TAN: Brisbane FM colour schemes WAS: Re: Sydney - Brisbane 548

--- In TramsDownUnder@y..., "Roy Winslow" <rwinslow@b...> wrote:

Yes the Phoenix colours were great, but there was something

majestic about

the original silver paint with royal blue waist stripe and chomed

'wings'

around the headlights.

I agree Roy - the rare colour photos of the silver and blue stripe
are gems - really glistened in the sun.

The stripe and chome were casulties of the Second
World War when some of the trams were outshopped in undercoat to

cater for

the huge demands placed upon the system due to petrol rationing and

American

GI 'invasion'. In the mid 1950's chrome came back on cars fitted

with

resilient wheels - this time the bumpers were chromed - see Miss

July in the

2001 Oz Trams calendar put out by Topmill.

The chrome was quickly painted over and in the early 1960's the

silver was

replaced by the light grey most people remember.

I find it ironic that we are now getting the grey down here on the
Citidas trams that putter along on my local line - the 109 Route to
Mont Albert. (And the refurbished As and Bs.) When the first Cs
arrived and didn't have their decals they looked ghastly - and VERY
hard to spot in the distance. I remember a misty morning last year
when a grey-clad A class was run narrowly missed by a car that turned
right just in front of it. The driver of the car did not spot it
coming down the hill from Gen to St Georges and was lucky to not be
more than just lightly clipped - he got the shock of his life.

Although the first Pheonix
tram was outshopped in 1963, the scheme was never adopted for the

reminder

of the fleet.

While it was never a Phoenix car and therefore should'nt have that
paint scheme (and it would look good!) I hope Bendigo is going to
paint the FM car they have received from Newport into the Silver with
blue stripe. It would be impressive.

Thanks for your comments

Cheers

Davo




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