On 29/03/2023 11:55, Mark Skinner wrote:
> ... there ought to be a lot more support for the design and

> construction of trams, trains, buses locally as part of a reconsidered

> approach to defence.

I won't engage in the speculation about China, but this comment from
Mark lines up with some research that Warren Doubleday and I are doing
on the impact of WW2 on the MMTB.

Once war broke out, the MMTB turned over their workshops for war
production while still maintaining their tram and bus fleets.

They also manufactured spare parts for buses as they were not able to be
imported.

In addition they built 54 new trams and 144 bus bodies during WW2.

An article in the Melbourne Tram Museum's "Bellcord" magazine describes
the construction of what I called the 'emergency tramways' during that
period.

See: https://www.hawthorntramdepot.org.au/downloads/bellcord/bc-042.pdf

Mal Rowe - learning from history