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Tram No.1> |
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By the end of the 19th Century, there was a desire for a modern mode of public transport in Adelaide.
In 1906 the Municipal Tramways Trust was formed to provide an electric tramway service. |
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The first meeting of the MTT Board was held on 5 Feb 1907, within six weeks of the MTT Act being assented to.
Photo: The Tramways of Adelaide, Adelaide: The Critic, 1909, p. 3
Duncan & Fraser were established coachbuilders based in Franklin Street, with a history of producing private horse-drawn carriages, horse cars and electric trams. Because of inadequate space at their Franklin Street site they hired space in the pavilion at the Jubilee Exhibition grounds (now part of the lower level grounds of the University of Adelaide) near Frome Road, as well as assembling the new trams at the new Hackney Depot.
Photo: JC Radcliffe Collection
Photo: The Tramways of Adelaide, Adelaide: The Critic, 1909, p. 39 .
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Building the electric tram service
ESTABLISHING THE MUNICIPAL TRAMWAYS TRUST
The Municipal Tramways Trust was formed after passage of the Municipal Tramways Trust Act 1906. The Act charged the Trust with buying out the various privately owned independently operating horse drawn tramway companies and establishing a publicly owned single electric tramway system.
The Board of the MTT consisted of two persons nominated by the state government, two by the Adelaide City Council and four representing the suburban councils within ten miles (16 kms) of the GPO. The board was given three years to complete the project.
On May 17 1908, the Lord Mayor, Mr Theodore Bruce, ‘turned the first sod.’ This ceremony marked the beginning of one of the largest transport infrastructure projects ever completed in Adelaide. Are there any ladies present?
Photo: The Tramways of Adelaide, Adelaide: The Critic, 1909, p. 8 |
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Completing a combined electric street light and tramway power cable pole in King William Street. The tower wagon presented plenty of hazards for the workers. Centre poles were often hit by errant motor vehicles and in later years were removed in some other streets in favour of span poles erected on each kerb.
Photo: The Tramways of Adelaide, Adelaide: The Critic, 1909, p. 14
View leading to the great four way crossing in the centre of Victoria Square. The Post Office and the Town Hall are in the distance. Victoria Square has constantly undergone change, but the two foreground tracks at the Southern end of the Square were there from 1908 to 2007, Now trams glide unobtrusively along the western side of the Square.
Photo: The Tramways of Adelaide, Adelaide: The Critic, 1909, p. 9.
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Preparing the new system
After establishing the MTT Board and appointing the Chief Engineer, the new tram system required a great deal of infrastructure. Tracks, bridges, overhead wires and supporting poles, electrical distribution and phone systems were established One hundred trams were built, staff recruited and trained to operate them and at Hackney, workshops were built to maintain them. The MTT’s own power station at Port Adelaide and administrative headquarters at Hackney followed in 1911. |
Car No 1 is loaded on a jinker for delivery from the Jubilee Exhibition Grounds to Hackney.
Photo: JC Radcliffe Collection.
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The Chief
Mr WGT Goodman (later Sir William Goodman) was appointed Electrical Engineer in 1907 at the age of 35 having previously been involved in establishing electric tramways in N.S.W. and New Zealand. He was appointed General Manager and Chief Engineer in May 1908. He designed all aspects of Adelaide’s new electric tramway system to a high standard. He maintained that standard for his 42 years as General Manager. Known throughout his tenure as ‘The Chief’ he retired in 1950 at the age of 78.
‘The Chief’ retires, 1950, aged 78, by once again driving tram no.1.
Photo: Among Ourselves, December 1950/January 1951 p. 10. |
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Early electric tram trials & driver training
Tram driving jobs were much sought after, but the training came at an inconvenient price. MTT tramcars first ran in traffic in March 1909, and Motorman Chris Hollamby applied for a job the same month. He worked in Sewell’s Nursery during the day, and took evening instruction at Hackney Depot. Motormen trainees used to go out driving after the horse cars were off the road. Sometimes Chris got home at half past four in the morning and had to start work at the nursery at 7.30am.
Among Ourselves, Vol 7, Feb/March 1947 |
Car No 1 on the test run, 30 November 1908, North Terrace, near Botanic Gardens. Later that evening, the Governor, Sir George Le Hunte, was treated to a demonstration trip.
Photo: The Tramways of Adelaide, Adelaide: The Critic, 1909, p. 3. |
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Ready for the opening
During the following weeks, Car No 1 made special trips for local councillors and visiting dignitaries. Car No 32 was the first ‘toast-rack’ car completed. During the Adelaide Show in March 1909 tourist trips at one shilling (ten cents) per head were made to Kensington from North Terrace. |
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Opening day Tuesday 9th March 1909
THE OPENING PROCESSION
At 2.30 pm, a procession of fourteen tramcars (carrying seven hundred passengers) led by tram No 1 left Hackney Depot travelling to Gurrs Road, Kensington. As the Premier, Mr T Price was very ill, Mrs Price officially drove the leading tram under Mr Goodman’s guidance. The procession returned to King William St and then reversed direction to return to Hackney Depot for afternoon tea. |
Back in the city, in Grenfell Street, the fourteen trams reversed direction to run back to Hackney Depot.
Photo: AETM Collection
Car No 1, suitably decorated, emerges from track 1 of the new Hackney Depot. This building became the South Australian Plant Biodiversity Centre, incorporating the State Herbarium in about 2000.
Photo: MTT |
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After this Opening Day, electric trams ran along Norwood Parade for nearly
48 years.
Photo: The Observer, 11 March 1909 |
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Transition period
The first stages of the electric services were mostly at the city end of each route and lines were progressively opened to Kensington, North Adelaide, Walkerville, Payneham, Maylands, Marryatville, Parkside, Unley and Hyde Park. The exception was the opening of the Henley line between Thebarton and the beach at the end of 1909.
Horse cars ran from each electric temporary terminus to the horse car terminus (eg Parkside to Glen Osmond) until the lines were set up for electric trams by the end of 1911. By this time, most of the tram system was electrified.
For a couple of years, horse cars and electric trams met half way along the line, and a couple of minutes would be spent as passengers transferred from one car to the other. At the Caledonian Hotel, North Adelaide, a waiting room was provided and passengers transferred to horsecars to Prospect and Enfield.
Photo: JC Radcliffe Collection
The huge change from the faithful horse to the new technology was marked by the use of a variety of sentimental commemorative post cards.
Photo: JC Radcliffe Collection |
During 1909-10, the electric cars were scurrying along O’Connell St. to the Caledonian corner, whilst the old horse tram for Hill St connected with the electric service to and from the City at Ward St.
Photo: JC Radcliffe Collection
Photo: MTT
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