NZ Herald - Fares please! Veterans ready to roll
Cawood, David
Friday, November 15, 2002 3:41 AM
Fares please! Veterans ready to roll
See picture @
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3004376&msg=emaillink
15.11.2002
By MATHEW DEARNALEY
Aucklanders stewing in snail pace traffic may rue the day when the region
dispensed with the services of veteran "trammies" Wesley Macdonald, Marian
Gallop and their electric workhorses.
Mr Macdonald transferred to the region's buses as an inspector and driver,
but there was no place for women on the buses, so Mrs Gallop was laid off
from her conducting job in 1956 without so much as a farewell card or free
travel pass, let alone a golden handshake.
But it is not a wake that the pair are attending this weekend, at a reunion
of more than 100 former tram motormen and conductors.
They and the Museum of Transport and Technology are getting ready to party,
on what some regard as Auckland's true centenary.
To mark the occasion, the museum is offering more than a week of free rides
from tomorrow on its eight working trams.
It was 100 years ago that Auckland joined other British Empire cities and
began using electric power to whisk people to work at a speed and level of
comfort far beyond the capacity of the horse.
By 1945, says museum tram expert Dr Bruce Gamble, Auckland's fleet of more
than 200 was collecting more than 99 million fares annually - an average of
1.36 trips a day for each of the city's 200,000 or so residents.
Dunedin beat Auckland to the switch in 1900, but Auckland was quick to
follow, taking 15 1/2 months to build a bigger system costing almost $100
million in today's money, starting with a city-to-Ponsonby service in 1902.
The official opening was a century ago this Sunday when Auckland founding
father Sir John Logan Campbell led a convoy of trams up Queen St.
As tram historian and former Herald illustrations editor Graham Stewart put
it, a 20th-century marvel had come to town to give workers a new deal,
enabling families to settle in the outer suburbs of Mt Eden and Kingsland.
Each section cost one penny to travel, and the only price rise in 54 years
was an increase to tuppence for the first stage of most rides.
But the regular service did not start for a week after the festival opening.
Three of 11 tram motormen on their way from Sydney drowned in the wreck of
the steamer Elingamite, off the Three Kings Islands, which claimed 45 lives.
When Mr Macdonald started work in 1940 as a conductor - he graduated to the
sought-after job of motorman two years later - trams ran as often as one
every four minutes on some peak-hour routes.
He believes he is the longest-serving ex-trammie alive at 87, but he managed
to get No 248 up to a good clip at his old motorman's perch during a
practice run this week.
A beaming Mr Macdonald pushed the "Streamliner" to about 25km/h before
encountering a governor installed to stop it going too fast.
"It's the first time I've driven a tram since 1956," the octogenarian
speedster told Motat volunteers.
"It was the best job I ever had."
Mrs Gallop signed up in 1942, the first year women were allowed on board as
conductors during the wartime labour shortage.
She recalls emptying her fare bag of pennies every second trip to avoid
injuring her back under their weight.
Conductors used to simply rattle their bags to invite fares, and passengers
she may have missed in a crowded tram would volunteer their pennies to her
at the end of a run.
"They were honest in those days."
Custom on the trams fell off markedly after World War II, when cars became
much more accessible.
Much as he loved trams, Mr Macdonald believes no room could be made for them
in today's traffic, especially with "the incompetence of so many New Zealand
drivers".
But Dr Gamble, a light-rail champion whose grandfather drove Auckland trams
for 40 years, says they cope perfectly well in Melbourne and other overseas
cities.
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See picture @
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3004376&msg=emaillink
15.11.2002
By MATHEW DEARNALEY
Aucklanders stewing in snail pace traffic may rue the day when the region
dispensed with the services of veteran "trammies" Wesley Macdonald, Marian
Gallop and their electric workhorses.
Mr Macdonald transferred to the region's buses as an inspector and driver,
but there was no place for women on the buses, so Mrs Gallop was laid off
from her conducting job in 1956 without so much as a farewell card or free
travel pass, let alone a golden handshake.
But it is not a wake that the pair are attending this weekend, at a reunion
of more than 100 former tram motormen and conductors.
They and the Museum of Transport and Technology are getting ready to party,
on what some regard as Auckland's true centenary.
To mark the occasion, the museum is offering more than a week of free rides
from tomorrow on its eight working trams.
It was 100 years ago that Auckland joined other British Empire cities and
began using electric power to whisk people to work at a speed and level of
comfort far beyond the capacity of the horse.
By 1945, says museum tram expert Dr Bruce Gamble, Auckland's fleet of more
than 200 was collecting more than 99 million fares annually - an average of
1.36 trips a day for each of the city's 200,000 or so residents.
Dunedin beat Auckland to the switch in 1900, but Auckland was quick to
follow, taking 15 1/2 months to build a bigger system costing almost $100
million in today's money, starting with a city-to-Ponsonby service in 1902.
The official opening was a century ago this Sunday when Auckland founding
father Sir John Logan Campbell led a convoy of trams up Queen St.
As tram historian and former Herald illustrations editor Graham Stewart put
it, a 20th-century marvel had come to town to give workers a new deal,
enabling families to settle in the outer suburbs of Mt Eden and Kingsland.
Each section cost one penny to travel, and the only price rise in 54 years
was an increase to tuppence for the first stage of most rides.
But the regular service did not start for a week after the festival opening.
Three of 11 tram motormen on their way from Sydney drowned in the wreck of
the steamer Elingamite, off the Three Kings Islands, which claimed 45 lives.
When Mr Macdonald started work in 1940 as a conductor - he graduated to the
sought-after job of motorman two years later - trams ran as often as one
every four minutes on some peak-hour routes.
He believes he is the longest-serving ex-trammie alive at 87, but he managed
to get No 248 up to a good clip at his old motorman's perch during a
practice run this week.
A beaming Mr Macdonald pushed the "Streamliner" to about 25km/h before
encountering a governor installed to stop it going too fast.
"It's the first time I've driven a tram since 1956," the octogenarian
speedster told Motat volunteers.
"It was the best job I ever had."
Mrs Gallop signed up in 1942, the first year women were allowed on board as
conductors during the wartime labour shortage.
She recalls emptying her fare bag of pennies every second trip to avoid
injuring her back under their weight.
Conductors used to simply rattle their bags to invite fares, and passengers
she may have missed in a crowded tram would volunteer their pennies to her
at the end of a run.
"They were honest in those days."
Custom on the trams fell off markedly after World War II, when cars became
much more accessible.
Much as he loved trams, Mr Macdonald believes no room could be made for them
in today's traffic, especially with "the incompetence of so many New Zealand
drivers".
But Dr Gamble, a light-rail champion whose grandfather drove Auckland trams
for 40 years, says they cope perfectly well in Melbourne and other overseas
cities.
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Share the magic of Harry Potter with Yahoo! Messenger
http://us.click.yahoo.com/4Q_cgB/JmBFAA/46VHAA/DiTxlB/TM
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Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/