Re: Digest Number 404

Yes indeed, vale to Brisbane.
At the end, one man said the trams had to go, so they
all went, and that was the end of that.
Sad thing is that he is still around.
I first went there with my father in l964 after my
mother died and could not get over the place, so each
annual leave of 2 weeks then I went there from 65 to
68 to ride and photograph the trams, trolleybuses,
steam trains, the man with the red flag at the Gabba
etc. etc.
As a system it was far better than Melbourne at the
time. Obviously now Melbourne has advanced but the
trams here are still fearfully slow. There they
powered through facing points as if they were not
there, every crrover had a sprung point so no point
bar was needed even if the crossover was rarely used,
strret track was all concrete and in good condition
and trolley poles never/rarely in my experience fell
off the wire.
But, one man said it had to go.......
To be there on race days at Albion Park or Doomben,
particularly Albion Park was a sight to behold, trams
coming and going with full loads to places like Barton
Rd 50 Salisbury Compo Rd, Ips Rd Dep, Hospital, S Bris
Stn 08.
To ride a droppy in peak traffic and sit in the centre
and listen to the traction noise was unbelievable to
someone who has lived in Melbourne and been used to
things like W2's etc.
The hills, valleys and curves with signs on the span
wires "TRAMS MUST NOT PASS ON CURVES", the signal
boxes at Valley Jct and the Gabba Wolloongabba then if
you please!!
Dedicated to all those who.... can Rememberrrrrr.....
John Fitzsimons.
PS> a few books have been published but you had to see
it all to believe it.
RIP






--- [email protected] wrote: >
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There are 15 messages in this issue.

Topics in this digest:

1. Paddington Depot Fire: 40 years ago
From: "Paul Nicholson" <[email protected]>
2. Re: Paddington Depot Fire: 40 years ago
From: "citadis"
<[email protected]>
3. Views of Wellington - 2
From: "Donald Galt" <[email protected]>
4. Hataitai - Map
From: "Donald Galt" <[email protected]>
5. Great map that......
From: "Graeme Bennett"
<[email protected]>
6. Time for a quiz
From: "graeme bennett"
<[email protected]>
7. Re: Time for a quiz
From: Bill Bolton
<[email protected]>
8. RE: Time for a quiz
From: "Brent Efford"
<[email protected]>
9. State Transport Authority in Adelaide
From: "drugsrbad1" <[email protected]>
10. RE: Time for a quiz
From: "Donald Galt" <[email protected]>
11. Aitken Street it is.
From: "graeme bennett"
<[email protected]>
12. Another forgotten trolleybus route
From: "graeme bennett"
<[email protected]>
13. Re: Time for a quiz
From: Bill Bolton
<[email protected]>
14. RE: Time for a quiz
From: "Brent Efford"
<[email protected]>
15. RE: Another forgotten trolleybus route
From: "Brent Efford"
<[email protected]>

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 1
Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2002 09:06:30 -0000
From: "Paul Nicholson" <[email protected]>
Subject: Paddington Depot Fire: 40 years ago

Tonight, 28 September 2002, is the 40th anniversary
of the fire that
destroyed the Paddington Tram Depot in Brisbane and
about 65 trams.
The fire broke the back of the system and led to the
final closure in
April 1969. I only had one opportunity to ride
Brisbane trams - in
December 1968. Due to work commitments I missed the
Adelaide Street
routes by one week. This guy from Melbourne was
surprised by the
hills and curves on the Brisbane routes. The trams
were starting to
get rather run down by December 1968 as it was only
five months till
the final closure.
Paul in Melbourne

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 2
Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2002 10:19:24 -0000
From: "citadis" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Paddington Depot Fire: 40 years ago

--- In TramsDownUnder@y..., "Paul Nicholson"
<pn1@b...> wrote:

Tonight, 28 September 2002, is the 40th

anniversary of the fire
that

destroyed the Paddington Tram Depot in Brisbane

and about 65 trams.

The fire broke the back of the system and led to

the final closure
in

April 1969. I only had one opportunity to ride

Brisbane trams - in

December 1968. Due to work commitments I missed

the Adelaide Street

routes by one week. This guy from Melbourne was

surprised by the

hills and curves on the Brisbane routes. The trams

were starting to

get rather run down by December 1968 as it was

only five months
till

the final closure.
Paul in Melbourne

Vale, the finest system in Australia at it's time.

Citadis

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 3
Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2002 13:46:51 -0700
From: "Donald Galt" <[email protected]>
Subject: Views of Wellington - 2

The second in a series of scans from the picture
booklet "Views of Wellington,
the Capital City of New Zealand" published by
Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd, probably
in the late 1930s.

The first in the series was the shot of Willis
Street posted under the subject
heading "Wellington in the 1940s or '50s."

In that post I stated that the book gave no date nor
publisher, but on the back
- where no sighted person could possibly have missed
it! - is the inscription
of the ubiquitous Whitcombe and Tombs. Anyway, who
else could have been the
publisher?

No date still, that I can find.

For the curious, I bought the book not in NZ but in
the USA, and most certainly
not in the 1930s. It cost me 50 cents used.

No.2 "A Busy Corner of Courtenay Place"

The view looks west across Taranaki Street, with
Dixon Street forking to the
left and Manners Street to the right. Up on the hill
can be seen what was then
called Victoria University College.

The tram, one of the original Double-saloons,
carries number 1, so is
presumably inbound from Island Bay or an
intermediate point. It bears a placard
advertising a Deanna Durbin film.

Don Galt
Seattle USA


[This message contained attachments]

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 4
Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2002 13:46:51 -0700
From: "Donald Galt" <[email protected]>
Subject: Hataitai - Map

For those not completely familiar with Wellington
who have been following the
series of posts about the Hataitai Tunnel, here is a
map.

It is scanned from the 1953 edition of NZMS 17
Wellington (crown copyright, of
course - keep it mum!) and in blue shows the No.2
tram route coming from the
city through the tunnel to Hataitai and continuing
south towards Kilbirnie. It
also shows in yellow the No.15 trolleybus route
running south along Hataitai
Road and returning north on Waipapa Road.

It does not show the terminal spur in Waitoa Road
across the Hataitai Road /
Moxham Avenue intersection, which figures in
Graeme's pictures "WCCT Hataitai
terminus 245 257" and ""WCCT hassles @ Hataitai.

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