I was a guard on the suburban trains from 1980 to 1990 and used to ride on the Tait, Harris and Hitachi trains all day. They brought in the Commeng trains while I was there as well. The Hitachis were terrible in summer, they had power doors but no air conditioning. The Harris trains were full of asbestos so got phased out as soon as the Commenge trains came in. Every train had a guard and every station was manned. We didn't get a lot of money but I do miss those days.
Funny how the Harris trains (which, as a kid I thought were the bee's knees) just seemed to disappear... As a commuter, I never knew why. Until recently... n.b. I used to love watching the bulk briquettes being unloaded and bagged in the siding at Hawthorn too!
@@northseabrent my grandpa was a railway worker, (many jobs and locations in Victoria and NSW) from around 1956-2019 his last job was cleaning carriages for the Victorian Goldfields Tourist Railway, until he was 82
@@northseabrent and my father was driving Suburban trains from 1987-2020 (he had to stop due to health conditions not COVID) and first joined the railways in 1980-1981 at Benalla and was relocated to Suburban services for the Met in 1987, and later had the chance to move back into the country, to work for the company that is now V/Line, in 1999, he had a choice of whether to work for M Train or Connex, he chose M Train because there was more of a variety of lines. When M Train dissolved he became a Connex driver, and then Metro Trains Melbourne in 2009 when they took over, he had a health test in around Feb 2020 which he failed and was forced to retire, I was surprised even though he was driving until January, he didn’t get any training for the next HCMT’S when they were meant to be in service over half a year earlier, but weren’t in service until just before the new year on 27th December 2020. His favourite train was the Comeng because it had air con, compared to Hitachi and Harris sets that he drove in his career, comfortable seats, compared to Siemens sets that he also drove and better suspension compared to Xtrap’s, and he drove Comeng’s for his whole career for those 33 years driving from The Met to Metro. I plan to be a Metro driver when I grow up.
I remember those days. I used to travel between Burnley and Glenferrie going to Swinburne Tech School in the early 80s. We had four different trains to choose from and sometimes would skip the next train to try and get a Red Rattler or a new Comeng (1983). Only problem was the train destination displays would say "Flinders Street", "Spencer Street", "City Loop", "St Albans" or "Upfield" so it was confusing not knowing which stopped all stations and which ran express Glenferrie to Richmond. Quite often in the afternoons trains would be stranded at East Richmond and we would jump from one train to another if they were Tait's or a Harris.
I worked at the freight yards behind most of this footage, I worked in shed two for a year or so then up at shed 4 area, forklift driving, they were great days indeed, people of every nationality worked there, and we all worked together to load the wagons every day. I recall the "Hole in the wall" near shed two accessible from Flinders street where you could buy takeaway food. Lots of good memories from those days. Thanks for uploading so we can all watch.
I used to love seeing those blue & yellow VR fast parcels trains stopping at my local station of Burnley and the station master coming out and throwing parcels in then the train was off quick smart. Must have been a pain in the arse for the train controllers.
I remember travelling to Bendigo in the late 1960's,to see my father every second Sunday.I would go one weekend to Bendigo,and my eldest sister would go the other weekend,with my mother!.Hello cans of Coke,and packets of Barley Sugar!.
Proudly, my grandfather was the inaugural driver of the very first Electric suburban train in Australia in 1919 between Essendon & Elsternwick or was it Brighton Beach? My dad wasn't a train driver though and I didn't make it due to failing year 10 at Tech school. VR was the best.
What was the distance between that station and Footscray statiion itself? I remember going to the footy for first time at Western Oval and I remember thinking when looked on Melways either station would do.
From West Footscray then middle Footscray was only around three hundred metres then Footscray was maybe six hundred metres.... great transport system for the time.. only for some clowns in charge who couldn't run a raffle to ruin it
Excellent footage! It's amazing to see how much this has changed, it's almost not recognisable any more. It is old videos like this that inspire me to document current views of infrastructure (and of cities in general) that I travel to. Goodness knows how much they will change in the future.
So true. I think when we're younger it doesn't occur to us that everything will change so much. Great idea to start documenting what you see now, before it also is lost.
I come from a family of 10 had no toys, use to use my sisters hair-curlers and link them together as a train until I got my first “Hornsby” electric train-set I could still sit and watch trains 🚊 Thanks for sharing what a year “83”!!!
Some of the Tait trains were quite leaky during heavy rain, so you'd squeeze into a very packed peak hour train and there would be this large area void of people. Some school kids put up their umbrellas once. Was hilarious! Thanks for the video. That was a great time for trains.
People are nostalgic for Tait trains but they were drafty in winter and not pleasent to travel in. Best thing was they were good to ride in in summer with all the doors and windows open. Then you’d smell the brake dust. We didn’t have tilt trains, we had Tait trains.
Yes but you could have the doors open, especially when there were signal faults and multiple trains were stranded for ages and you could jump from one train to another (In the early 80s).
My dad remembers a lady leaving the door open when exiting the train on a cold, wet day, and some bloke stood up and yelled out the door "MA'AM, WERE YOU BORN IN A TENT?"
Damn man, I was only in my 2nd Kindergarten year as a 6 year old!!!! Those were the days when you could and when it was worth train spotting (without having a lousy PSO officer harassing you now days!!) The freedom, the variety of all the rolling stock?!!....You can't do that or there is virtually nothing to see at Southern Cross now, so boring, dull and drab and I remember seeing those parcel single car Tait all the way up till the early 90's I think....3 decades too late to be a train spotter now....Thank you for the upload, made me happy but also brought a touch of sorrow in how lousy it is now....
Agreed. The ugliest thing I've seen on Melbourne's metro network are those Siemens trains with the square front. I used to seeing country passenger trains running through Flinders Street (Platform 1) and along the Pakenham line. L Class loco's to Leongatha. Along with the old single car Tait shuttles thst used to run between Camberwell & Alamein and between Eltham & Hurstbridge on sundays in the 80s.
@@garynewton1263 sorry to be rude, but L classes never ran down the leongatha line. that line was never electrified. i'm assuming you mean the line to traralgon/warragul, which was electrified until 1987 when it was cut back to warragul, then back to pakenham in 1998.
Outstanding footage like this you have shared is why You Tube is so good. I wish I could have experienced the Harris sets but this is close. I never saw any on my first visit to Melbourne in January 1987.
Hahahahaha.........sounds like fun. I never got to ride the L Class train to Leongatha but they were an imposing site with their large pantographs. Tell me, were those trains limited express stopping at Richmond, Caulfield, Oakleigh, Dandenong, Pakenham?
Now we all know that Southern Cross is one of the great architectural marvels of our time. Nevertheless, Spencer Street, with its mural and mezzanine cafe (hold the over-cooked brussel sprouts please), had its joys. But what ever happened to the blue parcel vans and their dedicated sidings?
the parcels vans were withdrawn in the 80s when they switched to road transport, a couple of the old swing door parcel vans survived as Jolimont yard shunters until the 90s iirc, painted in The Met green and gold
using the service tunnels to bypass pedestrian traffic and ticket check as a street kid in the 90s. I have reason to believe most of the tunnels are still there. Great times certainly built character.
It seems so open and uncluttered, not like now with all that twisted steel and concrete. I wish they hadn' t given us a giant balloon with escalators everywhere.
@connextro Frogshit! Should have kept the name "Southern Cross" is In Western Australia if they called it Docklands or Melbourne Docklands OK but not the one Bracks picked!
@@jessesands4099 100% agree with you, Spencer Street Station was a much better name than Southern Cross, I also preferred the name Museum Station to Melbourne Central aswell.
i was only young when they started taking the old hitachi's out of service i was 6 at the time but buy new the train s are much more populated and each morning a get a train to city its very crowed in the train
Fantastic footage, it's a shame you did not get the Large Model diesel train they had in the entrance of the Spencer st station ? Does anyone remember that train ?
chopperking1122 I know i remember getting in it to play, those were the years. :) :) First class blue with gold first letters, then 2nd class, wow smoking in the trains as well & in the planes as well ?
chopperking1122 I did get into it, i was only about 4 years old, & maybe due to how small i was re: it maybe looked a lot bigger than just over 6ft long, it was massive re: at least 15 ft long & at least 5 to 6ft high, i remember my dad asking a Vic Rail person if i could go in, re: i stood at the controls, so maybe i was at least 2 or 3 years old, i remember it as if it was yesterday, right out the front entrance of Spencer st station, i think they moved the Larger 1 & maybe they put in a smaller 1, i am not sure but i do remember going in it ? cheers for the upload by the way. I used to live in Port Melbourne & the Stations were only 7 Minutes to the city from Port Melbourne to the city & sometimes it re: the train depending on the time table it did not stop at Montague, also Sandrigham was the last stop from the city to the Beach at the Pier re: Now it's totally different re: even the Princess Bridge is gone & the housing commission Blds as well..cheers :)
In the cafeteria, the man ahead of me pointed at what looked like a grey loaf of bread and asked “what’s that”, “porridge” she replied. The man made an expression of disgust by blowing through his cheeks (making a P sound). It seemed that she was meant to dig into it with a ladle. This was around ten-ish and it looked complete so nobody had any. I don’t know how the VR disposed of it, maybe ground it up as ballast.
I can remember the cameras there that day. My mum had just driven me into town with all my clothes and belongings in a suitcase. She bought me a one way ticket to Sydney. Geez I was an ugly kid and she absolutely hated New South Wales. On reflection I think I irritated her to, she use to call me ‘Wooden’. Wooden study, wooden work and really wooden do anything at all.
Victorian Railways (VR) was what this service was originally called. My father spent his entire career (40 years) working for this organisation and had pride in the work that was done. Started his career as a 16 year old “lad porter” at a near Bendigo country station. Ended up as a supervisor. Had pride in his appearance (always wore a tie, polished his shoes, looked schpick) respected the customers and the services provided. Bit different these days with the what you see working at stations..... no excuses, leadership is crap but these people who work on the railways need to have personal pride........
Yes,Spencer Street Station,not that absurd "Southern Cross",nonsense,which is more appropriate to Ballarat,and the "Southern Cross",being raised as a sign of rebellion,at the Eureka Stockade,which was in Ballarat,and not Spencer Street,Melbourne!.
that's the reason they didn't let any Taits run in preservation for ages, until about 2016. Steamrail has to do their tours with a volunteer in every compartment to make sure nobody does anything stupid
