Reflections on the Parlour Cars post Beam Transport Ltd., - Rattler 430/2009 - Edited by Nicholas Pusenjak and Ray Webster

The last Alpine Parlour Cars were taken off the Perth—Fremantle run by Beam Transport on the night of 1st August 1951 and replaced by five Bedford OB buses and two Dennis Lancet IV J7’s. On 24 Aug 1951 Attwood Motors were asked to evaluate the 8 Parlour Cars and their disposal took place over the next two years.  BPSWA Member Ray Webster has put down a few of his reflections and experiences of driving one of these Parlour Cars whilst some were in use by MacRobertson Miller Airlines (MMA). Ray writes:

The Alpine International Parlour Car currently under restoration in the BPSWA Workshop for the Fremantle Heritage Museum.

“I was employed by MMA from 1954 to 1959. From memory the Parlour Cars were used in approximately 1956/7. Three were purchased, one being used in Perth, one in Pt Hedland and I believe one was used in Carnarvon. The Carnarvon vehicle I don't know what happened to that or what it was used for. The vehicle in Pt Hedland was utilised for carrying passengers from the airport to the town and return. It caught fire whilst travelling across the causeway in Pt Hedland and was completely destroyed.
The vehicle that was based in Perth, and the one I drove, was the K series International and was in fairly poor condition. It was only used as a stop gap whilst awaiting delivery of an Austin Perkins with a MBB body. MBB was a division of the Scarborough Bus Co. Upon arrival of this new vehicle the Parlour Car was withdrawn and I do not know of the disposal details of it. The steering was particularly bad with a lot of slack and extreme caution had to be used, particularly on road surfaces that were in rough or poor conditions, as it was prone to wheel wobble. 

The braking system was not reliable and the body in general in poor condition. On one occasion whilst travelling down Adelaide Tce outside the ABC the destination box lid fell down blocking my vision and as it was night all I had in front of me was the lights of the destination box.
Fortunately a passenger was sitting with me in the front seat and he had to hold the lid closed for the entire journey to the airport. Consequently they were not popular with the drivers and were certainly pleased to see the back end of them. The story goes that the driver in Pt Hedland after the vehicle caught fire, as seen to be using a sheet of iron to fan the flames to ensure that the fire didn't go out. That pretty well summarises my experience with the Parlour Cars.”#