Trams in Cape Town

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Cape Town tramway networks
Cape Town trams, Adderley Street, ca. 1900.jpg
Double-deck trams, cnr Adderley Street
and Darling Street, Cape Town, ca. 1900.
Operation
Locale Cape Town, South Africa
Urban horsecar era: 1863 (1863)c.1896
StatusClosed
Track gauge 4 ft 9 in (1,448 mm) [1] [2]
Propulsion system(s)Horses
Urban electric tram era: 1896 (1896)–1939 (1939)
StatusClosed
Track gauge 4 ft 9 in (1,448 mm) [1] [2]
Propulsion system(s)Electricity
Camps Bay tramway era: 1901 (1901)–1930 (1930)
StatusClosed
Operator(s)Camps Bay Tramways Company Ltd
Track gauge 4 ft 9 in (1,448 mm) [1] [2]
Propulsion system(s)Electricity
Tramways in and around Cape Town, ca. 1906. Camps Bay, Cape Town and Sea Point Electric Tramways map - ca. 1906.jpg
Tramways in and around Cape Town, ca. 1906.

Cape Town, South Africa, has had two tramway networks forming part of its public transport arrangements. Both networks are now long closed.

Contents

History

The first of the two networks to be established was a horsecar network, which was opened on 1 May 1863. In around 1896, it was converted to electrical operation. From 21 December 1935, it was gradually replaced by trolleybuses, which were always referred to by English-speaking locals as "Trackless trams". [3] It was finally closed on 28 January 1939.

The other network, opened in November 1901, was an interurban tramway linking Burnside Road in Cape Town with Camps Bay and Sea Point. It was powered by electricity, and was in operation until 17 February 1930.

See also

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Coates, Peter Ralph (1976). Track and trackless: Omnibuses and trams in the Western Cape (1st ed.). Struik. p. 194. ISBN   0869770632.
  2. 1 2 3 Patton, Brian (13 May 2002). Double Deck Trams of the World Beyond the British Isles. Adam Gordon. p. 59. ISBN   1874422397.

Further reading

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