Digging up the past

In 2007 there were plans to place a median strip along Abbotsford St.

Excavations uncovered some old cable car tracks belonging to the West Melbourne tram that ran from Flinders St to the corner of Abbotsford and Queensberry streets, travelling along Lonsdale, King and Abbotsford streets from 1890 to 1935.

Such was the public interest that an interim heritage overlay was placed on the area, with the suggestion that the tracks become a part of North Melbourne’s heritage.

This did not eventuate, but neither did the median strip: it would have required watering with the likelihood of the tracks rusting. They were therefore covered over, perhaps to be uncovered anew at some future date.

“Dummy” calls to mind a baby’s pacifier or a stand in a dress shop window. Whereas a “gripman” calls up a master wrestler. However, both are integral parts of the workings of a cable car.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a dummy as a “barge or vehicle with no means of propulsion”. In this instance the dummy was the lead carriage that was propelled by a continuously rotating pulley running in a slot between the rails.

It was powered by steam from the engine or powerhouse, still situated on the corner of Abbotsford and Queensberry streets, now transformed into upmarket apartments. Passengers could ride in the dummy, which apart from the roof, was quite open, as well as in the second car, which was enclosed.

The driver (the gripman) stood in the middle of the dummy working the levers that gripped the cable in the slot between the tracks. To stop the tram, he simply let go of the cable and applied the brake.

Corners posed a problem. The gripman had to release the grip, often speeding up to increase momentum to easily navigate the corner. Once on the straight, the gripman would pick up the cable again. The act of attaching the grip to the cable was a ‘pick up’ and opening the grip to let go of the cable was a "throw". To avoid people being thrown off, he would call out, "mind the curve”. It did not always work.

On occasions when a pedestrian or horse wandered across the tracks the gripman had to use the brakes for an emergency stop. The only one way to get the tram to continue around the corner was for the passengers to get out and push. •