Cable car goes to Auckland

Press, 16 April 1980, Page 5

Cable car goes to Auckland

The Ferrymead transport museum has missed the chance of getting one of Wellington’s famous old cable cars. The old cable cars, which served the Welling ton suburb of Kelburn for 75 years until 1978, became redundant when new $2.7M Swiss-built cars replaced them last October. Since then, the Wellington City Corporation had been making up its mind what to do with the three gripper cars and three trailer cars. The Ferrymead Trust applied for one of the cars last year, as did the Auckland Museum of Transport and Technology and the tram museum at Paekakariki, north of Wellington. The corporation subsequently indicated that it wished to have all the old cars preserved in Wellington. Then, last week, , it was decided to present

one of the gripper cars to Auckland transport museum.

The Wellington transport committee’s chairman (Mr J. P. Wootton) said his committee thought it would give one of the cars to Auckland from the start.

“Theirs is the most comprehensive and well run museum in the country,” he said.

The director ■of the Ferrymead Trust (Mr D. R. Muir) said new submissions would now be made to Wellington for a gripper car and a trolley which he believed was being set in the open half-way up the new’ cable run.

“If they put the trolley 7 in the open, it will be vandalised in three months,” he said. “All I can say is that I’m very disappointed we are not getting a car. I will keep trying.”