Re: Digest Number 371

John Fitzsimons
Tuesday, August 27, 2002 6:02 AM

Some thoughts on Michael Walker's reply about Batman
Avenue shunt as it was. Certainly at the end only
route 70 used it and as Michael said route 77 used it
until it was eliminated. It ran City Batman Avenue via
Swan and Chapel St. to Brighton Rd. where 78
terminates now, and used the now unused curves at Swan
and Church Sts. corner. Until Hawthorn Depot closed in
l965 route 74 Burwood-City as it was also used Batman
Avenue. That was when 74 terminated in Toorak Rd. at
Warrigal Road. The section along Bridge Rd and Power
St. was a separate route. Route 27 Hawthorn-Spencer
St. which ran from Spencer St. at Lonsdale St. to
Power St. at Wallen Road. There used to be a crossover
north of Wallen Rd. Trams coming into or from Hawthorn
Depot which ran the line had to shunt twice- run out
of depot, reverse run to crossover then in Riversdale
Rd. east of Wallen Rd then come back and run into
Power St. Route 77 was even better in that outbound it
ran straight out from the depot but returning from
Chapel St. it was usual route to shunt in Swan St. at
Lennox St, run to Hawthorn Depot, shunt outside depot
on a crossover that used to be there then run to west
side of depot and shunt again to get in. The fan faced
only west as it still does now.
When Hawthorn closed in l965 the runs and trams were
shared out by Camberwell, Glen Huntly and Kew Depots.

Change of subject today 27/8 at about 12.50pm saw in
Bourke St. westbound at Elizabeth St. W7l0l2 showing
Special on test not carrying passengers.
Trust these observations of interest,
John Fitzsimons.
Batman Avenue was a busy place in the early 60's with
3 routes plus short workings to 7l 72 or 75 as they
were then all controlled by a starter in the east end
office switching the points on the scissors crossover
and the "Next tram departs from this platform" orange
light in four places on the platform. 4 trams could
shunt there at a time and I often saw just that until
Hawthorn closed and it started to reduce in status.
Now of course it is just a memory!!!
--- [email protected] wrote: >
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There are 7 messages in this issue.

Topics in this digest:

1. Re: Kings Cross 1938
From: "pn1.rm" <[email protected]>
2. Australian tramcar publishing folklore
From: "pn1.rm" <[email protected]>
3. Re: Australian tramcar publishing folklore
From: Bill Bolton
<[email protected]>
4. Tram Smash
From: "Swash" <[email protected]>
5. Batman Ave pic
From: "Swash" <[email protected]>
6. Calling Jef Bounds re: 321
From: "Cawood, David"
<[email protected]>
7. Re: Batman Ave pic
From: Michael Walker <[email protected]>

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 00:26:58 -0000
From: "pn1.rm" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Kings Cross 1938

Great photo. Similar to one published in one of the
Keenan books? The
car furthest away from the camera almost looks
derailed but it
obviously shows how sharp the curves were in Sydney.
It was probably
before William Street was widened and the track
alignment moved.
The trams are travelling inbound but the automobiles
are homeward
bound.
Paul in Melbourne

--- In TramsDownUnder@y..., peter bruce
<demondriver44@y...> wrote:
G'day TDUs,just thought I'd chuck in the attached
photo for your delectation,from the camera of Max
Dupain[Jeff Bounds says that Max D hated trams,I
reckon if he'd photographed them a little bit more
he
would have almost been a gunzel],anyway it is
Kings
Cross in 1938,O to have been a Sydney trammie back
in
the days.Peter B.

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Message: 2
Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 00:32:14 -0000
From: "pn1.rm" <[email protected]>
Subject: Australian tramcar publishing folklore

The photo of Sydney trams at Kings Cross reminds me
of many of the
phrases in the varios tram books that have virtually

become "folklore".

I'm only going from memory here (the books are at
home and I am
writing this in the office) but the classics
include:

"Under threatening skies..." and "With destination
set for the return
journey..." from the Keenan books.

Also memorable references from John Alfred's "Across
the Bridge"
where the car was "dappled by the afternoon
sunshine"...the
tracks "remained off centre till the end"...and the
[abandoned] tram
track "now polished, alas, by rubber rather than
steel tyres"!

There was another in one of the early Destination
City books about
the "erroneous reports" of unsatisfactory
performance of PCC 980.

Love em all.

Any other nominations?

Paul in Melbourne

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 3
Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 11:03:32 +1000
From: Bill Bolton <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Australian tramcar publishing folklore

A number of the somewhat poetical expressions
sometimes found in the
Sydney books can, I think, be traced back to the
'40s and '50s where
there was an Australian railway/tramway magazine
(defunct by the '60s
when I discovered a few back issues of it for sale
at the book shop at
SPER), the name of which now escapes me as the few
copies I had were
lost years ago in a house move. Anyway, the
magazine carried a regular
column with name something like "Uncle Bob
Remembers" or similar. The
stories were of "Uncle Bob's" experiences as a
Sydney tram driver.

I only ever saw a few issues and I only recall one
of the stories now,
but in short form it basically involved a poorly
performing single
truck car on the Pitt & Castlereagh St Circular Quay
to Railway
Colonnade "merry-go-round", with the story resolving
by a test on the
grade out of Circular Quay which showed the wheel
hubs revolving within
the tyres which were working loose. The stories
were well and
colourfully told with several neat turns of phrase,
at least some of
which seem to me to have passed into the Sydney tram
fan vernacular.

Another explanation is that perhaps Uncle Bob was
just using the normal
Sydney tramway jargon/expressions which have been
passed down through
multiple paths to the present day.

Cheers,
Bill

Bill Bolton
Sydney, Australia

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 4
Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2002 08:33:05 +1000
From: "Swash" <[email protected]>
Subject: Tram Smash

I assume all know of this site, but just in
case........
http://www.geocities.com/tramsmash/
Site made by an ex Malvern driver. He told me Nat
Express tried to close it down.
Andrew.

[This message contained attachments]

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 5
Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2002 08:44:49 +1000
From: "Swash" <[email protected]>
Subject: Batman Ave pic

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