Bahn358 Simulation - Melbourne Tram Network 1997 - Melb97a.nt3

By Alex Campbell - tri@xtra.co.nz

This simulation was put together late 1997/early 1998.  But it turned into a bit of an epic undertaking. Never actually finished it fully. There are still a couple of routes that don't run to real schedules. However all the track is in place and the general effect is there.  

An early decision to program trams to run in and out of real depots (rather than disappearing into hyper-space at depot buildings) added an extra level of programming complexity that has really exhausted me on this one.

After sitting around for the last 12 months it was time give this one a quick tidy up and get it out the door.  Maybe in another 12 months I might be inspired to complete it fully, with updates for changes since the splitting of the network between the new private tram companies. 

The trackwork was drawn from a comprehensive base map depicted in the fifth edition of "Destination City: Melbourne's Electric Trams" by Cross, Bud and Wilson, published by Transit Australia Publishing in 1993 (ISBN 0 909459 17 7).

Subsequent track changes up to 1997 including the new South Melbourne depot were sourced from the journal Transit Australia (ISSN 0818 5204).

Timetables were sourced from the "VicTrip" web page http://www.victrip.vic.gov.au/. 

The track gauge of Melbourne trams is 1435mm. There was about 235km of track in 1993 [Destination City 1993]. With network additions this is now well over 240km.  As of December 1998 there were 343km of routes operating [Transit Australia Dec 1998].    

Fleet in 1997 consisted of 567 trams.  This was made up of 132 articulated trams, 405 conventional trams, 23 heritage trams and 7 departmental trams [Transit Australia Jan 1999]. My fleet allocation is considerably less than this.  Daytime trams in the simulation run faster than in real life reducing the 
number of trams needed to run services, there being no traffic congestion in "Bahnland" to slow them. I hope to correct this in a future version.

The simulation was created under Bahn340 but converted to Bahn358 prior to distribution. The only Bahn358 features in it so far are the diagonal and horizontal depot sheds.

Depending on feedback to this one I may finish a simulation of the Wellington, New Zealand, trolley bus network.

Alex Campbell
January 1999

