Sounds like because it was already starting to collapse just a few years later

One this week

Good/bad news, the 2024 Live Day Trams won't be in October like usual, but is actually this weekend!

My pleasure!

Thanks, will do!

Wow! That's a huge compliment, thanks! I am hoping at some point to do an All The Stations Aotearoa a la Geoff, Every Disused Station a la Paul & Rebecca Whitewick, and Every Tram Stop a la Jen on the Move

Glad we reset and got a quarter out of it. We'll try again later in the year - that'll be the 40th anniversary of the 1st ever local peal in the tower and the same conductor is available and keen!

Hoping to try again later this year. October marks 40 years since the first all-local peal (the bells were only cast in 1862 haha) and we have the original conductor wanting to repeat the performance. Fingers crossed on that one!

@@spil030 there are 8 bells in the tower cast by john warner and sons bells 1 3 5 6 7 and 8 which is the tenor and weighs 17-2-0cwts and whitechapel bells 2 and 4

@@user-sn1qx1tm4l yes I've covered that in another video. And the tenor is 20-0-6. We're not sure where 17-2-0 came from just recently. This is my home tower, I'm quite familiar with the bells here. Originally all of the bells were Warners, but the 2 & 4 had to be recast in the 1970s by which point Warners were closed, so Whitechapel did the work. Taylors now do the inspections when in the country.

I do make mention of it. I did a whole piece on it, and the cover image for the video is taken there. The door is now overgrown so you can't easily see it. I got as close as I could through the trees and recorded from there.

@@spil030 ah okay. There is another steel door at the bottom of the hill next to the waste water pumping st station, this apparently houses the pumping equipments. I actually thought this steel door of the pumping station belongs to the tunnel and the front portion of the tunnel was used for housing the waste water pumps.

No, the tunnel door is further back. It's a vertical door into the cliff wall. I've visited it before, and that's how spelunkers have gotten in before. But by the time I filmed for the video it had been grown over.

@@spil030 yes it is fully covered and there is no way we can see the walls unless we get into the vegetation.

Thanks!

I think they are - at least as well as can be. Of course, if money weren't an issue and there were all the workers available, they'd be able to have a overhaul, new paint work, shiny bells & whistles, and preventative maintenance on an extremely frequent basis. I'm not involved in this, but I understand the team are mostly volunteers and have been bogged down with a couple of big restorations which have prevented them from spending the time they'd like to keeping the current fleet of NZ & Australian trams in the condition they'd like.

Kia ora Rohan. I can't say I know definitively. You could try Graham Stewart's last book: "trams still around New Zealand" which has a good list of all the trams in NZ, including the Melbourne ones. Alternatively, the Wiki page for the W-class Melbourne trams has a list of preserved trams around the world: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W-class_Melbourne_tram. In Auckland are 6: 321, 893, 906, 1032 at MOTAT, and 852 and 881 at Dockline.

It's because the tramway here is dual guage. The Auckland and Australian (Melbourne) trams are wider than the other trams, so they use the outer rails, and the narrower trams from Wellington use the inner rail. I'm glad that there is only two sizes otherwise it'd be a lot more complicated! As you can imagine, this causes a problem at the points, and is possibly a video I could make in the future.

Thank you very much!

Maggiebee in Aus

Thanks Maggie!

When I was young and stupid my girlfriend and I explored that tunnel, it didn’t go back very far, it was difficult to find even then. It had a nice view from the entrance. I was told it was originally connected to the tunnels which were repurposed for the Savage Memorial. I don’t know how correct this is.

@@MasterChief37 That's exactly right about that cave / tunnel. It goes back only a little way but I was so surprised how you could easily stand up inside and wander to the tunnel. I am wrong about it being closed up. I passed there yesterday and while the tree vegetation has grown it's still possible to see the cave entrance and climb up into the cave.

No! I haven't! Where abouts is it near Mission Bay? Under the memorial, near Kelly Tarltons, or on the other side?

@@spil030 HI Scott - Basically you park in the car park of the Tamaki Yacht club - Get out of your car and look directly across the road and among the trees in the side of the hill. NOW scan your eyes until you see a small hole in the side of the hill. It's a cave. When you see the opening of the cave that's where you start. Climb up toward the cave. It's a bit tricky to climb but you look fit. It's not a big climb. Just a little deceptive. The cave entrance looks small but it opens up and you can stand up very easy in it. Follow the cave into the tunnel and it runs into the back into another section. Me and my dad did it and he's in his 60's. Good luck and if you need any more information please let me know

My mates and I used to muck around up in that cave when we were teens. Great days….

I had a comment here somewhere which I now can't find which covered that we have bell locks on our bells when they're in the upright position. That's the topic of a future video if I can get our steeplekeeper, the engineer who invented the system, to sit down for more than 5 minutes!

Thanks Richard! I've been slowly making a list of other videos I'd like to make, so if you think of anything, let me know, and I'll add it to my list. We've got a video on the health & safety induction for visitors, and I'm thinking to also do one for visiting film crews and contractors who will go into spaces the public don't go into.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you for your kind words! Many of us never got to meet him, but those who did spoke extremely fondly of him, and what is able to be done now is only because of his efforts, so he will always be well remembered at MOTAT.