Melbourne Cable Tramways – Macmeikan & Pollock Reports

Rolling Stock

The original rolling stock for the Richmond line was imported from America [9], but all further tram construction was carried out at the Nicholson Street Workshops. The construction of the rolling stock was of a light design which proved to be most robust. All parts were highly standardised and carried in stock to meet immediate requirements for accident repair and regular maintenance.

John Stephenson Company factory in New York circa 1885. Standard 8-window trailer car number 20 is ready for export to Melbourne, where it will commence service on the Richmond line. The design of cable tram trailers was based on contemporary horse tram practice, and while most MTOC horse trams utilised 6-window cars, a number of 8-window cable trailers were used on the Royal Park-Zoological Gardens horse tram service.

Photograph courtesy JH White.

Most of the metalwork parts were forgings, which included brake gear, drawbars, safety hooks, lifeguard supports, dash frameworks, scrolls, braces, knees and many other small components. These parts were manufactured at the Nicholson Street Workshops and stored in a finished condition. Woodwork parts were also machined and finished at the workshops, so they were also available in store.

A very evident advantage of the light weight rolling stock was its portability. This enabled vehicles to be moved by a horse-drawn lorry designed for the purpose. The lorry decking was approximately 2 feet above ground level, and had rails fixed on it to track gauge. Ramps were provided with attachments for fixing to the lorry, gauge being maintained by metal tie rods and spreaders. These ramps were readily assembled or dismantled for man handling and transport.

A winch was mounted up forward on the deck of the lorry, which was used to load and unload the cars. This method of moving rolling stock was particularly useful in the event of accident, or during full service periods when a vehicle had to be moved from one depot to another, or to/from the workshops.

Another useful device made possible by the lightweight rolling stock was a portable shunt or crossover, used when a line was likely to be blocked for a lengthy period. The shunt could only be placed where grip hatches existed, as otherwise the grips could not be removed from the tunnels when changing tracks. The shunt was made from timber with metal facings and fitments for spiking it down into the wood blocking pavement. A moveable section was bolted to the secured part of the shunt, and covered the track on which the approaching trams ran – when in position it was retained in the rail grooves. This device was later put out of use due to the installation of many more permanent shunts in the track.

Trams were painted in a range of colours, which indicated the route on which they ran, as per the following table. A light of the same colour was displayed at night for the same purpose, although this was not practicable for white cars, as the kerosene lamps used showed yellow behind clear or white glass. In order to avoid this problem, an amber glass was used to differentiate these cars from the yellow routes.

Car Colour	Light Colour	Route	City Street
Red	Red	Prahran & Carlton	Swanston
		Clifton Hill & Spencer St	Bourke
		Northcote & Clifton Hill	–
		Brunswick & Flinders St	Elizabeth
		Victoria St Bridge & Spencer St	Collins
Blue	Blue	Richmond & Spencer St	Flinders
		Nicholson St & Flinders St	Bourke
Green	Green	St Kilda Beach (Esplanade) & North Carlton	Swanston
		South Melbourne & Spring St	Collins
		North Melbourne & Flinders St	Elizabeth
Yellow	Yellow	Toorak & Queensberry St	Swanston
		Windsor & St Kilda Beach (Esplanade)	–
		Fitzroy & Spencer St	Collins
White	Amber	Brighton Rd & Queensberry St	Swanston
		Port Melbourne & Spring St	Collins
		West Melbourne & Flinders St	Elizabeth

The lettering on the dashes of trailer cars showing the routes always had the name of the home depot of the car on top. For example, on the Carlton & Prahran route, Prahran depot cars always displayed PRAHRAN & CARLTON, whilst Carlton depot cars showed CARLTON & PRAHRAN. Some lines such as Brunswick and Richmond lines showed only the one outer destination on the car dashes, the City terminus being omitted.

Special trams were run on early morning services to carry workers to their factories or places of employment. These trams were called “workmen’s specials” and rides were charged at half-fare. Sometimes it became necessary to increase the accommodation for workers on these trams; this was accomplished by coupling a second trailer car to the rear of the first one. The second car was attached to the first by a large shackle, the pin of which passed through the two draw bars.

A trailer car with scraper gear was housed at each depot and was employed to clean out the rail grooves, thus preventing derailments. These scraper cars were run in service all day and used for cleaning as well as service cars during the early morning. The device used was a steel scraper mounted in a head on a bell crank, which was pivoted under the car and controlled by a gooseneck handle and staff similar to the brake gear. By turning the handle the bell crank was revolved, feeding the scraper into the rail groove. Immediately behind the scraper a V shield was arranged to throw the dirt to the side of the rails. When the cleaning was completed the scraper gear was withdrawn from the rails by operating the gooseneck handle, which was then removed, and the gear locked by shackling the staff to the dash frame. The car then remained in service for ordinary passenger traffic. The scraper gear was duplicated at each end of the trailer car, and only used from the trailing end of the car.

Rolling Stock General Dimensions	Dummies		Trailers
	4 post	6 post	Standard	Bogie
Overall length (drawbars or drawheads)	16' 8½"	16' 1"	23' 8"	31' 6½"
Length over roof	15' 9¾"	15' 5¼"	22' 1¾"	30' 1¾"
Length over dashes	15' 10½"	15' 3"	22' 1"	30' 0½"
Length over saloon	–	–	15' 11½"	23' 11½"
Width over drip rails	–	–	7' 0"	7' 0"
Width over steps	7' 2½"	7' 2½"	6' 10"	6' 9¾"
Width over roof	7' 1½"	6' 8½"	6' 7¾"	6' 7½"
Width over fence rail	–	–	6' 7½"	6' 7¼"
Width over pillars	7' 0¼"	7' 0¼"	6' 6¼"	6' 6½"
Width over underframe	–	–	6' 0"	6' 0"
Width over crown plank	6' 11½"	6' 7½"	5' 11½"	5' 11½"
Width over platform (maximum)	–	–	5' 4½"	5' 4½"
Width over platform (minimum)	–	–	4' 10¾"	4' 10¾"
Width of door	–	–	2' 1"	2' 1"
Width of door opening	–	–	1' 8½"	1' 8½"
Height above rail	10' 1"	10' 1"	9' 3"	9' 6"
Height of floor	1' 7½"	1' 7½"	2' 1"	2' 2½"
Height of platform	1' 2½"	1' 2½"	1' 11¼"	2' 0½"
Height under sill	–	–	1' 10¼"	2' 0"
Height of step	1' 2¼"	1' 2¼"	1' 0¾"	1' 1¾"
Height of dash above platform	2' 5½"	2' 5¾"	2' 10½"	2' 10½"
Height above door opening	–	–	5' 11¾"	5' 11¾"
Wheelbase	4' 6"	4' 6"	6' 0"	4' 0"
Bogie centres	–	–	–	15' 0"
Seating capacity	20	20	22	34
Vehicle weight	54 cwt	54¾ cwt	49¾ cwt	88 cwt
Weight of wheel	224 lbs	224 lbs	224 lbs	116 lbs
Weight of axle	116 lbs	116 lbs	148 lbs	148 lbs
Weight of brake shoe	23 lbs	23 lbs	20½ lbs	22 lbs
Weight of axle box	–	–	68 lbs	58 lbs
Length of axle	4' 9½"	4' 9½"	6' 1"	6' 1"
Length of journal	6 5/8"	6 5/8"	4½"	4½"
Length of wheel seat	4½"	4½"	4 5/8"	4 5/8"
Length of C to C journals	3' 5"	3' 5"	5' 7½"	–
Weight of complete grip	3 cwt 2 qrs	3 cwt 2 qrs	–	–

Footnote

[9] John Stephenson Company of New York was the manufacturer of the Richmond cars. The company was founded in 1831, and developed into the largest and most prolific horse and cable streetcar manufacturer in the world. The products of the company were noted for both their lightness and strength in construction, although much of the credit must go to the qualities of the American timbers used. The founder of the company died in 1893, and the company was finally acquired by the J.G. Brill Company in 1905, which wound up operations at the former John Stephenson plant in 1912.