Abandoned Hobart Trams/Burnie Rail

Darwin/NT & Tasmania Transport Discussion
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Rclasstramcar
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Abandoned Hobart Trams/Burnie Rail

Post by Rclasstramcar »

Hi all,
I'll be in Tassie for 2 days (22/23) and would like to know if there's any abandoned Hobart trams. Is there any news on Burnie Rail and if their accreditation has been redone :?:. What condition are their DPs in :?:.

Cheers,
Ben
Return Sydney's trams
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stevegj52
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Re: Abandoned Hobart Trams/Burnie Rail

Post by stevegj52 »

Rclasstramcar wrote:Hi all,
I'll be in Tassie for 2 days (22/23) and would like to know if there's any abandoned Hobart trams. Is there any news on Burnie Rail and if their accreditation has been redone :?:. What condition are their DPs in :?:.

Cheers,
Ben
Hi Ben, The 2 DP's last I heard are or were up for sale. Both Don River Railway and Derwent Valley Railway preservation society are interested in them so will be interesting who gets them. I recomend a visit to the Launceston Invermay precinct where the old TGR workshops were and have been restored and houses the Launceston tram preservation Society, who have a fully operational Launceston tram that operates on section of track to the original roundhouse area. They obtain power from a generator that the tram tow's behind. You can get there by catching Metro's free Tiger Bus service, just look for the bus in the tiger livery :D .
Last edited by stevegj52 on Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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leyland clippers
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Re: Abandoned Hobart Trams/Burnie Rail

Post by leyland clippers »

The Launceston Tram Museum is open on Saturdays 10.00am to 4.00pm and tram 29 runs at regular intervals throughout the day. Further information can be obtained on their web-site www.ltms.org.au.
The Tasmanian Transport Musum at Glenorchy is open on Saturdays ansd Sundays with train rides on the first and third Sunday of each month. Further information can be obtained from the web-site www.railtasmania.com/ttms.
Last edited by leyland clippers on Sat Jan 15, 2011 7:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
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phil l
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Re: Abandoned Hobart Trams/Burnie Rail

Post by phil l »

Hi

I am not sure where the information that:

"as Tas rail are not intereseted in having tour trains on thier lines (or should I say Tasmanian Taxpayers Lines as the state government now operate Tas Rail)" has come from.

It is wrong.

Upper managment at Tasrail , Tourism Tasmania and the Rail Safety Authority have recently displayed a positive attitude to working through what is required to get passenger trains on the network with practical tasks commenced.

Certainly, there are no timeframes for a return to running or even a guarantee that it will be an economic proposition for the heritage groups to sustain, as there is a lot to be worked through in order to acheive a safe and sustainable outcome, but the wheels have started turning in the right direction.

Phil Lange

President - TTMS
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Z1-2110
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Re: Abandoned Hobart Trams/Burnie Rail

Post by Z1-2110 »

The DP's in Burnie are pretty crook. Starting to rust, faded paint and lots of cobwebs.
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Re: Abandoned Hobart Trams/Burnie Rail

Post by Desto Dave »

phil l wrote:Hi

I am not sure where the information that:

"as Tas rail are not intereseted in having tour trains on thier lines (or should I say Tasmanian Taxpayers Lines as the state government now operate Tas Rail)" has come from.

It is wrong.

Upper managment at Tasrail , Tourism Tasmania and the Rail Safety Authority have recently displayed a positive attitude to working through what is required to get passenger trains on the network with practical tasks commenced.

Certainly, there are no timeframes for a return to running or even a guarantee that it will be an economic proposition for the heritage groups to sustain, as there is a lot to be worked through in order to acheive a safe and sustainable outcome, but the wheels have started turning in the right direction.

Phil Lange

President - TTMS
Phil,
That is a brilliant piece of news and most welcomed to hear (from a mainlander who loves Tassie) that things are in a forward gear to maybe one day get a passenger tour train operating there. Thanks for the excellent news and would love to be there to be on that first passenger train on the main line.
Am thankful I got a ride on the marvellous scenic, coastal, small section of the north coast main line when Burnie Rail was running the DP railmotors, I am disappointed its not still running.
Dave
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Re: Abandoned Hobart Trams/Burnie Rail

Post by Rclasstramcar »

Z1-2110 wrote:The DP's in Burnie are pretty crook. Starting to rust, faded paint and lots of cobwebs.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009 ... 667263.htm

Cheers,
Ben
Return Sydney's trams
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JAN 26-INVASION DAY
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Z1-2110
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Re: Abandoned Hobart Trams/Burnie Rail

Post by Z1-2110 »

Hopefully i can get pic in the next few days. Look far worse than that.
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Re: Abandoned Hobart Trams/Burnie Rail

Post by AEC Regal »

As to the original topic, I am unsure if there are any abandoned tram bodies left around the state. Up until a few years ago, there were still the odd couple. About 20 years ago, there were still quite a few (trolley buses as well). Prior to the 1968 bushfires, the state was covered in them. Interlaken was a location that had quite a few including tram No. 111 and trolley bus No. 89.

A few bodies have made it into preservation. LTMS has gathered up quite a few of the Launceston bodies. Hobart City Council has a few in storage, including clerestory single decker no. 39 and bogie car no. 117. The latter may have been one of the cars that used to reside down in the Huon. Bogie car No. 120 has gone to SPER.

Bogie car No. 125 used to be a couple kms. along Elderslie Rd. from Brighton up until 10 - 15 years ago. Don't know what happened to it. There also used to be a relatively complete Launceston trolley bus at Colebrook (it still had its trolley poles!) until a few years ago. Not sure whether LTMS got it or it vanished. Its a shame there wasn't someone with a large property, access to trucks and the presence of mind to gather up a lot of these bodies in the 1970's / 80's and create a repository for future preservation enterprises. Had I been in the position to do it I would have! (That would have included old MTT buses as well!).

Some big misses in the the preservation in ex LMT/HMT/MTT electric transport include tram No. 100 (the big center entrance bogie car), an ex Launceston trolley bus that worked in Hobart, one of the original HMT trolley buses (with the dual rear axles) and a Mk. II HMT Canton (with the 2nd door ahead of the rear axle.
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Re: Abandoned Hobart Trams/Burnie Rail

Post by metro_tas »

Couldn't agree more with you AEC Regal, the Tasmanian Bus & Coach Society is trying to accomplish this feat for future preservation acquistions for example bus 200... I hope one day we will have a storage facilicty ect to display all buses involved
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Re: Abandoned Hobart Trams/Burnie Rail

Post by AEC Regal »

Yes, it's great the TB&CS is finally going. Such a shame it couldn't have got started 10 - 20 years ago though, before current regulations for the age of school buses came in.

I remember back in the 1980's, country school bus operators were a treasure trove of old Bedfords that would have been gold for a nascent society at the time. Then there were other odd repositories of classics like the H.C.C. and in earlier years, like during the 1970's, the Housing Departments collection of trolley bus mobile lunch-rooms during the construction of the Bridgewater / Gagebrook estates.

I also recall visiting places like Ferny Grove Tramway Museum in the early '90's, that at the time also hosted the Brisbane Bus & Coach preservation collection. The collection they had amassed of BCC classics and other relics was astonishing. Actually, I think they later had to move their collection from Ferny Grove, as quite a few of the buses were pretty dero and considered an eyesore to the trammies!! Then of course, there is the huge Sydney Bus & Coach collection at Tempe. Even the Victorians, notwithstanding their traditional focus on trams had managed to preserve a good selection of old M&MTB buses! Actually, most other states had substantial preserved bus collections (will have to upload my photo collection one of these days!!!) ..............except, tragically, Tas!

I had long dreamed of a group getting together to chase up a fleet of Ansair, ComEng, Freighter and CBW Bedfords, Hinos, Volvos and not forgetting some of the classic coaches that saw service on the state, Flxibles, Leylands, AEC's, etc. Oh, well, better late than never!!
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