.1341468.1679356430853%40mail.yahoo.com https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tramsdownunder/326925047.1341468.1679356430853%40mail.yahoo.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer.
> <DSC00466.JPG>