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transport

PMs as trains and trams

Train at Parliament station

Last week Gareth Dennis posted this superb and hilarious thread of British PMs as locomotives. It’s very funny, even if (like me) you’re not much of a Brit trainspotter.

A friend asked me to do an Australian version. Initially I said I wasn’t sure if there were enough Australian trains to match the multitude of Australian PMs, but I’ve had a go at it.

So here are some Australian PMs as (mostly Victorian) trains and trams, as a Twitter thread.

I’ve got a few gaps in here, and I’m sure someone else can do better.

The good people of Twitter are coming to the rescue with some great suggestions. I’ll add a few to this post in a day or two.

By Daniel Bowen

Transport blogger / campaigner and spokesperson for the Public Transport Users Association / professional geek.
Bunurong land, Melbourne, Australia.
Opinions on this blog are all mine.

8 replies on “PMs as trains and trams”

I love it. Grinning. You did terrifically well and the Twitter additions are good too. Is there are political equivalent of a B Class tram. Solid, dependable, smooth, cool in a crisis, warm when the need is there and long lasting……I’ll sleep on that one.

Andrew: Not in our lifetime, the Z3/A/B class trams are just too reliable!

Keeping with the topic, John Howard might have passed as the W2 class tram just for his longevity. And just like the Liberal Party’s main priority being to maintain the status quo, the vast majority of W2s maintained their 1920s status quo of wooden seats and no doors right until their retirement (while W2s eventually ended up with vinyl seats near the end of their life, only a handful of W2s actually gained doors and the SW2 moniker; they were few and far between unlike the later SW5s).

@Heihachi_73, the A-class could be criticised for lacking capacity. Not sure who that matches it up to.

@Anonymous, I think you might have misinterpreted the premise.

By Post Author

John “Black Jack” McEwen – an unplanned bustitution due to unforseen circumstances. Only needed until regular service could be restored.

John Howard – Z1 Class Tram. Came in during the 1970s in very drab colours, and hung around long enough to become very popular. Later seen sporting Green and Gold. Should have been phased out for a newer model but managed to hang on well past its expected service life.

And just because it writes itself – Joh Bjelke-Petersen. A suspiciously low number of seats and a loud screech. Comes with a tropical atmosphere and likely to hang around far longer than rightfully should be expected.

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