The Museum was formed in 1957 and the first 4 trams arrived on site in August 1958. They were cars 1, 42, 111 and 192. Car 282 arrived in February 1959.
By 1967 the original 4 road depot had been completed and car No. 1 had been restored enabling the Museum to open as a static exhibition in July. A 2 road workshop was added by 1968.
In 1973 the Museum received Federal funding in association with the City of Salisbury, enabling the construction of the 2 km museum tramway to the beach front. The Museum tramway was officially opened on 23 March 1974.
Additional buildings constructed include the trolleybus depot, the southern depot (displaying horse trams), interpretive display gallery / bookshop, kiosk, restoration bodyshop, tram body storage shed and the northern depot and administration building.
| Exhibits in the museum - ELECTRIC TRAMS |
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Combination Type No. 1
100 electric trams were built in 1908-9 to open Adelaide’s electric tram system. 70 of these trams were of the single truck “Combination” style - a central saloon and open ends and were numbered 1 - 30 and 61 - 100. In the 1920s these trams were classified Type ‘A’.
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Combination (Bib & Bub) 14 & 15
Many of the ‘A’ type trams were stored during the 1930s following the introduction of the dropcentre and the Glenelg trams. However, they were returned to service in 1941 as a result of increased traffic caused by wartime petrol rationing.
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Open Crossbench (Toastrack) 42
Included in the order for 100 trams to open Adelaide’s electric tramway system were 30 open cross bench trams (31 – 40). They were built with summer excursion traffic in mind. They were
also used for transporting the Tramways Band to bandstands at Henley Beach, Kensington Gardens and Semaphore. These trams were referred to as ‘toastracks’, because of their resemblance to breakfast table toast racks. In 1917 these trams were classified Type ‘B’.
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Bogie Open Combination 118
70 larger combination trams were built from 1910-12 for the expansion of the electric tramway system. The first 20 (101 – 120) became the ‘E’ type in 1917.
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Under restoration |
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Bogie Saloon 111
The ‘E1’ type Saloon Bogie trams were all rebuilt from the ‘E’ type combination cars in 1936. The rebuilding involved the removal of the crossbench seats and extension of the saloon for the length of the car.
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Operational |
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Bogie Closed Combination 192
Unlike the first 20 bogie combination trams built from 1910, the remaining 50 cars (121 – 170) had sliding doors fitted along the sides of the crossbench end, giving much greater protection to passengers in inclement weather.
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Desert Gold Type No. 186
Large new cars had been delayed by the first world war. However, the need for extra cars became so acute that an additional 20 small combination cars (171 – 190) were built in 1918-19 as an interim measure and classified Type ‘C’.
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Dropcentres 244, 264 & 282
The Dropcentre tram was the most common tram on the streets of Adelaide between the 1920s and 1958. 84 were built from 1921 - 1929. Cars 201 - 250 were the ‘F’ type and cars 251 – 284 were the ‘F1’ type.
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244 To.be.Restored
264 .Operational
282 .Operational |
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Birney Type No. 303
One man ‘Birney’ Safety cars 301 - 304 (named after their designer, Charles Birney) were built by J.G. Brill and Co. of Philadelphia, USA. They entered service on the lightly trafficked Port Adelaide tramway in 1925. They seated 32 passengers.
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Prototype 381
Car 381 was the first of a projected order of 40 cars planned in 1939. However, the first tram was not built until 1952 when a tramway abandonment policy resulted in the cancellation of the remaining cars.
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Operational : Out of Service |
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Glenelg 360, 362 & 364
Glenelg cars 351 - 380 were built in 1929 specifically for the Glenelg tram line which commenced on 14 December 1929. They were large bogie end loading saloons and were classified as Type ‘H’. They could run in coupled sets and had power operated doors and folding steps and reversible leather seats. They were also used on the Henley North line from 1935 and then through to Kensington Gardens after these lines were through routed in 1952.
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362 .Operational : Out of Service
360 .Operational
364 .Operational |
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Glenelg Restaurant Tram 378
The body of Glenelg tram 378 had been sold in 1986. However it was re-acqiured a few years later and turned into a restaurant tram for a private entrepreneur. It was launched by the Premier, Hon John Bannon, on 1 November 1990.
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Under restoration |
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Ballarat 21 & 34
Ballarat No. 21 was originally Adelaide No. 10. In 1936 three ‘A’ type cars, Nos. 10, 69 and 92 were sold to the SEC (State Electricity Commission of Victoria) for use in Ballarat. Car 10 was renumbered Ballarat 21.
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Operational : Out of Service |
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Melbourne Nos. 294
No. 294 was built in Adelaide in 1924 by Holdens Body Builders (later General Motors Holden) at Woodville for the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board. It was one of 426 Melbourne trams known as the ‘W2’ class. Some of these trams lasted in service until the late 1980s. Car 294 was purchased by the Museum and arrived on site in April 1977. It has been restored to its 1950s appearance.
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Operational |
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Melbourne Sliding Door Tram 1013
The final evoluation of the popular Melbourne ‘W’ class dropcentre style tram which started with the ‘W’ class in the early 1920s was the ‘W7’ class which was built in 1955.
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Operational |
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Sydney Corridor Tram 1971
Until the 1930s the predominant type of tram car on the busy Sydney tram system was the crossbench tram. By the 1930s passengers were seeking a greater level of comfort. New trams were built to a local version of the popular drop centre design used in Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide.
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Operational |
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Museum Works Tram 354
No. 354 is another ‘W2’ class tramcar and was built in Melbourne in 1927. It was obtained by the Museum in 1978 for use as a works tram – a shed on wheels. It is used by the Museum when carrying out maintenance of the track and overhead.
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Operational : No public Access |
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| Exhibits in the museum - HORSE TRAMS |
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Horse Trams 15 & 18
Adelaide had an extensive horse tram system which commenced in June 1878 with a line from the City to Kensington. Several private companies operated these services over a system of more than 50 miles (80km).
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| Exhibits in the museum - BUSES |
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Trolleybuses 216, 417, 488 & 526
During the Depression of the 1930s the MTT looked at expanding services without having to lay expensive tracks. Experiments were made using the existing electrical distribution system to run trolley buses (trackless trams) as had been done overseas.
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| More info to come |
AEC REGAL IV DIESEL BUS 623
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