Off to war by tram.

[dullsteamer]

Yesterday at the Sydney Tramway Museum we had most of our ancient Sydney cars in service for a themed running day to commemorate the departure of Australian troops for France and the Western Front in the Great War. We got our inspiration from photos showing troops being mustered at Randwick Barracks and boarding O class trams for the journey to the wharf at Woolloomooloo Bay.

 

To illustrate that theme and re-enact the scene we had a group called the 18th Battalion Living History Group participate in the day's activities. They came dressed in the uniform of the 1st A.I.F., and set up a display featuring artifacts of the period. Here's part of the group on board Sydney O class car 805 along with museum members Scott Curnow driving, and myself as conductor.

 

 

Of the eight cars running today, five were over 100 years old, yet all of them performed flawlessly. Thanks to our event coordinator's efforts the day was widely publicised. As a result we had capacity crowds for most of the day, and the gate receipts were very good.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[dullsteamer]

The two oldest cars running yesterday were C class number 290, built in 1896 and C class number 29, built in 1898.

 

 

This photo was taken on a previous running day. The car in the background is F class number 393, a relative youngster built in 1902.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.