Or Whiteman Park? A few of us retirees only have one job, albeit unpaid, a tram driver at Whiteman park. 😊
Noel in Perth who will be taking one of the most colourful tramway identities ever for a ride on the tram tomorrow.
-----Original Message-----
From: tramsdownunder@googlegroups.com <tramsdownunder@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Mal Rowe
Sent: Thursday, 26 February 2026 8:06 AM
To: TramsDownUnder <tramsdownunder@googlegroups.com>; Blogspot <mal.rowe.pcc980@blogger.com>
Subject: [TramsDownUnder] How many tram drivers?
The Australian Bureau of Statistics marked the 65th anniversary of the closure of Sydney's electric tram system with the attached graphic on facebook.
It shows the number of people employee as tram drivers by state as recorded in the last census.
Several people have remarked on the 8 "Sandgropers" who reported themselves as tram drivers.
Perhaps the 'trams' on Rottnest and at Pemberton are the explanation.
Mal Rowe who has travelled on one of the above.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TramsDownUnder" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tramsdownunder+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tramsdownunder/a622df37-1e69-49ac-8eab-6d192ae9e9ba%40gmail.com.
Thursday, 26 February 2026
How many tram drivers?
closure of Sydney's electric tram system with the attached graphic on
facebook.
It shows the number of people employee as tram drivers by state as
recorded in the last census.
Several people have remarked on the 8 "Sandgropers" who reported
themselves as tram drivers.
Perhaps the 'trams' on Rottnest and at Pemberton are the explanation.
Mal Rowe who has travelled on one of the above.
Tuesday, 24 February 2026
Re: Sydney "tram" signs was [TramsDownUnder] CBD and South East Light Rail
> Separate roads agencies in other states, legalistically following the
> legislation. The standard ideogram showing an old-fashioned
> drop-centre tram must also be extremely irritating to those trying to
> promote systems as "modern light rail". I remember when Canberra
> opened, the CEO of Canberra "Metro" (ironically named) was being quite
> passive-aggressive with journos referring to "trams".
>
The CEO may not like the term or the ideogram but Canberra uses the
Australian Standard signs and lights (with "T for Tram".
Mal Rowe in the city whose tram is the basis of the ideogram
Friday, 20 February 2026
Sarah Sands Engine House Brunswick
Last year Heritage Victoria approved the development of a seven storey building at the former Cable Tram Engine House (most recently Sam's Tyres) in Brunswick Road.
Brunswick Community History Group (BCHG) and the Royal HistoricalSociety of Victoria both submitted objections to "this egregious example of facadism on an important historical building".
Merri-bek Council approved the development with conditions of setbacks which would have preserved the appearance of the building and also prevented overshadowing of the buildings opposite.
The developer objected to this condition at VCAT and was successful.
... adapted from a notice from BCHG
I have attached a rendering of the development from the public submission.
The west end of the former engine house is owned by others and the single storey section facing Black St fronts an active Yarra Trams substation as evidenced by the heavy traction current cables visible in the rendering.
Mal Rowe - who will be interested to see how the developer handles issues with bordering on the substation.
Track renewal Spencer St and Bourke St
Spencer St Melbourne is being renewed.
First pic is an overview of work last night.
Second pic shows a couple of men carrying track gauges - an essential
and complex task in such a junction.
Work commenced late on the evening of Sunday 15th of February and will
be completed in time for first tram on Thursday 26th.
Details are at:
https://yarratrams.com.au/projects/bourke-and-spencer-streets-tram-infrastructure-upgrades
The junction was last renewed in April 2011, so has only lasted 15 years.
That rather short life is likely due in part to the Combinos that
traversed the junction until being banished to Brunswick when sufficient
E class trams were available to run route 96 from late 2014.
Mal Rowe still a trackwork voyeur
Wednesday, 18 February 2026
Fwd: In Memoriam: Alan Roi
It is with great sadness that I pass on this message.
I knew Alan quite well and always appreciated his good humour and commitment.
Thanks Alan for your significant contribution to transport heritage in Christchurch.
Mal Rowe
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tuesday, 17 February 2026
Melbourne tram passenger loading by route
The Age has published details of tram passenger loading by route over the period from Jan 2019 to June 2025, based on data from the Victorian Department of Transport.
If you have access to The Age on line, you will find the article at:
I have attached a screen capture copy of the graphic used to illustrate the data.
Red indicates a loading of up to 1.7 million monthly passengers on the route and dark blue represents monthly loading of below 17,500.
If one pauses the mouse pointer over a cell you can see the actual figure, as shown in the screen capture.
I can't locate the original data, but I transcribed the figures for June 2019 (pre COVID) and June 2025 (most recent in the table) and attach the results.
The article says:
Tram patronage numbers are calculated by counting the number of people who board a tram service and touch on their myki card.
This is then cross-referenced with Automatic Vehicle Monitoring data to provide a final estimate.
AVM does not measure passenger numbers, just tram location.
Some highlights:
- Overall loading in June 2025 was still only 76% of the pre COVID loading in June 2019. (139M vs 182M on an annualised estimate)
- The busiest route (96) carried 10 times as many passengers as each of the two lightest loading routes (78 and 82)
- The two most resilient routes in terms of loading recovery are 86 (Bundoora) and 5 (Malvern - Burke Rd)
A lot of this change will be due to increased numbers of people working from home.
There is no data yet to show the effect of the opening of the Metro tunnel.
Mal Rowe who thinks some of the figures may be influenced by passengers not 'tapping on'
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)