'Karachi W11' becomes permanent exhibit at Australia's tram museum "Karachi W11" has been preserved and is a permanent exhibit at a museum in Australian city of MelbourneIt is not one of those W-11 buses that ply the roads in Pakistan's financial capital.According to Melbourne Tram Museum, a historically important tram Z1 Class No 81 was due to retire in early 2006 after years carrying people to work, school and play.It needed a major overhaul to continue travelling the streets of Melbourne for another decade of service but the cost of repairing the old tram was too high.The museum sad a difficult fate was in store for the ageing tram.The museum said:"As part of the cultural festival associated with the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, Global Art Projects brought five Pakistani artisans to Melbourne for a two-week period, to decorate Z1 81 in the same extravagant style as the mini-buses used on the W11 route in Karachi.
The artistic project was run under the direction of local artist Mick Douglas.
Z1 81 was adorned with fluorescent hand-cut sticker collage, stainless steel panelling, tassels and flashing lights.
The message Love is Life was emblazoned on its sides in both English and Urdu.After the end of the Games, Z1 81 was placed into storage, but was returned to limited service on the City Circle route on Friday evenings, from 3 November 2006 until 23 March 2007, as part of the City of Melbourne Living Arts program.
Performances were conducted on its journey by artists, musicians and dancers during the sponsored program.On completion of the season, Z1 81 was returned to storage, where it remained until it was placed into the collection of the Melbourne Tram Museum on 19 June 2015."