POTD: Tram Down Under

From 2018 03 15 Melbourne

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Appropriately for the land Down Under, it's a photo of a classic tram car emerging from the ground as if it's coming from the land up top. Maybe it's an homage to Amarillo's Cadillac Ranch from a city that values mass transit over gas guzzlers.

---

The trams aren't just feel-good art objects. Melbourne has the world's largest tram network. "Melbourne's tram patronage surged 12 per cent to carry more than 200 million people last year [Sydney Morning Herald]."

You don't have to travel to Australia to ride on one of Melbourne's trams. One car is riding the rails on McKinney Avenue in Dallas's Uptown. According to the McKinney Avenue Trolley Association:

"Matilda" (Car 369). "Matilda" was built in 1925 by James Moore, Ltd. for service in Melbourne, Australia, where she served for six decades before MATA purchased the car in 1986. Unlike many of our other cars, which required extensive repairs, Matilda came to Dallas in running order and only needed a few cosmetic changes. Matilda is the only car in the fleet with a center entrance, and she has some of the most beautiful woodwork of any of our cars.

Source: MATA.

It's just possible that I might have ridden "Matilda" back when it was still rolling along the streets of Melbourne. True blue, mate.