Tramways in Adelaide
The Adelaide tramways network served much of the inner suburbs and several outer suburbs of Adelaide, Australia, from 1878 until soon after World War II, when it started to decline. The sole Glenelg light rail line, which was the only route to survive the closures, did however remain in operation. After falling into a state of disrepair and neglect, in the 2000s the line underwent major civil engineering upgrades and, progressively, of route extensions; and received a new tram fleet.
History
Synopsis
Adelaide's first, horse-drawn tramway was opened in 1878. A succession of services followed until in 1907 the South Australian Government established the Municipal Tramways Trust, which bought out their private-sector owners. A year later the MTT operated its first electric tram and before long the entire network was powered by electricity.The early use of trams was for recreation as well as daily travel, by entire families and tourists. Until the 1950s, trams were used for family outings to the extent that the MTT constructed gardens in the suburb of Kensington Gardens, extending the Kensington line to attract customers. By 1945 the MTT was collecting fares for 95 million trips annually – 295 trips per head of population.
After the Great Depression, maintenance of the tramway system deteriorated no new trams were purchased. Competition from private buses, the MTT's own bus fleet and much-increased private car ownership all took patrons from the tram network. By the 1950s, the network was losing money and being replaced by a fleet of petrol-driven buses and trolleybuses powered by double overhead electric wires. All street tramways were closed in 1958 and subsequently dismantled except for the Glenelg tramline, which comprised a exclusive right-of-way and of street trackage – in the Adelaide central business district and Glenelg shopping precinct – at each end.
In a tramway renaissance starting in 2005, the Glenelg line was upgraded and extended to Adelaide railway station in 2007 and to Adelaide Entertainment Centre in 2010. The upgrade included the first new tram purchases in more than 50 years. Flexity Classic and Citadis 302 trams now run on the line. Patronage has quadrupled since 2015.
Horse tramways
In early 1855, less than twenty years after the colony was founded, South Australia's first horse tram began operating between Goolwa and Port Elliot on the Fleurieu Peninsula. Just over twenty years later Adelaide became the first city in Australia to introduce horse trams, and eventually the last to discard them for more modern public transport. Although two trials of street level trains were run, the state of Adelaide's streets, with mud in winter and dust in summer, led to the decision that they would not be reliable.Sir Edwin Smith and William Buik, both prominent in Kensington and Norwood Corporation then Adelaide City Council, spent some time inspecting European tramways during the 1870s. They were impressed with horse tram systems and, on returning to Adelaide, they promoted the concept leading to a prospectus being issued for the Adelaide and Suburban Tramway Co. Private commercial interests lobbied government for legislative support, over Adelaide council's objections related to licensing and control. As a result, the Government of South Australia passed an 1876 private act, authorising construction of Adelaide's first horse tram network. It was scheduled for completion within two years, with of lines from Adelaide's city-centre to the suburbs of Kensington and North Adelaide. Completed in May 1878, services began in June from Adelaide to Kensington Park with trams imported from John Stephenson Co of New York, United States.
Until 1907, all horse tram operations were by private companies, with the government passing legislation authorising line construction. Growth of the network and rolling stock was driven largely by commercial considerations. On the opening day, the newly founded A&ST began with six trams, expanding to 90 trams and 650 horses by 1907 with its own tram manufacturing facility at Kensington.
A Private act, passed in September 1881, allowed the construction of more private horse tramways and additional acts were passed authorising more line construction and services by more companies. Most of the companies operated double-decker tram, although some were single level cabs with many built by John Stephenson Co, Duncan & Fraser of Adelaide, and from 1897 by the A&ST at Kensington. The trams ran at an average speed of, usually two horses pulling each tram from a pool of four to ten.
Various companies expanded the network from its initial line to Kensington, with eleven companies operating within six years, three more having already failed before constructing tracks. The Adelaide to North Adelaide line opened in December 1878, a separate one from Port Adelaide to Albert Park in 1879, Adelaide to Mitcham and Hindmarsh in 1881, Walkerville 1882, Burnside, Prospect, Nailsworth and Enfield in 1883, and Maylands in 1892. Various streets were widened especially for the tram lines including Brougham Place, North Adelaide by and Prospect Road to a total width of.
All but one line was built in with the exception from Port Adelaide to Albert Park, built to to accommodate steam locomotives; some of the line was raised on embankments to avoid swampy ground and flooding. There were of tramlines with 1062 horses and 162 cars by 1901 and isolated lines from Port Adelaide to Albert Park and Glenelg to Brighton, as well as a network joining many suburbs to Adelaide's CBD by 1907.
The network had termini in Henley Beach, Hindmarsh, Prospect, Nailsworth, Paradise, Magill, Burnside, Glen Osmond, Mitcham, Clarence Park, Hyde Park and Walkerville. To accommodate the specific needs of horses, most streets were left unsealed. The horses' urine needed an unsealed surface for absorption and their hooves a soft surface for good traction.
Electrification
Adelaide's first experiment with electric powered trams was a demonstration run on the Adelaide and Hindmarsh Tramway company's line. A battery powered tram fitted with Julien's Patent Electric Traction ran in 1889 to Henley Beach. The trial was unsuccessful due to the batteries poor capacity, and the promoters' deaths in a level crossing accident shortly after precluded further experiments.As with horse trams, commercial interests pursued government support for the introduction of electric tramways. The most influential was the "Snow scheme", promoted by Francis H. Snow largely on behalf of two London companies, British Westinghouse and Callender's Cable Construction. The scheme involved the purchase of major horse tramways, merging into an electric tramway company with twenty-one years of exclusive running rights. Legislation was passed in 1901, a referendum held in 1902, but the required funds had been spent and the scheme collapsed. Adelaide's council proposed their own scheme backed by different companies, but failed to raise the required capital, and J. H. Packard promoted various plans of his own devising that also never eventuated.
By 1901, Adelaide's horse trams were seen by the public as a blot on the city's image. With a population of 162,000 the slow speed of the trams, and the lines subsequent low traffic capacity, made them inadequate for public transport needs. The unsealed roads the horses required became quagmires in winter and sources of dust in summer. The 10 pounds of manure each horse left behind daily, was also not well regarded. Under these various pressures the government negotiated to purchase the horse tramway companies. A 28 March 1906 newspaper notice announced that the government had purchased all of the city tramways for £280,000. Bill No.913, passed 22 December 1906, created the Municipal Tramways Trust with the authority to build new and purchase existing tramways.
Not all tramway companies were purchased, as the Glenelg to Marino company continued operating separately until its failure in 1914. The government purchased the properties, plant and equipment of existing tramways but did not purchase the companies themselves. The equipment included 162 trams, 22 other vehicles and 1,056 horses. By 1909 at the launch of Adelaide's electric tram services there remained 163 horse trams and 650 horses under the control of the MTT.
Due to the time required to electrify the network, the MTT continued to run horse trams until 1914. The cost of purchasing the tramways was funded by treasury bills and the act capped total construction costs at £12,000 per mile of track. £457,000 was let in contracts to March 1908 for construction of the tramways, trams, strengthening the Adelaide bridge over the River Torrens and associated works. The official ceremony starting track construction was in May 1908, with tracks originally laid on jarrah sleepers.
On 30 November 1908, there were two trial runs from the MTT's depot on Hackney Road to the nearby Adelaide Botanic Garden and back, the evening trial carrying the Premier and Governor. At the official opening ceremony on 9 March 1909, Electric Tram 1 was driven by Anne Price, wife of Premier Thomas Price, from the Hackney depot to Kensington and back, assisted by the MTT's chief engineer.
At the 1909 opening, of track had been completed with electricity supplied by the Electric Lighting and Supply Co. The electric tram system ran on 600 Volts DC supplied at first from two converter stations, No.1 converter station on East Terrace with 2,500 kW of AC to DC capacity and No.2 station at Thebarton with a capacity of 900 kW. To cope with variable loads on the system, very large storage lead–acid batteries were installed, the initial one at East Terrace comprising 293 cells and a 50 ton tank of sulphuric acid.
The Glenelg line was, from 1873, a steam railway that ran at street level into Victoria Square. Originally privately owned it was taken over by the South Australian Railways then transferred to the MTT in 1927. The line was closed to be rebuilt to, electrified at 600 Volts DC and converted to tramway operation, reopening in late 1929.
The Port Adelaide line, which until that time had still used horse trams, began to be converted to electric operation in 1914 and opened on 3 April 1917. A line from Magill to Morialta opened in 1915 for weekend tourist traffic, with only a single return service on weekdays. The line ran in the valley of 4th creek, a tributary of the River Torrens, across farmland and along unmade and ungazetted roads.
On 18 September 1918, a tram line opened from Sturt Street, via West Terrace and then Anzac Highway to Keswick. It was used to transport soldiers returned from World War I to the military hospital there. Known as the West City Line, ran down West Terrace and Goodwood Road turned west into Park Terrace before turning in to Bay Road, and terminating at the entry to the Keswick Barracks. In 1925, a small loop branch line was added, to service the Wayville Showgrounds. After redevelopment of Anzac Highway in the 1930s, the tram line was eventually truncated at the new Keswick Road Bridge in March 1939, at a stop known as Wayville West. This line was closed in December 1957.