Hi Ron,

Yes, that's easy, 52 and 53, they were lovely things and the rest of
the driver's (apart from me old mate Graeme Bennett) hated them
(because of the windscreen) so it was easy to get one rostered for me,
they always seemd to ride very heavy but were officialy about 1/2 a
tone lighter than a W6. They often got flats (had to be the driver's,
there was no nasties in the braking) and it was great to have oneon one
of those tables that took them into Sth or Brunswick for grinding, it
always meant having them on something else rather than just
Footiscray!!!

Yes, they were the days, who would ever have thought that we'd long for
the day we could fly through Royal Park in a W2 again or Wrap a Clyde
upto Parallel from a standing start in Elizabeth street with passengers
hanging from the runningboard!!! I even remember looking in my tiny
mirror, (strange, we got by with them all those years without the need
of the big things) one day, seeing a guy hanging on with one hand and
reading a folded up "Ferral Hun" with the other, the only thing that
can be said FOR growing old, is the memories!! Remember the trip we ran
in 554 along Brunswick St and Holden street, crashing over lumps of
bitumen over the track (the council always thought it was out of use)
and it turned out to be the last car along the full length of the
line?? The fans (and I) owe you a great debt of gratitude for all those
wonderfull "shoeshop" tours you used to run and I was priveledged to be
your Volunteer driver, thanks mate.

Greg

--- InTramsDownUnder@..., "ronscholten" <ronscholten@...>
wrote:
>

> Hi Mr Citadis - All

>

> Yes you are correct about 764 but I understand 823 was the last. But

I
> will ask the question again - What was the lowest number tram to have

> resilient wheels ?? You drove it at Essendon. It sounded great on

> reserve track. The quietest tram I ever rode was on the 72 when I

> lived in Glen Iris & that was 979. But the brake cable used to hit

the
> floor on bad track. How I miss the W era, when trams were trams. Yes

> Mike Loved the clydes. Ray Fear told me how to drive them by pulling

> the key back ever so lightly to tighten the barrell, after that I

> never blew them. Ron at Malvern Depot - countdown to 100 years.

>