Bendigo Tramways (12) Lifting & Return to Tracks of Tram 18, November - December 2014

To commemorate the forthcoming centenary of the Gallipoli campaign in April 2015 it was decided to refurbish withdrawn Tram No. 18 and return it to service as "The Anzac Tram". No. 18 was in off-rail open storage at the southern end of the Bendigo Gasworks site, sandwiched between trams 456 and 122. This video features:- * Tram 18 being lifted onto a semitrailer on 5th November 2014 and taken to the Northern end of the Gasworks site where it was again lifted and lowered onto the tram tracks. It would remain here until 5th December. * No. 18 being hauled from the Gasworks site to the main depot where a preliminary assessment of the work required was undertaken. The stripped shell of Melbourne tram No. W7 1010 is also seen. 1010 was in the early stages of it's rebuilding to a W8 class tram for use on the Melbourne City Circle service. 5th December 2014. * Due to space constraints at the main depot No. 18 was taken back to the Gasworks site for a further period of storage on 8th December. * On 5th February 2015 No. 18 was again hauled to the main depot where work would then immediately commence on it's refurbishment as "The Anzac Tram". It would reappear in April as No. 45 which was the number it bore in 1915 when it was in service with the Prahran & Malvern Tramways Trust. Strangely enough the 2015 No. 45 looked vastly different from the 1915 version as it had been rebuilt by Bendigo Tramways into an open saloon car in 1983 so historical accuracy was not a consideration in this instance!