News & Discussion: Trams

[Omicron]

I would be very intrigued to learn more of the country in which the tram and its lines were originally devised - one with no hot weather placing undue stress upon air-conditioning, with no cold weather so that people didn't have to dress in warm clothes and collapse, with no trees or rain so that wet leaves did not play havoc with braking, with no more than six people so that everyone had a stop button, with vastly-oversized rears so that unnecessary padding on seats wasn't needed, and with 50% of the population in a motorised scooter requiring half the tram to be free of silly superfluous seats.

It can't have been Australia, of course, because we have hot weather, cold weather, rain, trees, more than six people, merely rotund bums rather than vast ones, and more than half the population able to walk more than three steps unaided.

[sam]

I saw this on my way to Service SA at 0945 this morning - Trans Adelaide guy told me the power was out, hence they couldn't move!!

By 1015 they had cleared away - but I wasn't risking waiting around for a tram - I walked it in the rain to Pirie street.

[AtD]

Nice photo.

I take it these trams don't have sand traps like the H's. What about modern trams elsewhere?

[Düsseldorfer]

Nice photo.

I take it these trams don't have sand traps like the H's. What about modern trams elsewhere?

Actually these trams do have sand traps, at least i assume they would, the ones in Frankfurt have Sand traps in them and ours are identical....

But i have to laugh..."tram service in Adelaide has been suspended due to....rain" could TransAdelaide become more pathetic

From what i heard the trams were not in service for about 3-5hours during the day.

I think i was also filmed getting off of a tram:P by channel 9 later in the afternoon. I would assume this made news around SA then.

[Will409]

The Flexis don't have sand valves at all which (for some reason) seems to be becoming the norm with most non Australian built trams in this country. I don't think the Combino's and Citdadis's in Melbourne have sand valves and the Variotrams in Sydney only had them fitted after it was found they couldn't climb the grade to the interchange point at Sydney Central station.

Meanwhile, the good people at TDU have come up with a solution which can trace it's roots back to the early 1900s and yet is probably still the most effective means of solving the problem other then fitting sanding gear to the Flexis. Enter the scrubber car

http://tdu.to/60780.msg/Scrubber8_Balla ... ep2005.jpg

Basically, you get an old tram, fit some scrubbing blocks to the truck/frame and you are away. Quite often in this service, the trams used would far out last their unconverted brethen. Melbourne had a couple of ex Sydney 4 wheel trams (built in 1908) which were bought second hand c.1959 and continued to see use as scrubber cars until 2002.

[monotonehell]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008 ... n=business

<b>Conlon: tram stoppage 'not the end of the world'</b>

SA Transport Minister Patrick Conlon says sand was used to make the tram tracks safe during the wet weather. (ABC News)

South Australian Transport Minister Patrick Conlon says it is not the end of the world that tram services had to stop today because of the wet conditions.

Passengers were forced to get off in the rain this morning when all services between Victoria Square and North Terrace were stopped because the tracks were too slippery.

Mr Conlon says oily residue had built up on the tracks.

He says the department will install manual sanding traction devices used on Melbourne trams, that would prevent the situation happening again.

"What was noticed this morning was a problem braking at low speed when the trams don't automatically sand, the residue causes some small skidding," he said.

"Now this is a precautionary measure in making sure it's absolutely safe, but just so people understand, you know we're talking about braking at slow speeds, not braking at speed."

Opposition leader Martin Hamilton-Smith says the safety concern shows the system is fundamentally flawed.

"This tram project has been a disaster from start to finish, it is time for an independent review of the entire process from start to finish," he said.

The Government says the tram services will be running normally despite wet weather over the weekend.

Yet another nail in the coffin for you 18th century metal wheelers - OBahns are the way of the future...ure...ure.
Rubber wheels rule!

[Norman]

Yet another nail in the coffin for you 18th century metal wheelers - OBahns are the way of the future...ure...ure.
Rubber wheels rule!

Bah! I was on the O-Bahn tonight and, while they didn't have stoppages, you could feel the Aquaplanning.

[Xaragmata]

Yet another nail in the coffin for you 18th century metal wheelers - OBahns are the way of the future...ure...ure.
Rubber wheels rule!

Bah! I was on the O-Bahn tonight and, while they didn't have stoppages, you could feel the Aquaplanning.

The O-Bahn was closed between Klemzig & Paradise on Wednesday, so we took the scenic route via Payneham Road.

[monotonehell]

Yet another nail in the coffin for you 18th century metal wheelers - OBahns are the way of the future...ure...ure.
Rubber wheels rule!

Bah! I was on the O-Bahn tonight and, while they didn't have stoppages, you could feel the Aquaplanning.

The O-Bahn was closed between Klemzig & Paradise on Wednesday, so we took the scenic route via Payneham Road.

Another nail in the coffin ! Try driving along the scenic route via Payneham Road on a train.



I'm being silly tonight. Something to do with this head cold I think. *snort*

[ReallyBad]

Lookout a leaf has fallen - STOP THE TRAM.... This is a joke :wank:

[frank1]

Geez, when will the advertiser leave the trams alone. Every week they post some crap about them. They are obviously anti-tram. Get over it they are here to stay.

[Xaragmata]

Another nail in the coffin ! Try driving along the scenic route via Payneham Road on a train.



I'm being silly tonight. Something to do with this head cold I think. *snort*

Would be possible on a tram, if the tracks were still there. Not that I have anything against the O-Bahn - I use the Js quite a bit.
I struggled against that head cold for a few days, but I think its winning. More cough mix.

[monotonehell]

Another nail in the coffin ! Try driving along the scenic route via Payneham Road on a train.



I'm being silly tonight. Something to do with this head cold I think. *snort*

Would be possible on a tram, if the tracks were still there. Not that I have anything against the O-Bahn - I use the Js quite a bit.
I struggled against that head cold for a few days, but I think its winning. More cough mix.

LOL did you miss my point or are you just being obtuse?

My point was when the OBahn's closed the OBahn buses can just divert around the closed section. It happens quite a lot. But when a train track is closed the trains are stuck and must be rescued by ... BUSES!

[aussie2000]

but buses are slow, we should have more trains, lol but i would be happy if they just fixed the ones we have

[monotonehell]

but buses are slow, we should have more trains, lol but i would be happy if they just fixed the ones we have

Obahn goes faster than trains. ... currently hehe