RE: noise (was Visit to Melbourne)

Thank you, David - a very helpful assessment. It would be interesting to
know from the Melbournites whether this noise level has provoked any public
reaction. Is the noise regarded as an inevitable trade-off for the
advantages of low floor, modern styling etc? Or as something which needs to
be fixed? It will be interesting to find out how it performs on the
cushioned and grass track on the Box Hill extension when it is opened.

BTW, the quietest tram I have encountered so far - including Melbourne's As,
Bs and Zs - is ex-Dunedin 11 operating on the Christchurch Tramway. As many
on this list will know, it is a 1903 vintage Brill box car mounted on a 4
wheel ex-Glasgow roller-bearing truck (details not at my fingertips right
now). The Christchurch track is ordinary mass concrete, and of course 11 is
small and operated quite slowly. Still, it shows that old tech is not
necessarily noisy, and new isn't necessarily quiet!

Brent Efford

-----Original Message-----
From: exchange19 [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, 7 October 2002 3:57 p.m.
To: [email protected]
Subject: [TramsDownUnder] Re: Visit to Melbourne


Sorry for the delay in replying, Brent; I must have overlooked your
comment. The Citadis cars I rode on produced a loud, hollow sound on
street track particularly where it's mass concrete, in other words
the vast majority of Melbourne's street track. On the stretch
between the bottom end of Bourke St down Spencer & under the railway
bridges to the Crown Casino/Convention Centre the noise was such as
one would expect to hear from an elderly tram eking out its last days
of service. That's why I made the comment in the first place. On
the reserved track it was a different story. On both the 96 and 109
sleeper tracks, the cars ran smoothly and quietly with impressive
acceleration & speed. The B class may now look a bit dated when
lined up against the Citadis but there was the feeling of comparative
solidity and seats were much more comfortable. The noise levels on
the street track were definitely lower than on the Citadis. By the
way, I rode on the same track I mentioned above in different cars ie
A's B's Citadis & even a W (route 12)and the older cars were
definitely quieter.

Regards
David in Brisbane.

--- In TramsDownUnder@y..., "Brent Efford" <brent.efford@t...> wrote:

Interesting to have those comments, David - as one who is able to

visit

Melbourne even less often (my last visit was August last year, and

hopes for

this year appear likely to be disappointed).

How would the noise (volume and frequency) of the C compare with

the Z, A or

B? (Or the W, for that matter!)

Is it markedly different on open/sleepered track compared with mass

concrete

street track?

What about the Combinos?

Cheers,

Brent Efford

-----Original Message-----
From: exchange19 [mailto:drevis@l...]
Sent: Thursday, 3 October 2002 3:09 p.m.
To: TramsDownUnder@y...
Subject: [TramsDownUnder] Visit to Melbourne


I went down to Melbourne a fortnight ago on business. In the week I
was there I naturally made the time to go tram riding. Some
impressions:

The Citadis trams, although looking suitably impressive and
modernistic are rather disappointing and noisy when running on

street

track.

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