RE: Re: W2 vs others
Roy Winslow
Tuesday, December 18, 2001 12:21 AM
Point taken about the colour scheme used for most FM's.
Originally silver with royal blue banding when the first cars were built in the
late 1930's through to just after the war, when the blue banding was
discontinued. The cars remained silver until about 1960 when the silver was
progressivily replaced by light grey all over livery- OK not the most striking,
but functional none the less. During the mid 1950's FM's built with resilient
wheels were further distinguished by chrome bumpers and headlight surrounds,
such as those shown on 535 on the July 2000 calendar 'Trams 2001' published by
Topmill.
The
final eight FM's- the aforementioned 'Phoenix' cars were much more aesthetically
pleasing given the early 1960's fondness for drab and pastel colours. The small
phoenix decals below each driver's side window was at that time an unprecedented
poetic touch for a government organisation.
One
point in Brisbane's favour was that they did keep their trams reasonably clean-
something other states with their much brighter green and cream combinations
found much difficulty with. One case in point was Perth, where by the Mid 1950's
most trams paint was in a rather deplorable condition based on colour photos and
slides I have seen.
Other rather suspect liveries I believe should also be
questioned by this group include:
1. The original Z1
marigold livery that simply could not stand up to the pittiful amount of sun
Melbourne gets.
2. The
replacement orange and brown on later Z's which screams
1970's!
3. The 1980's green and yellow used
in Melbourne- bright, but as the 1990's showed- was a poor substitute for the
traditional green and cream.
4. The 1960's-1970's Melbourne green
and cream- sans gold lining and no cream below the window sills was a little bit
ho hummmm.
Roy
-----Original Message----->Re W2's being best cars etc., really Bruce, I think you need a little rest,
From: Michael Walker [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2001 6:45 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Re: W2 vs others
>I liked them too, but attractive, not by a long shot compared to a Brisbane
>FM or Sydney R/R1 or even later W's!!
I agree with you about later Ws being very attractive trams, ditto Sydney
Rs, but in my humble opinion the Brisbane FM cars were some of the ugliest
modern trams I can think of. The colour scheme was about as striking as your
average computer (and the colours from the photos aren't far off from beige
either!) and the small windows whilst no doubt practical didn't make them
particularly attractive. Unlike many trams, the ads were an improvement as
it broke up the boring livery and added a bit of colour (especially those
Cinzano ads - every time I see a bottle of Cinzano, it reminds me of the FM
trams!).
The only trams I can compare them to in terms of boxy looking and boring are
Melbourne B2s...and at least the colour schemes used on those liven them up
enough. Strangely enough, I especially liked the chocolate and cream used on
2100.
Sorry to all you FM fans, but I've kept quiet up until now, but there's only
so much raving about FM cars I can cope with in a short space of time...
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