3102 Drivers Controls

The driver's controls of carriage 3102 at the Eveleigh Paint Shop sit at the leading end of the carriage, a compact panel of brass and timber set into the inside of the front bulkhead. The main controller is a circular dial with a notched handle, the notches marking the controller's discrete power steps from off through to maximum traction current. A separate handle below operates the air brake, with a curved scale marked in pounds per square inch. Smaller gauges either side show the line pressure and the traction motor current. A timber driver's seat is fixed beside the panel, the leather worn to the underlying horsehair at the wear points. A single window in the front bulkhead lights the cab.

Carriage 3102 was originally built in the 1920s and electrified along with the rest of Sydney's suburban network in 1926. The driver's position in this photograph is the original electric-traction controller fitted at that conversion. Drivers worked the carriage from this cab when 3102 was the leading car of a suburban set; on trips where it ran as a trailer the cab was unused. The controls and the cab fittings are mostly original. Carriage 3102 is now part of the Historic Electric Traction heritage collection at the Eveleigh Paint Shop, retired from active service and held for restoration.