| Launceston tramway network | |
|---|---|
 Launceston trams in 1911 | |
| Operation | |
| Locale | Launceston, Tasmania |
| Open | 4 August 1911 |
| Close | 13 December 1952 |
| Status | Closed |
| Owner(s) | Launceston City Council |
| Operator(s) | Launceston Municipal Tramways |
| Infrastructure | |
| Track gauge | 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) |
| Propulsion system(s) | Electricity |
| Electrification | Overhead catenary |
| Statistics | |
| Track length (total) | 13.8 miles (maximum) |
The Launceston tramway network served the city of Launceston, Tasmania in Australia from 1911 until 1952.
Launceston Municipal Tramways, a subsidiary of the Launceston City Council, began operating on three routes on 4 August 1911 from Brisbane Street in the Launceston central business district to King's Bridge (Cataract Gorge), David Street (Newstead) and McKenzie Street (Mowbray). [1] [2] [3] [4]
Further lines opened to Sandhill (South Launceston) on 27 October 1911, High Street (East Launceston) on 17 January 1914 and Cataract Hill (Hillside Crescent, West Launceston) on 15 May 1915. The King's Bridge line was extended to Trevallyn on 16 July 1912, and the Mowbray line to Racecourse (Mowbray Heights) on 26 January 1916. [3]
The King's Wharf line opened on 24 February 1919 to serve Bass Strait steamers. The Sandhill line was extended in 1929 to Carr Villa Cemetery. The Mowbray, Newstead and High Street lines were lengthened 1937, with the network reaching its maximum of 13.8 miles. The King's Wharf line closed in December 1947 when the steamer Taroona began berthing at Beauty Point because of the Tamar River silting. It had only operated on days ships berthed since 1932. [1] [3]
The Trevallyn trams were replaced by diesel buses in March 1947, with the rest of the network gradually replaced by trolleybuses from December 1951. The Newstead line was the last closed on 13 December 1952. [1] [5] [6]
For the commencement of operations, 14 single-truck trams were bodied locally by J&T Gunn with Brush Electrical Engineering, Loughborough supplying the trucks. By 1927 a further 12 had been delivered. In 1930 three drop centre bogie trams were bodied at the Invermay Road depot. [1] [2] [4]
Single-truck tram number 13 has been preserved by the Tasmanian Transport Museum [7] while bogie tram number 29 is with the Launceston Tramway Museum. [8]
The original four road depot was located on Invermay Road. After the 1929 Tasmanian floods it was relocated to the corner of Howick and Wellington Streets in 1932. [1] [9] It remains in use as a Metro Tasmania bus depot.
Launceston is a city in the north of Tasmania, Australia, at the confluence of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River (kanamaluka). As of 2021, the Launceston urban area has a population of 90,953. Launceston is the second most populous city in Tasmania after the state capital, Hobart. Launceston is the fifth-largest inland city and the ninth-largest non-capital city in Australia. Launceston is regarded as the most livable regional city, and was one of the most popular regional cities to move to in Australia from 2020 to 2021. Launceston was named Australian Town of the Year in 2022.
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.
The Paddington tram depot fire occurred on the night of 28 September 1962, and was one of the largest fires in Brisbane's history. As well as the depot, 67 trams were destroyed, 20% of the city's fleet. The destruction of the depot is generally seen as the beginning of the end for Brisbane's tram system, providing the justification for the subsequent closure of four tram routes and the gradual encroachment of bus operation on other tram routes, with the final closure of the tram system occurring on 13 April 1969.
The Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board (MMTB) was a government-owned authority that was responsible for the tram network in Melbourne, Australia between 1919 and 1983, when it was merged into the Metropolitan Transit Authority. It had been formed by the merger of a number of smaller tramway trusts and companies that operated throughout the city.
The Brisbane tramway network served the city of Brisbane, Australia, between 1885 and 1969. It ran on standard gauge track. The electric system was originally energised to 500 volts, and subsequently increased to 600 volts. All tramcars built in Brisbane up to 1938 had an open design. This proved so popular, especially on hot summer nights, that the trams were used as fundraisers and often chartered right up until the last service by social groups.
Trevallyn is a residential locality in the local government areas (LGAs) of Launceston (25%) and West Tamar (75%) in the Launceston LGA region of Tasmania. The locality is about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) west of the city of Launceston. The 2016 census recorded a population of 4562 for the state suburb of Trevallyn. It is a suburb of Launceston.
Metro Tasmania, commonly called Metro, a Tasmanian Government business enterprise, is the largest bus operator in the state of Tasmania, Australia, with operations in three of the four largest urban centres of Hobart, Launceston, and Burnie. Urban services in Devonport are provided by a private operator, Kinetic. Services are provided by Metro under a range of urban and non-urban contracts with the Transport Commission, a division within the Department of State Growth.
Launceston City Council is a local government body in Tasmania, located in the city and surrounds of Launceston in the north of the state. The Launceston local government area is classified as urban and has a population of 77,363, which also encompasses localities including Lilydale, Targa and through to Swan Bay on the eastern side of the Tamar River.
Mowbray is a suburb of Launceston in the Australian state of Tasmania and is the site of Mowbray Racecourse, home of the Launceston Cup. Mowbray also contains the minor suburbs of Mowbray Heights and Vermont. The suburb of Mowbray is located on a flat-topped, alluvial shelf, known as Mowbray Hill, roughly 28m above the Tamar River and its flood plains.
The earliest trams in Australia operated in the latter decades of the 19th century, hauled by horses or "steam tram motors". At the turn of the 20th century, propulsion almost universally turned to electrification, although cable trams lingered in Melbourne. In cities and towns that had trams, they were a major part of public transport assets.
Trams no longer operate in Hobart, the capital of the Australian state of Tasmania, but the city once had an extensive and popular system that reached the majority of its suburbs. It was the first complete electric tram system in the Southern Hemisphere, and the only one in Australia to operate double-decker trams.
The Fremantle tramway network linked the central business district of Fremantle, the port city for Perth, Western Australia, with nearby suburbs. Small but comprehensive, it operated between 1905 and 1952. It was not connected with the larger Perth tramway system.
The Hobart trolleybus system operated in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia from 1935 until 1968.
The Brisbane trolleybus system was part of the public transport network in Brisbane, Australia from 1951 until 1969. The Brisbane City Council operated 36 Sunbeam trolleybuses on a 28 kilometre network.
The Sydney trolleybus system in New South Wales consisted of two unconnected lines in the Eastern Suburbs and St George areas of Sydney.
The Launceston trolleybus system operated in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia from 1951 until 1968.
Wigan Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Wigan, England, between 1901 and 1931. The first tramway service in the town was run by the Wigan Tramways Company, whose horse trams began carrying passengers in 1880. They began replacing horses with steam tram locomotives from 1882, but the company failed in 1890 when a Receiver was appointed to manage it. The Wigan & District Tramways Company took over the system in 1893 and ran it until 1902. Meanwhile, Wigan Corporation were planning their own tramway system, obtaining an authorising Act of Parliament in 1893, and a second one in 1898. This enabled them to build electric tramways, and in 1902, they took over the lines of the Wigan & District Tramways Company.
At the peak of Britain’s first-generation tramways, it was possible to travel by tram all the way from Pier Head at Liverpool to the Pennines in Rochdale by tram.
The city of Geelong in Victoria, Australia, operated an extensive tramway system from 1912 until 1956, when the service was replaced by buses. Unlike Victoria's other major regional cities, Ballarat and Bendigo, which have kept some track and trams as tourist attractions, no trams or tracks remain in Geelong.
Grubb's Tramway was a partially completed, private logging tram line in Tasmania from the junction of the Launceston-George Town Road at the Tamar River near Mowbray to a saw mill at Pipers River.