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The Dunedin cable tramway system was a group of cable tramway lines in the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is significant as Dunedin was the second city in the world to adopt the cable car (the first being San Francisco). [1]
The first Dunedin cable car line opened in 1881, [2] the engineer responsible being George Smith Duncan. For this system he introduced the pull curve and the slot brake; the former was a way to pull cars through a curve, since Dunedin's curves were too steep to allow coasting, while the latter forced a wedge down into the cable slot to stop the tram, which was deemed necessary after the line had a runaway tram some two months after it opened.
The last line closed on 2 March 1957.
Dunedin's first cable car served Roslyn (although initially only going as far as the Town Belt), covering a distance of 1.4 miles (2.3 km), opening on 6 February 1881. The line went up Rattray Street, with the world's first pull curve in front of St Joseph's Cathedral. It then cut through the Town Belt in Belleknowes (where the cutting is still generally visible) past the Beverly-Begg Observatory to climb the full length of Ross Street and part of Belgrave Crescent, then descend through a cutting to the valley near Frasers Road.
The last cable car ran on this line on 25 October 1951. [3]
The western section beyond the cutting was too steep for a road link, so, when the cable cars ceased, the portion near Belgrave Crescent was redeveloped as a short street serving several houses while retaining the pedestrian walkway through to Delta Street. Trolleybuses replaced the service as far as Belgrave Crescent, using City Road instead of the straight steep cutting through the Town Belt.
Travelling a distance of 1.2 miles (1.9 km), the Stuart Street line opened on 6 October 1900, running largely parallel to the Roslyn line. The track went up Stuart Street from The Octagon, turned half-right at York Place into what was then called Albert Street, continued on past the end of that street through a short section of Town Belt, past Otago Boys' High School, across the bottom of Littlebourne Crescent and up to Highgate at School Street, then dropped down to Kaikorai just before Nairn Street, where a turntable in the road turned cars through 90° and sent them south-west into their shed. The route was eventually turned into a four-lane highway, cutting Littlebourne Crescent off from Littlebourne Road, going under a new bridge and undergoing considerable widening on the Kaikorai side, restricting access to Ann Street and Oates Street. It closed on 31 July 1947.
Opening on 23 March 1883, the Mornington line travelled one mile (1.6 km) up High Street to Mornington. This line was the steepest recorded tramline in the world, with a gradient at the highest point of the track measured at 1 in 3.75. [4]
The Mornington line was the last to close, on 2 March 1957, leaving San Francisco as the only operational cable car system in the world. Wellington Cable Car, also in New Zealand but in the North Island, is a funicular rather than a true cable car.
Cable Car House (now used by the Mornington Health Centre after the Plumbers moved out) is still clearly marked in the shopping area, having had little external changes since the line closed.
In 2013, a local group announced plans to reinstate this line. The project, estimated to cost $22m, would include a terminus near Mornington Park containing a cafe, museum and storage area for the cable car. [5]
The Maryhill Extension exited from the back of the Mornington cable car house at the end of Henderson St, following Glenpark Avenue for 0.5 miles (0.8 km). The line was perfectly straight, and was sometimes referred to as The Big Dipper, similar to a roller coaster, going steeply down one side of the valley and then up the other side. It opened on 18 March 1885 and closed on 29 October 1955.
The line was originally operated using two grip trams which were later destroyed by a fire. Later, the line was operated by the former Elgin Road grip tram, DCCT No 106. When this car was being overhauled, it would be replaced by 'convertible' grip tram No 105, which was used as a spare car on the Mornington and Maryhill lines as its grip could be set at two different heights to allow it to run on either line.
Grip tram 106 was withdrawn in 1955 and donated to the Otago Early Settlers Museum where it remains on static display. 'Convertible' grip tram 105 remained in service on the Mornington line until the closure of the Mornington line in 1957 when it was donated in working order to the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine, where it is stored in a complete state along with its grip.
The Elgin Road Extension also left the Mornington cable car house, going up Mailer Street and then following Elgin Road for a total of 0.9 miles (1.4 km). It opened on 6 October 1906, and closed only four years later, on 22 January 1910. In contrast to Dunedin's other cable car lines, there was very little gradient on this line. However, the line featured a number of very sharp curves which caused the rope to wear out much faster than those on the other lines.
The Elgin Road grip tram was transferred to the Maryhill line and eventually became DCCT No 106. It is preserved in Toitū Otago Settlers Museum as it would have looked in 1955 when it was withdrawn.
A cable car is a type of cable railway used for mass transit in which rail cars are hauled by a continuously moving cable running at a constant speed. Individual cars stop and start by releasing and gripping this cable as required. Cable cars are distinct from funiculars, where the cars are permanently attached to the cable.
The Fell system was the first third-rail system for railways that were too steep to be worked by adhesion on the two running rails alone. It used a raised centre rail between the two running rails to provide extra traction and braking, or braking alone. Trains were propelled by wheels horizontally applied and retracted by springs onto the centre rail, controlled from the cab, as well as by the normal running wheels. In practice, the running wheels could be allowed to run freely to reduce wear, but the centre brake shoes needed to be replaced frequently. For example: the locomotives' shoes were replaced after each journey on the Mont Cenis Pass Railway. Extra brake shoes were fitted to specially designed or adapted Fell locomotives and brake vans, and for traction the prototype locomotive had an auxiliary engine powering the horizontal wheels. The Fell system was developed in the 1860s and was soon superseded by various types of rack railway for new lines, but some Fell systems remained in use into the 1960s. The Snaefell Mountain Railway still uses the Fell system for (emergency) braking, but not for traction.
Dunedin is a city of 134,600 people in the South Island of New Zealand. The principal suburbs of Dunedin are as follows. Inner and outer suburbs are ordered by location, clockwise from the city centre, starting due north:
The Melbourne cable tramway system was a cable car public transport system, which operated between 1885 and 1940 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The Wellington Cable Car is a funicular railway in Wellington, New Zealand, between Lambton Quay, the main shopping street, and Kelburn, a suburb in the hills overlooking the central city, rising 120 m (394 ft) over a length of 609 m (1,998 ft).
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, 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 . Patronage peaked in 1945 at 405 million passenger journeys. Its maximum street trackage totalled 291 km in 1923.
Trams in New Zealand were a major form of transport from the 19th century into the mid-20th century. New Zealand's first (horse) tramway was established in 1862 (Nelson), followed by a steam tramway in 1871 (Thames), and the first electric tramway in 1900. In New Zealand railway terminology a bush tramway is an industrial tramway, which usually did not carry passengers.
City Rise is an inner suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. One of the city's older suburbs, it is, as its name suggests, centred on the slopes which lie close to the city centre, particularly those closest to the city's original heart of The Exchange. Extensive views across the central city can be gained from much of City Rise.
Mornington is a suburb of the city of Dunedin, in the South Island of New Zealand. It is situated on hilly slopes 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the west of the city centre, the slopes forming part of a ridge which surrounds the heart of the city.
Māori Hill is a residential suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located at the northern end of the ridge which runs in a crescent around the central city's western edge, 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the northwest of the city centre, immediately above and within the Town Belt. It is connected to Dunedin North, which lies to the east, via Drivers Road, the suburbs of Roslyn and Kaikorai to the southwest via Highgate, and the suburb of Wakari to the northwest via Balmacewen Road.
Calton Hill is an elevated southern residential suburb of the City of Dunedin in New Zealand's South Island. The suburb is named after Calton Hill in Edinburgh, Scotland, and some of its street names carry similar etymological roots.
Kensington is a small suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin, nestled to the south of a hilly spur between the central city and the major suburb of South Dunedin, some 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi) to the south of the city centre. The suburb was named for the leafy London suburb, possibly by John Hyde Harris, who subdivided the area in the 1860s.
Maryhill is a residential suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located on a ridge to the southwest of the central city between the suburbs of Mornington, Kenmure, and Caversham. The smaller suburb of Balaclava lies immediately to its west. Maryhill is believed to take its name from a district in the city of Glasgow in Scotland, where many of the early settlers of the suburb originated. In this regard it is unusual among Dunedin suburbs, many of which are named for suburbs of Edinburgh - Maryhill and the nearby Little Paisley are the only suburbs named for Glaswegian locations, and the latter is an old name rarely used today. A second theory is that Maryhill was named in honour of Mary, the wife of early Dunedin settler John Bathgate.
Roslyn is a major residential and retail suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located 150 metres (490 ft) above the city centre on the ridge which runs in a crescent around the central city's western edge. It is 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) to the northwest of the city centre, immediately above the Town Belt.
The Town Belt is a green belt which surrounds the centre of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. Covering a total of over 200 hectares, it extends around three sides of the city's centre at a distance from it of some 1–3 km (1-2 mi) in a broad 7 km (4 mi) crescent from the Oval at Kensington in the south through the suburbs of Mornington, City Rise, Belleknowes, Roslyn, Maori Hill, Prospect Park, Glenleith, Woodhaugh, The Gardens and Dunedin North and the slopes of Signal Hill. The fourth side of the central city is bounded by the Otago Harbour.
Kaikorai Valley is a long broad valley which runs through the west of the New Zealand city of Dunedin, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) to the west of the city centre. It is the valley of a small stream, the Kaikorai Stream, which runs from northeast to southwest down the length of the valley.
The Tramway Historical Society Inc. is located at the Ferrymead Heritage Park in the Christchurch, New Zealand suburb of Ferrymead and operates the standard gauge Ferrymead Tramway. Trams have operated at Ferrymead since 1968, with progressive extensions built between 1970 and 1984 allowing trams to operate within the boundaries of the Heritage Park. The Society also operates and own a collection of historic trolley buses and diesel buses.
The Melbourne, Brunswick & Coburg Tramways Trust was a tram operator in Melbourne, Australia
The Melbourne tram network began in 1884 with the construction of the Fairfield Horse Tramway. However, the purpose of the line was to increase land prices in the area, and it soon closed during the depression in 1890. The first genuine attempt to construct a tramway network was the construction of the Richmond cable tram line by the Melbourne Tramway & Omnibus Company in 1885. Over the next few years, 16 more cable tram lines were constructed, as well as numerous other horse tramways. The depression of the early 1890s slowed further expansion of the cable network. The first electric tram line was the Box Hill and Doncaster tramway which opened in 1889. This was a pioneering line in what was then the countryside and thus didn't receive much patronage. It closed in 1896. The next attempt at an electric tramway was Victorian Railways' St Kilda to Brighton line, which opened in 1906. Later that year, the North Melbourne Electric Tramway & Lighting Company opened lines to Essendon and Maribyrnong. Many local councils formed their own tramway trusts and built tramways within their own constituency. The most successful of these was the Prahran & Malvern Tramways Trust.