Re: Re: Melbourne Historic Fleet - thoughts
IS Edit
Friday, December 7, 2001 4:18 AM
I drove the older style MANs for the M&MTB and they had quite good
ventilation with roof hatches, and front vents.
I was active with the union and spoke out against air-conditioning in
Melbourne's climate because of the cost per vehicle and the increased
maintenance.
I still think it is a waste of time, money and fuel.
The M&MB Volvos were also quite good for ventilation.
Driving the AEC Mk IIIs could be a bear on hot days. The left side of the
drivers cab was the firewall and was only about 3 or 4" from the engine. It
would get so hot you couldn't touch it.
You had forward opening windows on each side of the driver's cab, the
windscreen opened forward and the door window wound down. There was a also a
foot vent. But the Mk IIIs and Mk VIs (the latter worse) would blow boiling
water out their radiator caps when they overheated. If you didn't get the
windows closed in time, the boiling water in a Mk III came in through the
open windows and splashed you. Fun!
We had a system of hydrants, 4' tall, 11" diameter gray pipes with a top
that opened with an M&MTB track key. Inside was a tap and a short hose, and
a long handled hook that allowed you to pull the Mk III radiator cap open
from a safe distance. You could see the rusty water marks all over the road
by the hydrants after a hot spell.
Bob Murphy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Walker" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, December 07, 2001 2:52 PM
Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Re: Melbourne Historic Fleet - thoughts
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ventilation with roof hatches, and front vents.
I was active with the union and spoke out against air-conditioning in
Melbourne's climate because of the cost per vehicle and the increased
maintenance.
I still think it is a waste of time, money and fuel.
The M&MB Volvos were also quite good for ventilation.
Driving the AEC Mk IIIs could be a bear on hot days. The left side of the
drivers cab was the firewall and was only about 3 or 4" from the engine. It
would get so hot you couldn't touch it.
You had forward opening windows on each side of the driver's cab, the
windscreen opened forward and the door window wound down. There was a also a
foot vent. But the Mk IIIs and Mk VIs (the latter worse) would blow boiling
water out their radiator caps when they overheated. If you didn't get the
windows closed in time, the boiling water in a Mk III came in through the
open windows and splashed you. Fun!
We had a system of hydrants, 4' tall, 11" diameter gray pipes with a top
that opened with an M&MTB track key. Inside was a tap and a short hose, and
a long handled hook that allowed you to pull the Mk III radiator cap open
from a safe distance. You could see the rusty water marks all over the road
by the hydrants after a hot spell.
Bob Murphy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Walker" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, December 07, 2001 2:52 PM
Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Re: Melbourne Historic Fleet - thoughts
aThe M&MTB annual reports and press reports at the time indicated veryRead what you like into those reports, I can tell you (and WGB will back
high levels of acceptance and prefenece for the new Z trams over the
existing cars.
this up) that, I was one of the first to drive the Z's in 1975 when I did
workshops,"cancelled day off" on a Sunday with 3 other instructors at the
hadthe 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
summersuggested 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
popularand they drove people away. In the first couple of months they were
onbecause 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)
a hot day was murder. Then again, a packed W on St. Kilda Road wasn't muchthe
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
book, but I'm at work at the moment...believe
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
from what I've been told. Oh and MAN MkIIs were air conditioned too andenthusiasts
still are, but these weren't strictly MMTB buses...)
I know this isn't strictly on topic, but given the number of bus
here also (run by the tramways board so there's the link to this group),they
does anybody know whatever happened to all the Leyland Nationals after
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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