19 Nov 2017

Alan Curtis: MOTAT's forever tram driver

From Sunday Morning, 7:43 am on 19 November 2017

MOTAT tram driver volunteer Alan Curtis first began driving them at the age of 21.

The opening day brochure for the MOTAT Tramway on Saturday 16 December 1967. Photo: Graham Stewart

Auckland No 253’s first test run under power at MOTAT on the evening of Friday 24 November 1967 with Ian Stewart at the controls and many more tramway builders and pioneers in the background. The 600-volt Direct Current was supplied by the Auckland Regional Authority’s trolley-bus reticulation system, initially from the Point Chevalier Substation. Photo: Graham Stewart

Taken on the opening day of the tramway at MOTAT on 16 December 1967 – Alan Curtis is fifth from the left (at back with glasses). This features a line-up of the original MOTAT Tramway volunteers holding a model Auckland tram. Photo: Graham Stewart

Opening day at MOTAT on 16 December 1967. Alan Curtis double-checks that the tram is not in any danger of derailing. Photo: Graham Stewart

Trams on the move at MOTAT for the opening of the Tramway 16 December 1967. The WANGANUI 10 arrives, Photo: Graham Stewart

MOTAT’s trams arrive at the Museum. Photo: Graham Stewart

Track welding for the MOTAT tramway. Photo: Graham Stewart

MOTAT’s iconic trams arrive at the Museum. Photo: Graham Stewart

Arriving. Photo: Graham Stewart

Opening day. Photo: Graham Stewart

Photo: Graham Stewart

MOTAT’s Double Decker Tram 47 overlooks the picturesque Regent Street 1950’s shop front at the Museum.

Tram No. 248 and Tram No. 11

Wanganui steam tram No. 100

Tram No. 44

December 2017 marks the 50th Anniversary of the iconic tramway at Auckland's Museum of Transport and Technology. The trams are a reminder of the times when Auckland City, and other cities around the country, boasted an impressive public transport system using electric trams. In Auckland they ran from 1902 to 1956. Alan Curtis began volunteering as a tram driver at MOTAT in 1963 and still drive trams there once a month. On Sunday November 19 Motat is holding a special day celebrating 50 years of trams at the museum. It's called Live Day and part of it will be to recruit volunteers to learn to be tram drivers or conductors.

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