Fossicker The
No. 42566 - Tuesday, September 4, 2012 - A002977L
Weekly bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bendigo Inc. - Chartered 30th July 1925 - District 9800
PRESIDENT ELECT’S REPORT
It was great to see so many members, quite a few partners as well, come along on a glorious spring day to our vocational visit to Bendigo Tramways main depot. The depot has just completed a $3.5 million refit and expansion covering everything from the loos to the sprinklers to the library.
first tramway folded.
Batteries had originally been chosen over steam out of deference to local washing drying on the line, which would be dirtied by soot from the steam engines. Nevertheless, several small steam engines were purchased to tow the battery trams around, and they quickly proved reliable and very popular. Electric overhead wire only arrived in 1903 (still, that was three years earlier than it did in Melbourne) and a new depot was built alongside the new power station in Hargreaves Street by the British Insulated Wire Company.
Tramways Manager Jos Duivenvoorden and Bendigo Trust board member Michael McGowan led members and guests through the 109 year old depot - the oldest working depot in the Southern Hemisphere - and explained the 122 year history of trams in Bendigo.
It seems that Bendigo, fearing to be seen to copy Ballarat and its new horse-drawn tramway, opted instead for an ambitious but unproven German system of battery powered trams. As most of you may already know, what regularly worked in test runs on the flat in Germany routinely failed here, usually at Lightning Ridge, and after 14 weeks Bendigo’s
PRESIDENT Brian Figg
SECRETARY Kaye Graves
In 1930, the British electricity franchise expired in Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong and the power stations were taken over by the State Electricity Commission. The Tramways in all three cities went along too although the SEC had no interest in running tramways. TREASURER Wayne Smith
PAST PRESIDENT Wayne Smith
BOARD MEMBERS: Vocational Service - John Krakowiak President Elect - Tom Seddon New Generations - Phil West Club Service - Garry Gunnell Rotary Foundation - Hugh Wheeler Community Service - Libby Hughes International Service - Valerie Barker Editor: Noel Hobley noelhobley@bigpond.com - Distribution: The Terrace theterrace@phs.org.au Correspondence: PO Box 131, Bendigo, 3552