Re: Driving trams

[This is also being sent to SFMuniHistory, as it applies there as well.]

In a message dated 3 March 2002 @ 1803 PST, "IS Edit"
<[email protected]> wrote:

I agree, Peter. Even I would like to do the occasional shift. I've only driven
trams a few times in the last 10 years and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I never got bored driving them either. Too many variables. And you can always
introduce some to add to the fun if boredom threatens.

Bob Murphy
----- Original Message -----
From: demondriver44

Murph,I agree with you about the discipline involved in driving
trams,I have never driven heavy buses or semis but would have put in
well over 1,000,000 km driving other things and tram driving is a
very different discipline,mind you,quite a few trammies shouldn't be
put in charge of a wheelbarrow and sometimes the most unlikely ones
will give the smoothest and fastest ride.When I started my braking
was good but my acceleration was careless and rough,this was
corrected by Peter Winspur,early in the piece fortunately,after that
I was a far better driver and connies would change shifts to work
with me,they knew they wouldn't be thrown all over the car and they
would only take their fair share,the bag would not be too heavy.I did
not run ahead though,just on the knocker.So many people have said to
me that tram driving must be boring and so easy but it was never so
for me and after 25 years I still sometimes miss it.I love the feel
of the steel wheels turning on steel rail and all the variety of
sounds as you pass over railjoints and through special work,your
senses and your body learns all this stuff and it becomes innate,it
never goes away.Peter E.you know what I'm talking about.Peter Bruce.

Tram operation--especially of an air car--is truly an art form. I learned
my craft from the master, a gentleman named Jack Smith, in 1982. He learned
his craft from his father, who was one of the first black motormen on the
private Market Street Railway. His first "job" at the age of 12 or so was
to bring his dad lunch and ride with him. Since this was a night shift, his
dad would say "Run the car" while he had his sandwich. The passengers
didn't care or even notice.

It took me a while to master the nuances of the straight air brake. Jack's
test was to take some champagne glasses, fill them with water, and if you
did a smooth stop, none of the water would go over the side of the glass.
If you did a "stonewall" stop, you'd be mopping up the floor!

I had a trainee recently who had trouble with his stops. He'd take too much
air, release it all, and have to reapply, causing a hard stop. So I said to
him, "How do you stop with an automobile?" He said "I let up on the brake
pedal a little bit at the end of the stop." I said, "It's exactly the same
principle here with a straight air car." He improved considerably after
that.

And R.T., remember when you ran the Sacramento Northern Birney up at Rio
Vista back in 1970 or so? You were a master then, too!

Milantram


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