Cardboard replicas of old Boon tram

Press, 7 May 1984, Page 29

Cardboard replicas of old Boon tram

The Christchurch Transport Board has come up with an answer to owning your own tram.

It can not offer the real thing, but as an added attraction during the school holidays, it is selling cardboard model replicas of the famous Boon tram, the faithful workhorse of Christchurch transport for nearly 50 years.

Selling kitset models is something new for the C.T.B. and it believes they will appeal not only to schoolchildren but also to people who regularly make up models as a hobby.

Easy to assemble, the models are a replica of Boon tram, No. 152, which was restored by the Tramway Historical Society and is now running out at Ferrymead.

Boons were so called because they were built by the Christchurch firm of Boon and Co. Between 1905 and 1910, 28 were built, and Boon 152 first went into service on June 9, 1910.

The trams operated on all Christchurch routes, bar the Cashmere Hills route which required specially designed trams, and they were the mainstay of the fleet for many years. Boon 152 was in service until 1952, but with the arrival of the A.E.C. Mark IV buses later that year, the city’s tram routes were progressively closed and the trams were sold.

Because they were so well built, the tram bodies

D Depa

were in great demand as farm buildings, seaside baches and toolsheds and, in fact, Boon 152 was used as a workshop until it was donated to Ferrymead in 1969.

The C.T.B.’s kitset models of the tram cost $1.95 and are available from the board’s Information Kiosk in Cathedral Square, C.T.B. ticket agents and Ferrymead.

They are also being sold from the C.T.B. display stand which will be situated in several locations during the school holidays. This display, featuring information about the board’s services as well as using photographs and a short video to provide a behind-the-scenes look at how it operates, attracted a lot of attention during the board’s recent “Bus ’n’ Win” promotion.

If you missed seeing it the display is in The Gables Arcade, Rangiora, for the first week of the holidays, at Ferrymead on May 12 and 13, and in the foyer of the Westend Theatre, in Cathedral Square, from May 14 to 18.

Among the services outlined on it are the board’s popular school holiday trips to Orana Park and the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve.

These are again running during the May holidays — one bus daily will visit each reserve from Saturday, May 5, to Sunday, May 20, inclusive.

Buses leave Cathedral

Square at 12.30 p.m. and return at 3 p.m., enabling those catching other buses for their homeward journey to still be within the half fare (off peak) period. This is one proposition which makes bus travel at holiday times especially attractive: the half fare scheme enables adults to travel at child rates during off peak times — 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and after 6 p.m. on weekdays, and at all times on week-ends and public holidays.

The trip to Willowbank costs $5.15 for adults (return fare'and admission to the reserve) and $2.60 for children. Orana Park’s all inclusive cost is $6.70 for adults and $3.35 for children.

While these two tours operate for the holiday period only, other tours and services undertaken by the Board — such as the threehour Hills and Harbour tour — traditionally prove very popular during school holidays.

Q.E. H Park, Christchurch International Airport and Ferrymead are just a few of the other popular school holiday venues within Christchurch which are served by the “Big Reds.” To make things easier for the prospective traveller, the U.T.B. has a special timetable/route/fare inquiry number (794-600) and all relevant information is available from its Information Kiosk in Cathedral Square.