Railmaps

@railmaps@mastodon.online
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Publisher of rail maps & public transport timetables. Photographer, public transport advocate and enjoyer of irony and incongruities. Ethics matter more than politics.
Who am IPublisher of rail maps and public transport timetables
Websitehttps://railmaps.com.au/
LocationAustralia

10W is now preserved at the Tramway Heritage Centre in Bylands, Vic.

The track in the photo here today carries route 58 trams, connecting Toorak in the south with West Coburg in the north, along William Street, Melbourne.

It was re-numbered 10W in the 1970s to avoid number clashes with Melbourne's then new Z1 class trams (similar to no 90 just poking its nose into the scene in the right background) that were (for some reason) allocated numbers from 1 upward.

Works trams were displaced in about 2002 by rubber-tyred vehicles which are now used to perform all works tasks. By that time, 10W would have been 94 years old, so that is a pretty fair retirement age by anyone's standard.

This tram was originally a Sydney tram. Built by the Meadowbank Manufacturing Company in 1908 for the NSW Government Tramways, it is a four wheeler, and was originally a crossbench car with open seating at one end and semi-enclosed seats at the other end. 107 of these cars, designated the K class, operated across the massive Sydney tramway network until the late 1940s. Just two K class trams remained in passenger service until the mid 1950s dedicated to the Neutral Bay line.

Today's historic photo of the day: Works #tram no 10W is the brightest coloured thing in the scene on a winters' day as it turns from Peel Street into William Street, Melbourne, Vic, July 1 1989.

Works trams are no longer seen in Melbourne, but until about 2002 there was a small fleet of these non passenger carrying trams that were used for tasks such as carrying materials between depots, grinding the rails and as in this case, cleaning (or scrubbing) the tracks free of mud, leaves and debris.

Today's West Highland service run by Scotrail offers 6 return services each day operated by modern railcars. Whilst today's trains are less characterful than the class 37s of the 1980s, and you can no longer stick your head through the window, the service is faster and more frequent, and the West Highland scenery is no less spectacular.

There is today also a loco-hauled overnight sleeper train between Fort William and London operated by Caledonian Sleeper that calls here at Crianlarich en-route

Loco-hauled West Highland line trains were replaced by self-propelled railcars in late 1988 or early 1989. Most 37 class locos have now been retired, but a number have been preserved and a handful do continue to run in revenue service today although they are used on secondary services and no longer haul passenger trains.

37422 found herself in ownership of freight operator Direct Rail Services after privatisation of British Rail. She remained operational for many years, but is now in storage.

A total of 309 English Electric class 37 diesel locos were built for British Rail between 1960 and 1965. These 90mph mainliners went through a number of variations, modifications and re-numberings through their lives, some were fitted with different engines and some (including the one seen here) were fitted with electric train heating for operating passenger trains in colder regions.

Today's historic photo of the day: A class 37 exactly 37 years ago today. English Electric Type 3 diesel locomotive 37422 sits at the head of a Glasgow-bound British Rail West Highland Line #train from Oban at the junction station of Crianlarich, Scotland, UK, April 22 1988.

Crianlarich is 96km north-west of Glasgow by rail, served by West Highland line trains from Glasgow that from Crianlarich run either north to Fort William and Mallaig or west to Oban.

Then on the holiday Monday, Jan 31, the train, now hauled by two 49s headed west to Narromine then via Wyanga and Peak Hill to Parkes and back along the main West line to Lithgow where another 46 class electric took over for the trip down to Sydney.
This photo was snapped during a grand rail tour of western NSW spanning the three day Australia Day long weekend (29-31 January). Early on the morning of the 29th, the train left Sydney behind a 46 class electric locomotive which took the train to Lithgow. At Lithgow, the 46 detached and 4910 dropped on for the journey up to Coonabarabran. The following morning the train ran up to Gwabegar then back to Coonabarabran and across to Dubbo for another overnight stay.