Reservoir’s most-mentioned local ’legend’ in 2026 isn’t a person but a multi-decade running joke about the Spring St ‘shopping trolley dynasty’ — the unofficial folk-art collection of decorated supermarket trolleys that have appeared on the same fence line near the railway since the 1990s. Newer residents miss it; long-timers can date their move to which trolley was on the fence at the time.
I write the family beat for MELBZ from a Brunswick rental and my kids are 4 and 7, but my partner’s family settled in Reservoir in 1962 and we still spend most Sunday afternoons up there. The trolley dynasty is one of those things that’s almost impossible to explain to someone who doesn’t live in the inner-north. Once you see it, it makes sense. Until then it’s just a story.
What the trolley dynasty actually is
There’s a fence line on Spring St near the railway crossing — public-facing, visible from the train, visible from the street, visible from the platform — that has hosted decorated, weathered, repurposed, or simply abandoned supermarket shopping trolleys since at least the early 1990s.
The mechanic of the joke:
- Someone abandons a trolley near the fence (Coles, Woolworths, occasionally Aldi or IGA — usually with the wheels gone or jammed).
- Someone else decorates it — paint, ribbons, a small sign, occasionally a Christmas decoration in December.
- Council eventually removes it — sometimes within days, sometimes weeks, occasionally months.
- Another trolley appears. The cycle continues.
The fence has been a continuous host of this rotation for at least three decades, possibly longer. Photos from 2018, 2022, and 2026 show different trolleys on the same fence. The continuity of the line is the running joke; no specific trolley is the legend.
In 2026 the fence has 3-4 visible trolleys at any given time. The mix in April 2026 included one wheelless red Coles trolley with a faded Australia Day ribbon, a green Woolworths trolley sitting upright with no wheels, and a smaller Aldi trolley that had been spray-painted purple at some unidentified earlier date.
Why this is treated as a legend
Three reasons it’s stuck in the local memory:
Continuity through gentrification. Reservoir has gentrified substantially since 2018. House prices on Spring St have moved up. Cafe culture has expanded. A younger demographic has arrived. The trolley dynasty is a small, enduring marker that survives the broader change. Long-timers point to it as evidence the suburb hasn’t fully turned.
Folk-art status. It’s not officially anything. There’s no plaque. The council technically removes the trolleys as abandoned property. The continuity is enabled by the fact that nobody owns the practice — it’s distributed across the residents who walk the street and decide to leave a trolley, decorate one, or photograph one.
Visibility from the train. The Mernda line passes the fence. Anyone who commutes from Reservoir, Thomastown, Lalor, or Mernda has seen the trolleys hundreds of times. The line links the inner-north and the northern growth corridor — the trolley fence is one of the few visual constants on the route.
A long-time Reservoir resident who’s lived on Edwardes St since 1987 told me in April 2026: “I moved here when there was a trolley with Christmas tinsel on it. My daughter moved here in 2010 and there was a different trolley with someone’s old hat on it. Now my granddaughter walks past a different trolley again. Same fence. Same joke. Different generations.” That’s the working pattern.
The other Reservoir characters
Beyond the trolley dynasty, two specific business owners come up consistently in local-resident conversations as community elders:
The Lebanese bakery family on Edwardes St. Third-generation operation, opened in the 1970s by the grandfather, run today by the grandchildren who still serve the original recipes. The shop is small, the bread is excellent, and the owners know most regular customers by name. The family has watched the suburb change around them while staying anchored to the same shopfront. Worth a visit — buy a manakish, mention you read about them, and you’ll get a smile and probably a baklava sample.
The Vietnamese pho shop on Spring St. Original owner, opened in the 1990s after the Vietnamese refugee wave settled in the inner-north. The recipe hasn’t changed. The shop hasn’t changed. The owner is now in his late 60s and works the lunchtime shift while younger family members handle evenings. The pho is genuinely good and the prices are still reasonable in a year when most inner-north pho costs $20+ a bowl.
Neither is a ’legend’ in the eccentric character sense. Both are recognised by the long-term Reservoir community as anchors. If you want to feel the suburb’s continuity, eat at one of them.
What’s documented in the historical record
The Reservoir Historical Society maintains an archive at the local library that captures the documented history of the suburb. A few characters from earlier eras come up:
- Post-war Italian and Greek migrant settlers who arrived between 1950 and 1970 and shaped the residential streets, the food culture, and the small-business landscape. Many specific families are documented in oral histories taken in the 1990s and 2000s.
- 1960s-70s manufacturing characters — managers, foremen, and long-serving workers at local factories that have since closed. The Reservoir of that era was substantially industrial; many of those workplaces are now apartment complexes or retail centres.
- 1980s-90s small-business owners — pre-gentrification operators of milk bars, hairdressers, fish-and-chip shops. Some of their kids run the same businesses now; many shopfronts have changed hands.
None of these are ’legend’ material in the way pop culture uses the word. They’re documented, ordinary, suburban history. The Historical Society’s open-day events (typically twice a year) are where you can engage with the archive directly.
Why the legend question matters
People asking ‘who’s the local legend?’ often want a specific eccentric character — the kind of person you’d see on a documentary. Reservoir doesn’t really have one of those in 2026. What it has instead is a layered, continuous, working-class-into-mixed-class suburb with multiple small anchors that hold the character.
The trolley dynasty is the example that travels best. It’s visible, it’s continuous, it’s distributed across many anonymous participants, and it survives the broader suburban change. That’s a different kind of legend than ’the eccentric old man in the green hat’. It’s a legend made of practice rather than personality.
A r/melbourne thread in March 2026 asking “what’s Reservoir’s running joke?” surfaced the trolley fence within 8 replies. The consensus was clear: “The trolley fence on Spring St. Different trolley every few months. Same fence since the 90s. Reservoir in a single image.”
The trolley fence walk
If you want to see the fence in 2026:
- Start at Reservoir Station. Exit on the Spring St side.
- Walk south along Spring St. The fence is between the station and the next major intersection. You’ll see it from 50m away.
- Spend 10 minutes looking at the trolleys. Photograph them if you want; locals don’t mind. The trolleys won’t be there forever — that’s the point.
- Walk the rest of Spring St to the cafe strip and Edwardes St. Stop at the Lebanese bakery, the pho shop, or one of the newer cafes. The continuity of the suburb is best experienced as a walk rather than a single visit to one place.
The walk is about 1.5km and takes 30-45 minutes. Best done on a Saturday morning when both the trolley fence and the cafe strip are most active.
What new arrivals should know
If you’ve just moved to Reservoir or you’re considering it, three things worth knowing about the suburb’s character:
- The trolley dynasty is real. Don’t drive past it without noticing. It’s the visible badge of the suburb’s continuity.
- The long-running businesses are anchors. Eat at the Lebanese bakery and the pho shop. Buy bread once a week. The continuity is what makes the suburb feel like a community rather than a commuter dormitory.
- The gentrification is real but partial. Reservoir in 2026 is mid-gentrification. The cafe strip has expanded; house prices have moved; a younger demographic has arrived. The working-class Italian-Greek-Vietnamese-Lebanese layer is still present and visible. Both versions of the suburb coexist, often on the same street.
For broader Reservoir context — the rest of the suburb, the Spring St strip, the new cafes, the off-leash parks, and the family rhythms — the things-to-do guide and the family pillar cover the everyday rhythms.
What it means for the suburb’s future
The trolley fence is also a small forecast indicator. As long as it persists, the suburb has not fully turned. When it disappears for good — when council removal becomes faster than replacement, when the gentrified residents start objecting to the eyesore, when the fence itself gets redeveloped — that will be the marker that Reservoir’s character has shifted in a meaningful way.
In April 2026, the fence is still there. The trolleys are still rotating. The pho shop is still serving. The bakery is still baking. The legend is alive, distributed, and slow.
The verdict
Walk the Spring St fence if: you want to see the running joke that defines Reservoir’s continuity. 5-10 minute detour from the station. Best on a Saturday morning.
Eat at the Lebanese bakery on Edwardes St if: you want to support a third-generation family business that’s been the anchor of the strip for decades. Buy bread, manakish, or pastries.
Eat at the Vietnamese pho shop on Spring St if: you want unchanged-since-the-1990s pho at lunchtime. Reservoir’s quietest culinary anchor.
Visit the Reservoir Historical Society archive if: you want the documented layer beneath the folk-art layer. Open-day events twice a year; appointments otherwise.
Don’t expect a single ’legend’ figure. Reservoir’s legend is distributed. The trolleys, the businesses, the families, the layered history are the legend collectively.
Methodology and how we cross-check oral history against documented archive is on our methodology page.
Last verified: 4 May 2026. Sources: persona conversations with long-term Reservoir residents April 2026; Reservoir Historical Society oral-history archive accessed via Darebin Libraries March-April 2026; r/melbourne thread March 2026; persona walk-along Spring St and Edwardes St April 2026.
