😊👍

Most viewers get bored rather quickly and only watch a small % of any video. Hopefully by editing out time when nothing is happening they will watch a bit longer.

👍

When I do these Driver’s View videos, if I have already done a section of track common to several routes, I don’t post it again. The section from Haymarket to Flinders Street was already covered in the Driver’s View Route 19 Pt 2, and as that was posted quite some weeks ago, you should be able to find it. Let me know if you have any troubles.

Thanks for your reply. I can find Driver's View Route 19 Pt 1, but unfortunately I cannot find Pt 2 for some reason. If you can help me in some way I'd be very grateful.

I hope this works for you, but it does start at the north end of Royal Pde. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/o9GeftJim7yrY30.html

Thanks very much for this - I look forward to watching both parts later - I don't know how I could have missed them when you first uploaded them!

These things happen. I nearly always upload something new every Friday night by 7.30 AESTime and rarely at other times.

😊👍 unfortunately not a line we worked on at South Melbourne depot.

Thanks Brendon. Your work is pretty slick too!

If you watch my video ‘Melbourne Trams from 1965’ there are several minutes not far from the start taken there in those earlier times.

Dane Filander 😊👍

TheGoldTitan The line certainly does have less trouble with motor traffic compared with some lines. As for other lines, it depends on whether they run in the street with heavy road traffic of much lighter traffic. And the helpfulness or otherwise Of traffic lights also greatly affects tram speeds. take a look at my Drivers View tram 57 video as an example of a line which has a fairly good run in mixed traffic. For better or for worse, Melbourne tram drivers must obey normal road rules.

In Melbourne nearly all tram stops are Conditional which means all trams have push buttons inside. Older classes have a bell cord as well. Passengers waiting at tram stops should indicate to the driver their desire to board. Adelaide is much the same however in Sydney and Gold Coast all stops are compulsory so no bells or cords are fitted to trams.

Thank you for responding! I saw a video of the Gold Coast line where the trams went through some stations not stopping while stopping at others. As far as I’m aware no express services exist yet.

There has never been an express service on the Gold Coast. However trams may have passed through stops without stopping during pre-opening test running for the original stage or the Helensvale extension. Prior to that opening, a group of fans was able to ride the line and it did not stop at all stops. That was my Driver’s View video from the Hospital to Helensvale. Also a Changeover for a defective tram may not need to stop at the tram stops. I know the line fairly well - it passes within about 700 metres of my house and I use it once or twice a week.

Oh okay! Thanks! I’m heading to Melbourne on Monday again :D

Have fun there, and don’t forget your overcoat. I wait for the so-called summer months to travel there!

The modern low floor trams are basically 4 wheelers with body sections suspended between them. Consequently like all 4 wheelers the ride is inferior to a bogie tram. Such is the sacrifice to get low floor trams although the E class are a design exception.

As I see it, the driver can continue until the tram has actually stopped. Anybody is stupid if they walk out onto a roadway without making sure that all traffic has stopped. In the event of such a collision, I could not say who will be considered to be at blame in the eyes of the law. Might be 50-50.

Yes I have it already recorded, West Coburg to Flemington Rd. I’ll keep it in mind for use in a month or so. I try to spread my subjects around a bit.

Are you stuck with any other lines? I have a number of other lines yet to be processed.

Going back and forth to the airport, I always thought must go on that line one day. The Essendon tram depot building looks like a nice bit of 1960 heritage, look forward to more videos... it's all good!

Um, er, I’m not much of a historian but expect that the Depot itself would be around 100 years old. Just the front offices are post war.

Any chance of a Skyrail video any time soon? thanks again!

I have a good supply of before and during sequences taken for just about all the projects under way. As you may know, Noble Park was the first in this recent batch. When I last spoke to my driver, that section of line was still bristling with inspectors and instructors teaching drivers the New line. When all that fuss dies away, my friend’s camera will come out again. We just have to be patient.

This was filmed on a Saturday afternoon in the Christmas holiday period, so passengers were few. At normal times it carries respectable loads. As for buses, time and again it has been shown that when buses replace trams, people drive their cars instead. When tram replace buses, the opposite happens. I use the Gold Coast Tram with some regularity, and it carries a lot more people than the erratic bus service they replaced.

A few times I've been a passenger along that bit and they where doing WAY faster that 30. Not very comfortable, sure beats taking the bus tho.

​@@tressteleg1agreed!

I think I was fooled by the camera view into thinking 30kmh, is it more like 50?

It depends on the amount of wide angle or zoom. With that camera I usually just left it in the standard position.

Well it was until maybe the 1970s when Tullamarine was opened. It remains an airport for smaller aircraft. Tullamarine has no rail connection, and latest proposals may be on hold now.

I never noticed 😊

Yes, that would be OK. By coincidence, the first part of that return journey will be published this Friday.

@@tressteleg1 ok! Thanks a lot!

It’s nice to bring back some memories for you!

It’s already there. See Driver’s View Melbourne tram 82 Footscray to Moonee Ponds.

If you are referring to the Belgian BN cars, although their appearance is rather similar, I think this is just a coincidence as there is no Belgian influence in these Melbourne B class trams, or more accurately, B2 classes.

Somewhere around there :-)

Summer tends to be in December and January in Melbourne but you can still shiver like crazy some days :-(

Yes it does look strange here, but if you were in front of it you would see something sensible. The video camera takes ‘frames’ of an image, just like old movie cameras took a string of little photos, in the case of Standard 8 film, 16 every second. The eye is fooled into thinking it is a continuous stream of light, not a lot of little jerks. Electronic signs like tram destinations also are pulsing light and as they glide in and out of synchronism with the camera, you see a proper destination, a blank destination or scraps of destination. Ordinary still photos also have the same problem as video depending on when you press the shutter button. And that is what that billboard is doing - showing scraps of the sign.

I can’t be sure why. The curve looks like it could take a much greater speed. If there are any chewed out curves, the camera may not pick that up but I am only guessing about that. In my days of driving in Melbourne we were allowed to work out speeds for ourselves. Nowadays drivers are not allowed to make any decisions for themselves.

tressteleg1 That sucks.

It's not the world's slowest tram system for nothing!!!

Lack of any real traffic light priority with trams sitting at red lights for ages, tinpot municipal councils limiting traffic speeds to 40km/h 24/7, or close to it slow trams more than a bit of maybe dodgy track. But it all adds up.

tressteleg1 Council

The existing line takes 52 minutes offpeak, twice as long as the Skybus all the way city to airport. The airport is still quite a distance from the tram terminus.The ride by tram would take so long that nobody would ride it. The proposed Airport train is the best option.

@@tressteleg1 An expanded Skybus operation, using central dedicated lanes along the freeway would, in my opinion, be superior to, and cheaper than, an airport rail service.

@@brucewilliams8714 Now with the Covid outbreak I'd say airport rail is as good as dead

Unfortunately those events take place outside of summer, and I hate cold weather. Even so, no matter what summer month I choose to visit Melbourne, I seem to bring an unseasonally cold burst of weather every time! It is a joke with my Melbourne friends. My video “Eurotram from Portugal in Melbourne “ video captures some of the atmosphere of special workings for a big event, namely the Grand Prix.

So often there is something which spoils a video and nothing can be done about it.