👍👍

1988 to 1994 I regularly drove Ws on both Lygon Street routes.

Yeah 19 is the tram that goes up Elizabeth st past Peter Mac to Preston and back to Flinders st. A good trip and a lot of stops including Carlton.🇦🇺🌦

You have done well. You probably have a better understanding than some people who have actually been there. And depending where you live and where you want to go, owning a car would not be necessary although generally would be a lot faster for most trips. As for the T lights, Melbourne trams with extremely few exceptions never cause traffic lights to change any sooner than they otherwise would. It’s just that in some places a seven second T light is activated by trams and this is slotted in between traffic light phases. You may also notice on occasions that a tram will bring up a right turn arrow which may not normally be there so that any cars blocking the tramline will hopefully take advantage of that arrow and get out of the way.

Yes, the City Bathed has interesting architecture unlike many basic functional - only buildings. Too bad that the nearest tram stop is a hike away these days.

😊👍

A bit before my time there. Glad you liked it. The appearance has not changed much.

@@tressteleg1 It certainly hasn’t! I remember “Century Tyres” from my time, and I left Melbourne in 1972!

By way of reminder: the firm “Century Tyres” is on the south side of the Lygon/Blyth Streets junction.

😊👍

Lucky to have the choice. I suppose it would depend on whether your city destination would be along Swanson St or Collins St.

@@tressteleg1 yes. When i worked in DCA (Civil Aviation Aussie HQ)at 599 Little Collins St, in '57 & 58, the best was via West Preston No10. When I as 17, in '57, learning to fly, i trammed in via No1 to Flinders St Station (to train to Mentone then walked to Moorabin Aerodrome).

Oh well, you’ve got about five years on me. Another example of the destination being your best choice of tram is that from Saint Kilda station to Bourke and Swanston Street, running time for the 16 or 96 is virtually identical. It is today, as it was nearly 30 years ago when I was driving those trams.

@@tressteleg1 I think Major General Risson saved Melbourne's trams and their network ( & the entire MMTB) [?]

Risson was certainly a factor, but as the tramways board was financed by the state government, they could have shut the Tramway any time they wished. One more plausible suggestion is that politicians based in the country did not want to see good money being spent on replacing trams with buses instead of that money going to the farmers and that may have been the major factor in saving trams. Whatever the reason, luckily so.

😊👍. Yes Swanson St has changed, but Lygon St and further out is not much different from what it was decades ago.. It looks like your travel plans for Melbourne cannot take place this year - maybe next year.

@@tressteleg1 My new travel plan is to come to Australia in 2024. I am then 60 jears old. The Australian goverment would not let me in to Australia although l have two citizenships form germany and Australia. I heard that Melbourne has a new Lockdown.

@@peterausfranken That is a long time away. As a tourist, I can’t think of any reason why you could not travel immediately that overseas tourists are eventually admitted into the country. I have never heard of a 60 year of age limit. If you have enough money for the holiday, and comply with whatever Covid restrictions there might be at that time, I can think of no problem. As for lockdowns, a man in hotel quarantine in Adelaide caught Covid from another sick person next door but his own sickness did not appear until after he had been in Melbourne for awhile and to date, despite the lockdown, 67 people in Melbourne have caught it from others in the community. Wait and see...

@@tressteleg1 I had contact to the Australian Embassy hier in Berlin and they said it would be hard to come as tourist to Australia in this and next year. My Australian Citizenship doesn't help me. And while i want to have 4 weeks of vaction at one time i have to clear this with my work. Normaly we can only have up to 3 weeks at one time, but 2024 i can have more time for this plan. Here in germany the Lockdown goes to the end. About 2/3 of the population has now a vaccanited and Covid is now being not much for a problem for us now.

Information from the embassy about tourists not allowed in at present is correct today, and no one knows when it will end, maybe later this year, more likely next year, or maybe the year after. The only arrivals into Australia are citizens returning home and they must spend two weeks in Government controlled hotel quarantine at their own expense, around $3,000. There would go most of your holiday if you could get in. The inoculation is going at snail pace - about 3% of the population is fully vaccinated, and it started in February! Very poor. By the way, outside of Melbourne, life in Australia is almost like normal and most people have never had any lockdowns at all. For only two weeks did I have to wear a mask outside on the Gold Coast.

Yes, that was the Coburg depot which lost its trams very many years ago.

I agree that it’s a good way to travel, but some traffic light priority like on the Gold Coast and in Canberra it would make it even better.

At least if you work and live in suitable places.

@@tressteleg1 of course!! I live in Philadelphia. PA. The city is well served by public transit. I I have always lived in a convenient area. I can even walk to many places

Well, Philly reluctantly continues to run a few tram routes, as you well know, and they seem to be doing their best avoiding the 15, true to form. It’s odd that while many cities are installing light rail lines, several of the original tramways which never shut down are totally disinterested in expansion

@@tressteleg1 The route 15 operates with rebuilt PCCs. Five subway/surface routes operate with newer light rail equipment. Philadelphia used to have a streetcar on almost every street. Buses replaced the trolleys in the 50's - 60's. Rebuilding light rail lines is bogged down in politics or lack of money.

I had no idea where you live. I am well aware that until about the 1960s Philly had a vast network. The city subway essentially saved the rest, except for the 15 which does not go there, as you well know. I am kept fairly up to date by Russ Jackson who designed the Kawasaki and Norristown cars, but can’t remember if part of the 15 is running the PCCs or whether it is all ‘temporarily’ bus operated. Maybe you have not seen this before. Philladelphia Trolleys 1976 & 1982 kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mJ2RYLV3krmpoJ8.html

Ringwood to Lilydale has already been done, as have sections between the city and Ringwood. Hopefully you can fill the gaps with one or two of these. Driver's View Trains Melbourne kzfaq.info/sun/PLLtOIHp49XNDtaNr2H41P2th0S56s6bIH

Yes, by a week or 2.

B class. Local body. Sie,ems electrics.

@@tressteleg1 Aí tem vários tipos de bitolas ?👀🚂

I took a few scenes of them at jobs on a previous trip but need more to make a long enough video. They are the Heroes who keep the tramway moving when things go wrong.

@@tressteleg1 They definitely are !

B class bodies built in Melbourne by Commonwealth Engineering (later Bombardier, now Alstom). Electrical equipment Siemens. Same for Z3 and A class trams.

@@tressteleg1 Aí também tem trolebus? (Bush eletrical

Bus Electric ?🚎

Australian cities with (small) trolleybus systems, all gone now. Brisbane, Sydney, Hobart, Launceston, Adelaide, Perth. Never Melbourne.