James Duncan
James grew up here in Auckland during the 1960s and 1970s when Auckland was served by a large and extensive electric trolley bus system. These vehicles fascinated him as a child and thus began a passion for electric street transport. At age 15 he joined the Tramway Division at MOTAT and has now been an active volunteer member of the tramway for 49 years. Most of his working life was spent in retail, but in 2011 he was asked to take on managing the operation of the new tramway down in Wynyard Quarter. Today, together with this role, and a full-time position at MOTAT looking after the infrastructure for the MOTAT Tramway, he says he is now like a pig in mud!
James’ talk today is part 2 of the story behind Auckland’s much loved electric trams, told through a selection of historic images covering the glory years, then their fall from grace. The programme includes a ten minute video, taking us through the declining years of the trams – these are the years that many of you will remember.