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M&MTB Grinder No 1

M&MTB Grinder No 1 at Flinders & Swanston Street intersection. Photograph J. Rush.

M&MTB Grinder No 1 in action at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Streets. Photograph J. Rush.

This ‘Heath Robinson’ type vehicle was built by Austral Otis in 1929, and was used to grind out corrugations from rails and smoothing out irregularities in newly laid or processed work. Originally numbered 6A, it was renumbered in 1934 as No 1.

It consists of a powered truck with a four-wheeled grinding trailer all under one roof. Power to the grinding trailer is transmitted by rope belts and gearing from the powered truck to the trailer. This tramcar together with its sister No 2 was generally only used at night. However, both cars were involved in accidents in 1969, which resulted in the scrapping of No 2 and the transferral of its trailer to No 1, allowing it to continue to operate.

The Engineering Faculty of the University of Melbourne regularly arranged student inspections of No 1 in action, as it had virtually every form of mechanical transmission of rotary drive known to man, from rope belts, automotive type drive shafts and geared transmissions, to chain drive. When not in use, this piece of machinery was usually found at South Melbourne Depot.

This vehicle was donated to the TMSV in 1971 on withdrawal. It is planned to restore this as a static exhibit, due to Occupational Health and Safety concerns over its exposed moving parts. It shall appear in pre-1959 service livery of drab olive green.