No, not some gay metaphor but what used to be a common saying in the days when Sydney had an extensive tram network which included a service on which these old rattlers raced down the hill to Bondi Beach. The saying went the way of the network which was closed down in 1961.
The Museum of Sydney has a small exhibition on Sydney's old tram network which I looked through this morning. It was fun to stand in the cabin of a tram and play with the driver's handle and to press the conductor's foot pedal bell. Apart from me only children played with the bell whilst I was around but I wasn't about to let embarrassment prevent me having fun.
(The foyer of MoS with the old tram destination rolls hanging from the ceiling.)
Information panels provided some indicators of the size and capacity of Sydney's old tram system which in it's day was amongst the largest in the then British Empire and, by extension, in the world.
I was amazed to read that at King and George Streets in the city 564 trams crossed the intersection every day between 5pm and 6.30pm. As the panel states that is a tram every 10 seconds!
Elsewhere the MoS was screening newsreels from the 1930s and 1940s about Sydney Harbour and the Bridge. One quaint reel showing activity on the Harbour on opening day of the Bridge in 1932 stated that the pageantry included gay sailing boats. Mmmmm, I'd like to see that.
Thinking of that noted tram aficionado High Riser I picked up a souvenir, so Andrew if you would email a postal address I'll pop that in the mail to you shortly.
Very cool. You probably know that San Francisco buys up old trams and restores them and runs them on their F-Market and E-Embarcadero lines. They have some from Milan, Italy, but I don't know if any are from Australia.
ReplyDeleteHow sweet. Thank you Victor. I plan to see the exhibition in June or July.
ReplyDeleteAs I read this I thought that Andrew would appreciate this post very much and then you mentioned him. What is the souvenir that you got Victor. Is it a t-shirt that says "I visited the ..... but all I got was the lousy t-shirt!" I'm sure it's not though.
ReplyDeletewcs - unfortunately many of Sydney's trams were destroyed by setting fire to them.
ReplyDeleteFirehorse - they did have T-shirts on sale and I was thinking of purchasing Andrew one but didn't know his size.
I love the Museum of Sydney - saw a great Bondi exhibition there a couple of years back. Often these 'city' museums can be a bit dull, but I loved the Sydney one.
ReplyDeleteYou can still find Gay Sailing boats - or at least boats sailed by gay sailors - at the Australian Sailing & Cruising Club (www.ascc.org.au) the local GLBT sailing group.
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