Re: Brisbane FM cars>
roy winslow
Monday, September 3, 2001 4:18 AM
Dems Fighting Words!
Brisbane was the last of the state capitals to finish with its trams. Until the day they closed, they were alway well maintained and attempted to include modern innovations in its trams and other elements of the system. The FM class was, even after they were all retired, the most modern tram vehicle (with the possible exception of the PCC bits of Melbourne 980) until the Z's of the 1970's.
From the first FM, prototype 400 of 1938 until the last one 'Phoenix' 554 of 1964, the Brisbane tramways continued to refine the design. The aforemention windows did indeed get bigger- have a look at the photo of 548 at Ipswitch Road Depot that was circulated yesterday.
With resilient wheels, double helical gears, flouro lighting, air assisted gongs, self lapping air brakes, uphostered seating and RC2 contollers (admittedly still hand operated and not seen as the equipment of choice to PCC lovers) the later FM's were the smoothest and quietest mass-produced trams to run in Oz. The doors may have been narrow compared to other drop centre designs, but with four along each side, I doubt this was a problem. Later FM's also had manually operated sliding doors, although they seem to be designed with automation in mind, they were never plumbed as such due possibly to the Brisbane climate.
So lay off the FM's- pick on something else, like some of those darstedly NZ trams! (Over to our Kiwi boys for their comments!)
Roy (Gotta Love the FM!) Winslow
<[email protected]> wrote:
I think R. T. Murphy was right. They remind me of one of those American
Hall-Scott "Windsplitter" gas motor cars (or "Doodlebugs" as we called such
cars across the pond.) The only thing different was that the Hall-Scotts
had tinier porthole windows.
With a design like that, I can see why Brisbane folded early...hehehe
Milantram
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Brisbane was the last of the state capitals to finish with its trams. Until the day they closed, they were alway well maintained and attempted to include modern innovations in its trams and other elements of the system. The FM class was, even after they were all retired, the most modern tram vehicle (with the possible exception of the PCC bits of Melbourne 980) until the Z's of the 1970's.
From the first FM, prototype 400 of 1938 until the last one 'Phoenix' 554 of 1964, the Brisbane tramways continued to refine the design. The aforemention windows did indeed get bigger- have a look at the photo of 548 at Ipswitch Road Depot that was circulated yesterday.
With resilient wheels, double helical gears, flouro lighting, air assisted gongs, self lapping air brakes, uphostered seating and RC2 contollers (admittedly still hand operated and not seen as the equipment of choice to PCC lovers) the later FM's were the smoothest and quietest mass-produced trams to run in Oz. The doors may have been narrow compared to other drop centre designs, but with four along each side, I doubt this was a problem. Later FM's also had manually operated sliding doors, although they seem to be designed with automation in mind, they were never plumbed as such due possibly to the Brisbane climate.
So lay off the FM's- pick on something else, like some of those darstedly NZ trams! (Over to our Kiwi boys for their comments!)
Roy (Gotta Love the FM!) Winslow
In a message dated 1 Sept 2001 @ 1043 GMT, "Donald Campbell"[email protected] 09/03/01 12:00PM >>>
<[email protected]> wrote:
Greetings all,
Roy asked for a picture of a Brisbane FM car.
Found this one on the net, and would think it's a picture of a car in "just
out of the box" condition. Handsome cars.
Regards,
Don C
I think R. T. Murphy was right. They remind me of one of those American
Hall-Scott "Windsplitter" gas motor cars (or "Doodlebugs" as we called such
cars across the pond.) The only thing different was that the Hall-Scotts
had tinier porthole windows.
With a design like that, I can see why Brisbane folded early...hehehe
Milantram
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