Recently a group of six guys had an opportunity of visiting Victoria to do some train riding. The main event was to go to a town called Moe way out in the Gippsland area, then head up to Walhalla (our third visit) and Sunday was going to have another trip on the Puffing Billy narrow gauge steam train ride. Unfortunately Puff was booked out so we looked for an alternative, which was to travel on the Sunday to Ballarat and ride the tram.
My last visit to Ballarat was way back in 1970 where I was able to take some 8mm movie film of the still operating system. The system closed down in 1971 and also the nearby town of Bendigo also had a similar tramway system, both are now closed and both have tramway museums operating.
We travelled out from Melbourne on the Sunday morning and after travelling through Ballarat, alighted at Wendouree and outer suburb. We figured that this would be the closest station to the museum. The day was fine and sunny and we headed off for the half hour walk to find the museum. (Ballarat Tramway Museum)
The display building was set out well and had a large display of trams and plenty of information boards.
Up the back of the building was another room that I discovered had a model tramway section. It was good to see and there was a model layout and display cabinets showing a sample of Australian, English and US styled cars in both O and HO scale.
I had little time to view them all as the loudspeaker then advised a tram was ready outside for a trip. The entry to the museum also had unlimited rides on the trams.
The Ballarat system
With all aboard we then set off running alongside Lake Wendouree. As can be seen on the map the line use to travel right around the lake. The lake also has fame as it was there that the rowing competition took place for the 1956 Olympic games. We trundled along at jogging pace heading towards the terminus and the 'connie' came along to check and collect tickets. He was suitably attired for the Victorian winter even though this day wasn't 'freezing' We all came to Victoria prepared for the worst - snow, sleet etc but our luck held out again and it wasn't too bad.
Our transport for the day
I decided to go up to the front of the tram to get some video and we soon came to a stop. And looking out the front on the road you could see a native black swan had come out of the lake and wanted to cross the road. So everything stopped for them.
Tickets please
All the cars also came to a stop for them, they weren't in a hurry and eventually got to the other side. I guess this helped make the journey a bit longer.
We soon arrived at the terminus and the pole required taking around to the rear. The conductor was good in that he let a young child help him to 'swing the pole'.
The place looked a bit flash and after perusing the menu, the funniest thing happened - all six of us decided to get a milkshake each, though I must admit there were chocolate, strawberry and vanilla one consumed. I only wished that I had taken a photo. Getting off the tram half way back to the museum proved a smart move as we were then half way back to the station. So we then started our journey back to Wendouree station for our trip back to Melbourne.
Pipers by the Lake
It turned out to be a great day, the weather was kind to us and we got to see a museum preserving our heritage for future generations to see and enjoy.