I have mentioned, haven’t I, that my first full time job was as a Tram Conductor?
I worked at Glen Huntley depot in the winter of 1996, doing 67/Carnegie, 64/Hawthorn and 03, East Malvern trams. A few times I also did the 79/North Richmond to Luna Park but not so often, which was sad because I liked it, it was full of oddball (interesting) people, and it was a change from having to go up to Melbourne uni three times a shift.
I only did this job a short time before moving into the trains. The only proof I had I did it is one pay stub…and then there’s this – a copy of a physical photo taken in my parents yard. I am holding my ticket bag, and my winter parka – it’s just very had to see. Ah the days before everyone had a phone on them and you had to print out photos! They issued us with a connie’s bag but I ended up using one my dad had – was in better condition and felt nicer. I still have that bag, but I never use it.
I worked on the Z1 trams, which have now been correctly decommissioned – they were jerky to ride in, and inaccessible to get on and off for less mobile passengers. Only two doors per side, so people would refuse to move down the tram as they knew they’d not be able to move on and off easily. Kind of hell to be on. With thanks to Marcus Wong for putting this photo up on wikipedia, this is the sort of tram I worked on.
I grew up in a tram family. Dad was a tram engineer and then went on to manage Preston workshop, among other things. So I grew up with random stuff all around. For example, a giant flag with ‘The Met’ logo, here being modeled by my cat. This logo was known as ‘The Flying Asshole’. Well… you can see why.
I have a bunch of very random tram/bus related paraphernalia. Some of it is pretty dry reading, some of it is quite interesting! I have shelf of books on arbitration, someone’s scrap book of news about trams (with a whole section of newspaper articles on Donald Bradmen, for randomness sake) – I have also a box of other random stuff including pay sheets from last century, a blueprint for a tram, designs, and a destination roll. I generally get given this stuff by parentals on their visit as they know I am fascinated by it. All very collectible!
I used to do reviews of books and I published this review at one point, with commentary on what changed and what was the same from when I did it. It’s full of anecdotes I don’t need to repeat here. It was also by far my most read review! Sheesh! MELBOURNE AND METROPOLITAN TRAMWAYS BOARD RULES AND REGULATIONS 1957 – Relating to Employees Concerned in any Aspect of Fare Collection, Ticket Issues, and Monies in Connection Therewith
The other day I went to a meetup in the city for a talk on testing and the business happened to be in what used to be Transport house. The internals of the building had changed but when I looked out those windows I was taken back to that few weeks of training in 1996. The window shape was so familiar.
It’s kind of weird to look back at this. I even took this stuff off my resume as it’s irrelevant for the sorts of roles I was looking for, and a distraction…and sometimes it seems someone else did this and I’m remembering a dream or describing a movie I don’t fully remember.