Re: FW: Another D car with an interesting travel history

On 11/07/2025 17:20, Dale Budd wrote:

But the question is, which car was it? Some years ago staff at Preston Workshops searched their records but could not find the answer. Does anyone have factual information identifying it?

 

According to Vicsig, 5001 was the only D2 to run in service in M>Tram Livery, but that is not definitive information, and it arrived in Melbourne before the date of the demonstration.

 

According to the franchise documents, 5001 entered service on 4 March 2004 and the next car (5002) didn't enter service until 3 June.

I have attached a pic of 5001 on 12 March - on a regular trip. It was advised to tram fans.

I have attached another photo showing a D2 at Preston on 5 October 2003, It was labelled (by me) as 5001 but it is in plain white with no number.  It has foam blocks attached to the sides. I notice that the vicsig site has references to events in late 2003 including clearance tests.  It then talks about a launch in 2004.

My explanation would be that the first tram seen at Preston and tested in 2003 was not 5001. It was another car - probably 5002 as I have a November 2003 photo showing a white test tram with what looks like "Wagon 5002" on a sticker on the windscreen..

The livery is the clincher - it's hard to imagine that the M-Tram livery would have been stripped off after the Taiwan visit then re-applied for service in Melbourne.

Mal Rowe - noting that only the first 4 D1 trams carried the full M-Tram livery with the M-tram name.