Re: Re: Melbourne Historic Fleet - thoughts

The M&MTB annual reports and press reports at the time indicated very
high levels of acceptance and prefenece for the new Z trams over the
existing cars.

Read what you like into those reports, I can tell you (and WGB will back
this up) that, I was one of the first to drive the Z's in 1975 when I did a
"cancelled day off" on a Sunday with 3 other instructors at the workshops,
the learn how to drive them and teach others, I have to tell you that,
especially in Summer, those cars were absolutely hated and, if someone had
suggested buses, they would have jumped at them, they were hard to get in
and out of, I remember standing every time we were at Bourke and Swanston
and yelling for pax to move past the centre doors, they were hot in summer
and they drove people away. In the first couple of months they were popular
because no one had seen their like before but, as soon as the hot weather
turned up well.....

I can only agree with the above comments, a Z on an 88 (then 87 then 86) on
a hot day was murder. Then again, a packed W on St. Kilda Road wasn't much
chop either...
Bring on the air conditioned cars! Just as a side issue, Destination City
makes reference to a rather radical refurbishment to Ws that didn't end up
happening. Was air conditioning part of that plan? I could just look at the
book, but I'm at work at the moment...

However, I disagree about your comments about buses, the MMTB buses
generally weren't air conditioned and got just as warm. (Leyland Nationals
excepted, although these weren't popular because of braking issues I believe
from what I've been told. Oh and MAN MkIIs were air conditioned too and
still are, but these weren't strictly MMTB buses...)

I know this isn't strictly on topic, but given the number of bus enthusiasts
here also (run by the tramways board so there's the link to this group),
does anybody know whatever happened to all the Leyland Nationals after they
left the MMTB? Did many end up with preservation groups or individuals in
Victoria? In the short time I had to ride them when I was much younger, I
thought they weren't bad buses compared to the other ones at the time.

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Don't be afraid to try something new.
Amateurs built the ark.
Professionals built the Titanic.


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