Sunday 25th September saw the museum hold its much anticipated “Back to the 50’s” day. The event commemorated 65 years since the closure of the Pitt St and Castlereagh St “Green lines” based out of Newtown depot; the first major closure of Sydney tramways which continued over a four year period until the closure of the Maroubra and La Perouse Lines on 25th February 1961. Trams running services during the day were Sydney cars O 1111 and R1 2001 – an authentic Newtown tram – along with Melbourne car W2 249. Sadly plans for San Francisco PCC 1014 to run during the day had to be shelved due to a fault that occurred during testing the day before. Our friends at the Sydney Bus Museum also participated in the event; bringing both their 1948 Leyland double-decker bus 2087 and 1959 FC Holden Taxi 1196. The bus ran to an hourly timetable between the museum and Sutherland, with the taxi available for runs along this same route upon request. Visitors were encouraged to dress up in 50’s gear and enjoy a picnic in Lakewood Park with a few of our members making the effort to do so. The day ran quite smoothly despite some setbacks with the PCC with services well patronised most of the day. A big thank you to our traffic staff who made the effort to help out along with those from the Bus Museum who dedicated their time in making the event as authentic as possible with their vehicles.
