Mick and all, composite brake shoes made life less stressful and I can't
speak for other depots but sometime in the early '70s we got an extra car
on each road in the weekday off peak thus an extra 12 minutes every round
trip so route 1 went from 84 minutes to 96, route 15 from 96 minutes to 108
and route 12 from I think 60 minutes to 72, this didn't solve all
timekeeping problems but it certainly helped, I'd go along with much of
what Mick wrote, motor traffic was so undisciplined and obstructive that a
certain amount of bastardry was called for as was hitting the gong really
hard and having a good eye for clearances all the while trying for a smooth
ride and keeping an eye on sectional running times. If your mate was a gun
you would have a good week and run to time, safety first always. It was
hard on a lot of the older drivers who had been at it 6 days a week for
years, in my 10 years at South Melbourne I only recall two retirements and
they were both ex cable gripmen, a protected occupation during the war,
others went off medically unfit, light duties or back on the bag. Some died
before retirement including my driver trainer "Lucky" Taylor a great
workmate who had recurring bouts of malaria or its effects, not sure which
or maybe both, acquired during the New Guinea campaigns. The consequences
of the Depression and the second war certainly contributed to the toll on
health among the older blokes.

Regards to all,

Peter Bruce.

On Sat, 23 Mar 2024 at 01:27, 'Mick Duncan' via TramsDownUnder < tramsdownunder@...> wrote:

> Gday Richard,All

>

> Assertive driving in the 60s was the only you would get through

> Camberwell Jcn

> in the peaks quickly before the traffic lights came

>

> Creep up,gong, creep up again,gong hiss,just keep moving slowly till

> the cars got out of your way.The poor old controller copped a few arcs

> unless you cut the second notch before cutting off so the linebreaker

> would open before the controller copped the the cut off arcs

>

> Some times it got so bad the Braid acted as Cop till a Cop arr from Camb

> Cop Shop,most Cops gave the Trams a fair go

>

> When in a narrow St at lights,with parked cars on the other side,and if

> you were a bit late when every second counted,I watched the lights of

> the intersecting road and when the lights on the other street went

> Red,count 4 seconds and take off,the tram would be moving just as the

> Green came up and beat the cars trying to pass you as one would try to

> pass you and maybe do a right turn in front of you

>

> The 4 second rule still applies on many lights

>

> Other tricks to keep time were to release and apply brakes,hiss hiss, to

> hurry pass at stops and cut a notch against the brakes to wake up a slow

> Connie

>

> Working with a good Connie,we did a shunt in 20 sec

>

> Those were the days

>

> Can any other Drivers share their tricks to try and stay on time

>

> Cheers, Mick

>

> On 19/03/2024 8:21 pm, 'Richard Youl' via TramsDownUnder wrote:

> > Nevertheless most Sydney drivers are ‘Nervous Nellies’. I have

> encountered just the odd one who would drive as assertively as myself.

> Incidentally I Never had a fall on any tram I drove, but did not muck

> around either.

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

>

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