Thanks for rescuing and posting this classic footage that was widely experienced but seldom filmed. Eg real world tram interiors. Was hoping they would move up Swanston Street to catch a rare glimpse of the Model Dockyard. A Mecca for me until closure around 1984.
Yes these were real trams and had real conductors. The trams usually did not derail in a crash, unlike the fibreglass "modern" rubbish of today. Although to be fair, the trams of today are designed to perform a certain way in the event of a crash. But the old wooden trams certainly made a mess of a car if they hit one at even a slow speed. And you went to Model Dockyard? You nerd John. A true enthusiast obviously. haha. I liked the Model Dockyard as a kid, It was like going into a basement of a different world. And a shame it had to close down too.
How on Earth did you have the foresight to film this Amazing History? Thank you. I suffer p.t.s.d s ever since my beautiful big sister passed from leaukimia. No memory of these day's, So seeing this footage means so much. Thank you
This is old TV news footage. The story would go something like this. The news editor would send some on out with the brief to film some shots of the the wet weather in the city possibly for a weather story or a general light relief at the end of the news. They would chop out the bits for the item and unless it was considered important the rest thrown out. Some times it was rescued from the dump master by persons unknown.
Wonderful..The footage almost looks older than 1981?! Right on par with melbourne's August weather these days and it ironically answered my own question if the weather has changed for the last 38 years?! Still seem almost the same but I wonder if it was as cold as it is now?! Pretty funny with that awkwardness with the conductors on camera (miss them...) and a blue Harris train with a single pantograph in the middle carriage?! But I think by they starting to be being phased out?!..Those white police jacket uniforms were smart adding the finishing off effect with those Ansair Volvo B59 busses....Awesome stuff and a happier time.
It's hard to tell the date, but by the look of the vehicles it's definitely the very end on the 1970s to 1983. Forget the trains, you don't see enough of them or Jollimont yard. This is before the Met was formed and began painting many W class trams in green and bright yellow and the only modern trams are Z1 and 2, No Z3 yet. Z3 are the oldest now in use, apart from preserved W class, which Yarra Trams clearly don't want to run. The busses are Volvo B59, these replaced the green AEC mk 3 and 4 busses in the late 70s. If this footage was from 1977 say, the busses would be mostly green halfcabs.
The 1980's do not seem to far back but looking at the footage it is a world away from the present day, no one of the time would know what an app was or had any concern about upload speed.
@@vk3ase I suspect that people would have cursed the slowness of their acoustic modems and not been very happy when someone complained that the line was always engaged. And screamed at their sister for recording over the cassette that had computer programs on - so they'd have to retype the code all over again. 1981 was about the year that train and tram usage reached rock bottom - it started climbing from then.
@@terrycarthy4433 will probably run forever, old electronic ignition systems are the best. Worst that goes wrong with it is the module. $80 . The carburetor will be a quadrajet. Exelent carburetor, again cheap to rebuild. I still have my old Chrysler regal se 1977 , done over a million k's now. Dropped a hot 360 in it. Look after the WB mate ,beautiful car .
@@petergoodwin2465 ; it's a Rochester carb', supposedly the best carb'. T350 trans' a legendary box used in lotsa' GM product. WB's had twice the insulation rubber- ala Cadillacs - and it's very quiet. I'm blessed mine's got leather interior. Super spiffy ride. Is your Regal an ELB ? I attend Chryslers by The Bay each March...a few late 50's Chrysler imperials there. Dig them BAD !!
@@terrycarthy4433 yes mate, good old Rochester spread bore . T350 is a great transmission, have one in our 67 impala. The Chrysler was electronic ignition it's early 77 . The Elb is not good for performance and can't get parts . I use an Msd ignition now and Accel distributor because it was easy to recurve . Uncle had a WB caprice , he sold it and bought a Fiat because he drove to work from Clifton springs to Melbourne. Big mistake, Fiat lasted a year, thought he was saving money on fuel. Ha,ha, it cost him thousands and he bought a 5 litre fairlane. He said he should have kept the Statesman and was bleeding. Statesman was much better than the fairlane. We used to be hoons in my mates old Hq statesman, love those old statesmans and they're a beautiful looking car to.
Most of these films are com mag, that is with a mag stripe down the side and recorded live in the camera. For 16mm mag sound was much better than optical but some of these rolls had been cleaned in the past with film cleaner that has the effect 40 years on to make the mag stripe come off and degenerate so some of the examples will not be that good with cyclic dropouts poor quality and print through. I have some mute footage that was originally double system sound but the audio has been lost. Most of the films are very clean as far as vision goes but the video news film is not that high res. It was a 400 ASA tungsten balanced low contrast stock designed to transfer to video with out to much gamma correction. In my experience the standard 16mm films looked much better although it required a bit of skill to compress the exposure into the dynamic range of the tv system. We are used to such good quality now and the old news film looks out of focus but I am transferring on to a 4K sensor and the images are about as good as they can get and the limitation is the grain on the film. A modern professional telecine would squeeze out a bit more quality and get rid of the slight strobing between the projector mains derived speed and the camera sync drives but with the film quality it is probably not worth it. I will put up a video about the transferring process at some time.
@@vk3ase wow! thank you for that detail. and yes I did understand it, coming form over 40 years in the photographic industry. I really appreciate the effort and detail. I would, as I think, many others would be delighted if you could put up one on the transfer process. Keep 'em coming. Cheers & 73 de VK3 fWTF
That is a good way to live no nbn , less jumping from yes to no and back to Yes by our government after reading the last hours twitter and Facebook feeds. No balls to make a discussion at all without positive feedback from the feeds lol . Richard vk2ual
Thanks for rescuing and posting this classic footage that was widely experienced but seldom filmed. Eg real world tram interiors.
Was hoping they would move up Swanston Street to catch a rare glimpse of the Model Dockyard. A Mecca for me until closure around 1984.
Yes these were real trams and had real conductors. The trams usually did not derail in a crash, unlike the fibreglass "modern" rubbish of today. Although to be fair, the trams of today are designed to perform a certain way in the event of a crash. But the old wooden trams certainly made a mess of a car if they hit one at even a slow speed. And you went to Model Dockyard? You nerd John. A true enthusiast obviously. haha. I liked the Model Dockyard as a kid, It was like going into a basement of a different world. And a shame it had to close down too.
I fondly remember these great times.
How on Earth did you have the foresight to film this Amazing History? Thank you. I suffer p.t.s.d s ever since my beautiful big sister passed from leaukimia. No memory of these day's, So seeing this footage means so much. Thank you
This is old TV news footage. The story would go something like this. The news editor would send some on out with the brief to film some shots of the the wet weather in the city possibly for a weather story or a general light relief at the end of the news. They would chop out the bits for the item and unless it was considered important the rest thrown out. Some times it was rescued from the dump master by persons unknown.
I remember them old trams when i was a kid, ahhhh the smell of the brakes👍
Wonderful..The footage almost looks older than 1981?! Right on par with melbourne's August weather these days and it ironically answered my own question if the weather has changed for the last 38 years?! Still seem almost the same but I wonder if it was as cold as it is now?! Pretty funny with that awkwardness with the conductors on camera (miss them...) and a blue Harris train with a single pantograph in the middle carriage?! But I think by they starting to be being phased out?!..Those white police jacket uniforms were smart adding the finishing off effect with those Ansair Volvo B59 busses....Awesome stuff and a happier time.
It's hard to tell the date, but by the look of the vehicles it's definitely the very end on the 1970s to 1983. Forget the trains, you don't see enough of them or Jollimont yard. This is before the Met was formed and began painting many W class trams in green and bright yellow and the only modern trams are Z1 and 2, No Z3 yet. Z3 are the oldest now in use, apart from preserved W class, which Yarra Trams clearly don't want to run. The busses are Volvo B59, these replaced the green AEC mk 3 and 4 busses in the late 70s. If this footage was from 1977 say, the busses would be mostly green halfcabs.
Glorious days. All you needed to do was to get in a tram and for the conductor and buy a ticket. Truely peaceful days.
This is the Australia I know and love, I would be more than happy to loose all my technology and live in the old Australia. Richard vk2ual
The 1980's do not seem to far back but looking at the footage it is a world away from the present day, no one of the time would know what an app was or had any concern about upload speed.
@@vk3ase I suspect that people would have cursed the slowness of their acoustic modems and not been very happy when someone complained that the line was always engaged. And screamed at their sister for recording over the cassette that had computer programs on - so they'd have to retype the code all over again. 1981 was about the year that train and tram usage reached rock bottom - it started climbing from then.
Richard Fox same Richard great days
I agree. It’s funny how many people yearn for this Melbourne. Much nicer
Great days to be a white person lol
Good times.. thanks 👍
The best times. What have we done
I drive a car made in Nov' 1981, WB Caprice; people love it, always ask about it.
Beautiful cars mate , the old 308 was a decent engine and they were built like a tank unlike the imported junk of today.
@@petergoodwin2465 ; in 16 years ownership the WB has NEVER failed to start !
@@terrycarthy4433 will probably run forever, old electronic ignition systems are the best. Worst that goes wrong with it is the module. $80 . The carburetor will be a quadrajet. Exelent carburetor, again cheap to rebuild. I still have my old Chrysler regal se 1977 , done over a million k's now. Dropped a hot 360 in it. Look after the WB mate ,beautiful car .
@@petergoodwin2465 ; it's a Rochester carb', supposedly the best carb'. T350 trans' a legendary box used in lotsa' GM product. WB's had twice the insulation rubber- ala Cadillacs - and it's very quiet. I'm blessed mine's got leather interior. Super spiffy ride. Is your Regal an ELB ? I attend Chryslers by The Bay each March...a few late 50's Chrysler imperials there. Dig them BAD !!
@@terrycarthy4433 yes mate, good old Rochester spread bore . T350 is a great transmission, have one in our 67 impala. The Chrysler was electronic ignition it's early 77 . The Elb is not good for performance and can't get parts . I use an Msd ignition now and Accel distributor because it was easy to recurve . Uncle had a WB caprice , he sold it and bought a Fiat because he drove to work from Clifton springs to Melbourne. Big mistake, Fiat lasted a year, thought he was saving money on fuel. Ha,ha, it cost him thousands and he bought a 5 litre fairlane. He said he should have kept the Statesman and was bleeding. Statesman was much better than the fairlane. We used to be hoons in my mates old Hq statesman, love those old statesmans and they're a beautiful looking car to.
Loving this stuff Thanks. Was it shot on 16 mil? and is the audio separately recorded or added in post?
Most of these films are com mag, that is with a mag stripe down the side and recorded live in the camera. For 16mm mag sound was much better than optical but some of these rolls had been cleaned in the past with film cleaner that has the effect 40 years on to make the mag stripe come off and degenerate so some of the examples will not be that good with cyclic dropouts poor quality and print through. I have some mute footage that was originally double system sound but the audio has been lost. Most of the films are very clean as far as vision goes but the video news film is not that high res. It was a 400 ASA tungsten balanced low contrast stock designed to transfer to video with out to much gamma correction. In my experience the standard 16mm films looked much better although it required a bit of skill to compress the exposure into the dynamic range of the tv system.
We are used to such good quality now and the old news film looks out of focus but I am transferring on to a 4K sensor and the images are about as good as they can get and the limitation is the grain on the film. A modern professional telecine would squeeze out a bit more quality and get rid of the slight strobing between the projector mains derived speed and the camera sync drives but with the film quality it is probably not worth it. I will put up a video about the transferring process at some time.
@@vk3ase wow! thank you for that detail. and yes I did understand it, coming form over 40 years in the photographic industry. I really appreciate the effort and detail. I would, as I think, many others would be delighted if you could put up one on the transfer process.
Keep 'em coming. Cheers & 73 de VK3 fWTF
Classic footage...
1:10 A TRAM CONDUCTOR!!!
"Fez Pleez"
Wow, the days of tram conductors and police not wearing sidearms instead of the US military styles now wore. A bygone era.
nice work
That is a good way to live no nbn , less jumping from yes to no and back to Yes by our government after reading the last hours twitter and Facebook feeds. No balls to make a discussion at all without positive feedback from the feeds lol . Richard vk2ual
Wow😊
2:54 the middle first series motor car is equipped with a faiveley pan