Trams in Sydney
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Trams on George Street, 1920.
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| Locale | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | |||||||||||||
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The Sydney tramway network served the inner suburbs of Sydney, Australia from 1879 until 1961. In its heyday, it was the largest in Australia, the second largest in the Commonwealth of Nations (after London), and one of the largest in the world. The network was heavily worked, with about 1,600 cars in service at any one time at its peak during the 1930s (cf. about 500 trams in Melbourne today). Patronage peaked in 1945 at 405 million passenger journeys. It had a maximum street mileage of 181 miles (291 km), in 1923.
Sydney's first tram was horse-drawn, running from the old Sydney railway station to Circular Quay along Pitt Street. Built in 1861, the design was compromised by the desire to haul railway freight wagons along the line to supply city businesses, in addition to passenger traffic. This resulted in a track that protruded from the road surface and damaged the wheels of wagons trying to cross it. Hard campaigning by competing omnibus owners – as well as a fatal accident involving the leading Australian musician Isaac Nathan in 1864 – led to closure in 1866.
In 1879 a steam tramway was established. Despite several accidents, it was a great success and the system expanded rapidly through the city and inner suburbs. The Steam Motor Trams comprised a Baldwin locomotive hauling one or more double-deck carriages. A preserved Baldwin Steam Motor Tram is at the Powerhouse Museum "Discovery Centre" at Castle Hill and there is an operational steam motor and trailer set at the Valley Heights Steam Tramway Museum. Another is at the Museum of Transport and Technology, Auckland. There were also two cable tram routes, to Ocean Street (Edgecliff) and in North Sydney, later extended to Crows Nest, because of the steep terrain involved.
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