RailmapsJan 13, 2023

Today's historic #photo of the day: Transporting-art liveried W2 class #tram no 525 running an East Burwood bound route 75 service heads east across the Swanston Street intersection in Flinders Street, Melbourne, August 2 1987.

This is probably the most recognisable intersection in Melbourne. At right is Young and Jackson's hotel whilst not visible in this shot, Flinders Street station is at left. The pic was taken from the now demolished podium above the former Princes Bridge station.

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Whilst W2 class trams such as that seen here were once Melbourne's most numerous class of tram, by 1987, most had been withdrawn and those that remained were generally sparingly used and kept in operational order in case of emergencies. And that's exactly what happened on this weekend when maintenance bans led to many modern trams being temporarily taken out of service and every available old tram pressed into service.
Jan 13, 2023 at 1:36amWeb
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That weekend though really was however a last hurrah for the W2 trams. The tram maintenance bans were lifted after just a couple of days and the W2s returned to their depots. The last W2s in regular service ran just four months later in December 1987 and no 525 was withdrawn at that time. Just a handful of her sisters were retained thereafter and they were used only in exceptional circumstances into the early 1990s.
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W2 trams usually carried traditional green and cream liveries, but no 525 was one of the first six trams painted by artists in 1978 under the Transporting Art program. In effect, these trams became mobile artworks that brightened up what was then still a quite conservative city. No 525 was painted by Melbourne artist Les Kossatz (1943-2011) a selection of whose other works can be viewed on the Heidi Museum of Modern Art website here https://collection.heide.com.au/persons/39/les-kossatz
Les Kossatz

Heide
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Today, Young and Jackson's hotel is still serving customers and Flinders Street station and trams in both Flinders and Swanston Streets are as busy as ever. Princes Bridge station and the podium above it (from which I shot this photo) were demolished as part of construction of Federation Square which now occupies this location. But this spot will once again be an entrance to a railway station when the new Town Hall station opens in a couple of years as part of the Melbourne Metro Tunnel.