What is it I hear you ask?
The 4D train! Where the 4D stands for "Double Deck Development and Demonstration." It was built in the early 1990’s as a prototype double decker train for Melbourne, based on a Sydney design. It was plagued with problems, and suffered frequent breakdowns. As a result it was mothballed by the early 2000’s.
Weston Langford photo
A unique feature of the train was the height of the decks. To allow the entire train to fit under bridges, the lower deck was almost touching the rails. This resulted in the windows being at platform height, and enabling lower deck passengers to look up girl’s skirts at stations! Fights used to break out among boys on their way home from school, over who would get the window seats…
On Wednesday it was finally taken to the scrappers, after being stripped of doors, seats, and electrical equipment. And now it just a pile of steel chunks. Now it rests in pieces…
Footnote
[…] The orphaned double deck ’4D’ train spent much of the early 2000s out of service for repairs, until it was scrapped in April 2006. […]
[…] our double deck trains aren’t the only rail vehicles to have trouble with low bridges in […]