Membership & Volunteering
Every tram at Haddon was saved, moved, rebuilt and run by members — people who turned up on weekends and learned coachbuilding, electrical fitting and permanent-way engineering because the trams needed it.
The Melbourne Tramcar Preservation Association is a membership organisation, and its published aims have always centred on three things: preserving and restoring selected Melbourne trams, building and operating a demonstration tramway, and keeping alive the coachwork trades — the timber-framing, panelling and finishing skills that built these vehicles and that modern metal-and-fibreglass transport no longer teaches.
What Members Actually Do
- Restoration and maintenance — from stripping paint and revarnishing ceilings to overhauling compressors, door engines and controllers.
- Infrastructure — track laying and renewal, overhead wiring, buildings and the DC substation that powers the line.
- Operations — driving, conducting and hosting visitors when the tramway runs.
- The quiet jobs — documentation, funding appeals, newsletters and the administration every incorporated association needs.
No prior skills are assumed at organisations like this; the point is that skills get passed on. Historically the Association’s membership has spanned all ages and backgrounds, with a regular newsletter keeping distant members connected.
Membership itself is handled by the Association, and rates and forms change over the years — the current details are best obtained from the Association directly via the COTMA member directory.
And if Haddon is too far away, every tramway museum on our links page welcomes volunteers, and the skills are portable — a varnish brush works the same in Ballarat, Bylands or Bendigo.