Fw: A bit of a grind
Graeme Bennett
Tuesday, October 16, 2001 11:42 AM
By now you will hav gone insane trying to figure
out my last two postings with the attachments.
This story was meant to preceed those postings, but I put
the wrong addy on and Mailer Daemon sent it right back !!.
Please to forgive ( Seems like I am always saying
that : ))
----- Original Message -----
From: Graeme
Bennett
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2001 4:51 PM
Subject: A bit of a grind
Soon after midnight in early 1958, a friend
and I arrived at Wellington's Newtown tram depot on the last run in tram of
the day.
We were dressed in our old gear and carried several half
gallon flagons of brown amber fluid ,
These being normal Kiwi payment for services about to be
rendered.
Soon we met our two companions for the night's
activities.
In a previous life these blokes had been regular tram
drivers, but now were the crew on grinder tram 301, and we had arranged to go
out for a RIDE with them.
We located the car over on the short road on the
Western side of the depot where it lived in company of Decker 47.
After the mandatory checks, and promises to bring it back
before sunup, we set out.
The little car swayed and rocked throught the depot
trackage and out onto the dark streets.
We rattled through Newtown , past the hospital and down
past the Basin Reserve to Courtenay Place.
The center of Wellington was totaly dead at that time of
night in those days .
It was still 6 pm closing, and very few clubs or cafes
stayed open.
301 was in a world of her own ....and so were we
!!
On through Manners Street, Willis Street and Lambton
Quay, to the Railway Station.
Here we ventured onto Thorndon Quay and the line to
Thorndon depot....... route 11 and 4
This was to be our "Job" for the night.
Grinding the "Down " track
Our crew set up the car by screwing down the carborundum
scrubbing blocks down onto the tracks.
(These were fitted between the axles of the 21e truck
.)
A supply of water was directed onto the blocks to keep
them cool .
The THREE headlights at each end were turned
on.
With one of the crew in each cab we set out toward
Thorndon, not exceeding full series speed.
The line here paralleling the NZ Railway main Wellington
sidings and Multiple unit depots
At a point approximately 1 mile from our starting point
and just short of Thorndon depot we stopped and reversed direction.
The second man merely pushed his contoller key to forward
at his end , after his mate pulled his key into neutral.
This was achieved by voice commands......not a drama in
such a small car.
The trolley pole was speared back the way we had come
without any problem.
And so the stage was set for the evening.,
running "Bang Road" in one direction.
Ater perhaps an hour of this we were offered a
DRIVE,
Which of course we rejected for at least several
seconds...............
We very soon got into the swing of it , and performed like
veterans.
The crew ended up in the centre of the car with the big
sliding doors open........ boiling the billy and having a smoke.
The night concluded somewhat prematurely with the failure
of one of the carborundum blocks.
This was to result in the car having to return to Newtown
early.
We left the little car outside the main Wellington station
building around 3am and caught a nocturnal electric train to Lower
Hutt.
My lasting memory is of her sitting in the centre of the
road with all lights blazing , doors open , and with smoke from the Primus
rising into the still night air.
And not another road vehicle or person to be
seen.
WGB
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