Melbourne Tramway Crew c1922

[David Critchley]

A Postcard in my collection.  A George Wall & Co. (St. Kilda) photo postcard. Mint.

Melbourne c1922.  This postcard was advertised online as "a Victoria Railways crew at unknown station", however a quick glance at the "TB" cap badges would indicate that these gentlemen are actually Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramway Board (M&MTB) crew.   The three men wear uniforms of similar appearance, although the short statured gentlemen in the centre sports a "Demsey" or "Stanford' soft collar and tie rather than the more formal "Club Collar" of the other two staff.  The "Club Collar" was a popular style in the early 1920s, which featured a detachable collar with rounded corners.  At this time it was customary for Tramway undertakings to supply a hat, coat, vest and trousers but shirts, ties, shoes and undergarmets were not provided and had to be supplied by the employee - thus quite a variation in shirts, collars and ties can be seen in old images.   

So the next question is - are they electric tram or cable tram crew?  Note that two taller gentlemen have eye googles on their caps, this is something I haven't seen before in tramway uniforms in Australia.  It would indicate that they are drivers of vehicles without windscreens. However, by the 1920s almost all of Melbournes electric trams had windscreens but the cable trams continue to have open driving dummies right up until 1940.  Note also the guy in the heavily grease-marked outfit at right.  While he could be electric tram maintenance staff, my thoughts is that he is working on the cable trams which were known for their heavy use of grease, both on the grip, the cable and the various pulleys and runners.   My conclusion is that they are probably M&MTB cable tram staff at a yet to be identified Depot.  

   

David Critchley

[Geoffrey Dean]

The man in the middle has a large safety pin in his left lapel that he would attach the ticket that he would punch with his Bell Punch.

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[Tony Galloway]

Cable tram crews - that explains the goggles on the caps, to protect their eyes from the blinding wind speed….

Tony

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<Melbourne MMTB c1922 Cable Tram Crews.jpg>

[Mal Rowe]

On 27/11/2025 23:29, 'Tony Galloway' via TramsDownUnder wrote:
> Cable tram crews - that explains the goggles on the caps, to protect
> their eyes from the blinding wind speed…

Interesting and probably true, but I have never seen these goggles in
other pics of crews.

As Geoff said, the guy with all the pins is a conductor.

The other two in uniform are probably drivers, one has his driver badge
buttoned onto his coat and on the other man's coat you can see the
button that the badge was attached to.  A pic of a badge from the MMTB
era is attached.

Depot?  The bars possibly indicate a revenue office at the depot.  I
will look through the pics I have to try to identify the door and widow
combination.

Mal Rowe - preparing a major cable tram exhibition for Melbourne tram
museum.

[Bob Pearce]

Interesting spelling of the era.

-----Original Message-----
From: tramsdo...@googlegroups.com <tramsdo...@googlegroups.com> On
Behalf Of Mal Rowe
Sent: Friday, 28 November 2025 12:55 PM
To: tramsdo...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Melbourne Tramway Crew c1922

On 27/11/2025 23:29, 'Tony Galloway' via TramsDownUnder wrote:
> Cable tram crews - that explains the goggles on the caps, to protect

> their eyes from the blinding wind speed.

Interesting and probably true, but I have never seen these goggles in other
pics of crews.

As Geoff said, the guy with all the pins is a conductor.

The other two in uniform are probably drivers, one has his driver badge
buttoned onto his coat and on the other man's coat you can see the button that
the badge was attached to. A pic of a badge from the MMTB era is attached.

Depot? The bars possibly indicate a revenue office at the depot. I will look
through the pics I have to try to identify the door and widow combination.

Mal Rowe - preparing a major cable tram exhibition for Melbourne tram museum.

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[Mark Skinner]

It's certainly archaic spelling today. However, if the person who made the decision to spell it that way was some senior clerk around the 50-60 age range,  then it's likely they were taught the word in the 1870s or 80s. 

Mark Skinner, 

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[Jeremy Wainwright]

It was the spelling in use as late as the 1960s in Victorian legislation, but with an acute accent over the final 'e', confirming its French origin. The undermentioned senior clerk (or, perhaps, the badge maker) was remiss in not following suit.

JWW

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From: tramsdo...@googlegroups.com <tramsdo...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Mark Skinner <eme...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, 28 November 2025 20:00
To: tramsdo...@googlegroups.com <tramsdo...@googlegroups.com>

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[Mark Skinner]

The law has always been funny with the use of old French terms in legal matters. I recall reading SA Government Gazettes in the 1990s referring to courts of oyer and terminer. So, the use of employe in laws isn't surprising. However, outside that, it's weird.

Mark

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