Historical information
Black and white photograph of cable trailer 88 being loaded onto a wagon at the Spencer St / Flinders St railway yard by the railway yard travelling gantry crane. Trailer lettered M&MTB. Has a man riding the top of the car before being loaded into a I type open wagon.
Photo mid to late 1920s?
Photo from the Collection of the Department of Infrastructure now with the Public Records Office - image number "Box 108-1. Note: this photo is now out of copyright and may not have been an original VR photograph, but one copied from another source and collected as their Heritage series.
The building in the background in Flinders Street (extension/west.) is the former Melbourne Harbour Trust Officers. By the time of this photo was taken the building was in the hands of the Department of Agriculture. Their name can just be seen on the top part of the building. It was demolished when the convention centre was built beside the WTC in the mid-1980’s. The crane was dismantled in the late 1990s around the time of the No 1 goods shed was moved to Bylands.
The cable car has been stripped of a number of parts :
Some windows.
All the brake rigging and pawls
All the roof-mounted destination boxes.
The wheel skirt.
Significance
Shows how redundant cable trams were sold and transported to country locations.
Physical description
Photograph - Black and White - Loading cable car trailer 88 at Spencer St
Inscriptions & markings
Has Department of Infrastructure copy right stamp on rear and number "Box108-1" in ink on rear and "1-8"
