Re: More Christchurch Brill 11 and St Kilda train station and light rail
Greg King
Saturday, August 25, 2001 7:30 AM
Hi Bob,
I know what it's like trying to get it home, my rail was in a little "box"
trailer and as soon as I hit 55 Kph on the freeway, it would fishtale all
over the place! 817 was the first W5 retired apart from the two wrecks (803
and 813) in the 60's, it had a twisted body from a derailment and the roof
was rotten, the body was in a scrap yard, part of that huge cllection of W's
that guy was going to do wonders with, it was in company with 756 and 799
that are now at Gales Creek. I cut about 10ft off one end and brought it
home. This holidays, along with extending my garage, I plan on finally
roofing the ting so I can actually restore it, it will then form a small
memorabilia museum.
Believe it or not, when I bought the wreck (the remains were scrapped) I
went home that night and weny through my photo collection to see if I had a
shot (it was an Essendon car all it's life) of it, lo and behold, it turned
out, it was the first tram I ever drove. When I was 15, I had 2 things on my
mind, girls and DC3's, I used to haunt the airport at Essendon and would
also look at the trams (I had always loved trams but the had taken a back
seat by then), anyway, one day, my friend (who later committed suicide) and
I were hanging around one day looking at this great green and cream monster
when the motorman started to talk to us (he does'nt remember but it was
Fred, who became the Transport car driver in the 80's, true gentleman) and
when I told him I loved trams since I was a toddler, he said, "would you
like to drive it down to Bulla Rd"(for those who don't know, this was the
reserved track section that ran into the airport), he did'nt have to ask
twice and I got my first taste, I was hooked there and then on the trolley
drug. my friend took a shot as we moved off and even though I'm just a black
blob (the shadow blocked me out) and you can see fred beside me, I instantly
remembered the day, talk about coincidence.
Another incident with me and 817 (which I remembered soon as I saw the car)
was once when running in from Essendon Airport later when I was a Motorman
at essendon depot. We were coming down Mt Alexander rd from Keilor Rd (in
the reserve with the palm trees) and my connie was counting out her money up
the back, I was doing the normal cautious running in speed of FLAT OUT, down
hill, as I approached the "Brickmakers Arms" hotel (remember that one Bob?)
where the cross street is, I looked back through the peep hole and there was
no one on board, well, that's what I thought do you recall how the seat in
the drop centre of a W5, over on the off side was obscured by the bulkhead,
well... I opened her up and flew across the street, for some reason I
glanced at the mirror in time to see, like in a Road Runner Cartoon, this
guy take three step in mid air before hitting the grass of the reserve and
roll A over T, I dropped half the Sahara desert on the tracks as I came to a
stop and bolted out to see if he was ok, he dusted himself off and said, "I
nearly mished my shtop, hick, I'm off to the pub, burp" and off he went, not
a mark on him!!!!!!!!!!
Greg
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I know what it's like trying to get it home, my rail was in a little "box"
trailer and as soon as I hit 55 Kph on the freeway, it would fishtale all
over the place! 817 was the first W5 retired apart from the two wrecks (803
and 813) in the 60's, it had a twisted body from a derailment and the roof
was rotten, the body was in a scrap yard, part of that huge cllection of W's
that guy was going to do wonders with, it was in company with 756 and 799
that are now at Gales Creek. I cut about 10ft off one end and brought it
home. This holidays, along with extending my garage, I plan on finally
roofing the ting so I can actually restore it, it will then form a small
memorabilia museum.
Believe it or not, when I bought the wreck (the remains were scrapped) I
went home that night and weny through my photo collection to see if I had a
shot (it was an Essendon car all it's life) of it, lo and behold, it turned
out, it was the first tram I ever drove. When I was 15, I had 2 things on my
mind, girls and DC3's, I used to haunt the airport at Essendon and would
also look at the trams (I had always loved trams but the had taken a back
seat by then), anyway, one day, my friend (who later committed suicide) and
I were hanging around one day looking at this great green and cream monster
when the motorman started to talk to us (he does'nt remember but it was
Fred, who became the Transport car driver in the 80's, true gentleman) and
when I told him I loved trams since I was a toddler, he said, "would you
like to drive it down to Bulla Rd"(for those who don't know, this was the
reserved track section that ran into the airport), he did'nt have to ask
twice and I got my first taste, I was hooked there and then on the trolley
drug. my friend took a shot as we moved off and even though I'm just a black
blob (the shadow blocked me out) and you can see fred beside me, I instantly
remembered the day, talk about coincidence.
Another incident with me and 817 (which I remembered soon as I saw the car)
was once when running in from Essendon Airport later when I was a Motorman
at essendon depot. We were coming down Mt Alexander rd from Keilor Rd (in
the reserve with the palm trees) and my connie was counting out her money up
the back, I was doing the normal cautious running in speed of FLAT OUT, down
hill, as I approached the "Brickmakers Arms" hotel (remember that one Bob?)
where the cross street is, I looked back through the peep hole and there was
no one on board, well, that's what I thought do you recall how the seat in
the drop centre of a W5, over on the off side was obscured by the bulkhead,
well... I opened her up and flew across the street, for some reason I
glanced at the mirror in time to see, like in a Road Runner Cartoon, this
guy take three step in mid air before hitting the grass of the reserve and
roll A over T, I dropped half the Sahara desert on the tracks as I came to a
stop and bolted out to see if he was ok, he dusted himself off and said, "I
nearly mished my shtop, hick, I'm off to the pub, burp" and off he went, not
a mark on him!!!!!!!!!!
Greg
Good stuff, Greg.them.
I got two lengths of California Street tram track from a street excavation
in San Francisco when I was last there and they are sitting in my mother's
backyard on 32nd & California Street and I can't find anyone who wants
It's great, tall, heavy channel rail. A tragedy they pulled that tram off.my
It used to run past my place on a 24 hours service. You should have seen
rental car dragging its tail end on the way home with that treasure in thecar?
boot.
I take it you got the end off of 817. What happened to the rest of the
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Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/