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A tram is a train that runs on tramway track on public urban streets; some include segments of segregated right-of-way. The lines or networks operated by tramcars as public transport are called tramways or simply tram/streetcar. Many recently built tramways use the contemporary term light rail. The vehicles are called streetcars or trolleys in North America and trams or tramcars elsewhere. The first two terms are often used interchangeably in the United States, with trolley being preferred in the eastern US and streetcar in Canada and the western US. In parts of the United States, internally powered buses made to resemble a streetcar are often referred to as "trolleys". To avoid further confusion with trolley buses, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) refers to them as "trolley-replica buses". In the United States, the term tram has sometimes been used for rubber-tired trackless trains, which are unrelated to other kinds of trams.
A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws power from dual overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires, and two trolley poles, are required to complete the electrical circuit. This differs from a tram or streetcar, which normally uses the track as the return path, needing only one wire and one pole. They are also distinct from other kinds of electric buses, which usually rely on batteries. Power is most commonly supplied as 600-volt direct current, but there are exceptions.
Johnstown Traction Company (JTC) was a public transit system in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States. For most of its existence it was primarily a street-railway system, but in later years also operated rubber-tired vehicles. JTC operated trolley (tram) service in Johnstown from February 23, 1910 to June 11, 1960. Johnstown was one of the last small cities to abandon trolley service in the United States. It was also the smallest city to acquire a fleet of PCC cars and acquired trackless trolleys at a late date compared to larger transit properties. Many of the 1920s-era cars went directly to museums; however, none of the 17 PCC streetcars were saved. Efforts to sell the 16 then-surviving PCC cars intact were unsuccessful, and in 1962 they were scrapped, but many of their components were salvaged and sold to the Brussels, Belgium tram system, reused in the last series of single PCC trams (7156–7171), which ran from 1970 until February 2010.
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, Merseylink Coaches. 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.
Until 1958, trams formed a network spanning most of Adelaide, with a history dating back to 1878. Adelaide ran horse trams from 1878 to 1914 and electric trams from 1909, but has primarily relied on buses for public transport since the mid-20th century. Electric trams, and later trolleybuses, were Adelaide's main method of public transport throughout the life of the electric tram network. The tram network was progressively closed down through the 1950s with the last lines closing in 1958; the Glenelg tram line was the only line to survive these closures and has remained in operation ever since and has been progressively upgraded and extended since 2005.
Trolleybuses in Wellington were part of the Wellington public transport system from 1924 until 1932 and again from 1949 until 2017. It was the last trolleybus system operating commercially in Oceania and the last major system operating in a country where driving is on the left side of the road.
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 Perth trolleybus system in Western Australia linked the capital Perth's central business district with its inner suburbs on the northern side of the Swan River. It was the first permanent trolleybus network to open in Australia, in 1933, and also the last to close, in 1969.
The Adelaide trolleybus system formed part of the public transport network in Adelaide, South Australia from 1932 until 1963.
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 Singapore trolleybus system formed part of the transportation network of Singapore from 1926 to 1962. The system was constructed between 1926 and 1927 as a replacement to the Singapore tramway network with the old tram routes converted to trolleybus routes. The network became one of the world's largest in the 1930s, with a total network length of 24.96 miles (40.17 km) and fleet of 108 trolleybuses.
Aberdare Urban District Council Tramways operated a tramway service in Aberdare between 1913 and 1935. It was the only system in the United Kingdom which consisted of a tramway with feeder services run by trolleybuses from the start. The trolleybuses used the Austrian Cedes-Stoll system, and became increasingly difficult to maintain. Parts of the trolleybus network were converted to tramways in the early 1920s, and the rest stopped operating in 1925, when no trolleybuses were available for service. The tramway continued for another ten years, but was closed in 1934 and 1935 as a result of a downturn in the prosperity of Aberdare, due to collieries closing and the population dwindling. Motor buses took over the local services once the tramway had closed.
Llanelly and District Electric Tramways operated a standard gauge tramway service in Llanelli, Wales, between 1908 and 1933. It was the successor to a 3 ft gauge horse tramway, which ran from 1882 until 1908. A complex series of negotiations took place in the early 1900s, resulting in the horse tramway being converted to an electric tramway. Standard gauge horse trams were run initially, until the company completed North Dock power station, which supplied electricity to the tramway. Two of the employees who worked on the construction went on to found Balfour Beatty.
The Tramway Museum, St Kilda is Australia's principal museum of the 19th and 20th century trams of Adelaide, South Australia. It is situated at St Kilda, 24 km (15 mi) north of the centre of Adelaide. Most of the trams operate when rostered along a 1.6 km (1.0 mi) purpose-built track that runs between the museum and a large adventure playground.
The Launceston tramway network served the city of Launceston, Tasmania in Australia from 1911 until 1952.
Trolleybuses in Auckland were part of the Auckland public transport system from 1938 until 1980.
References
- ↑ New Trolleybus System: Launceston System Inaugurated Electric Traction December 1951 page 4
- ↑ First Stage in Launceston Trolleybus Conversion Truck & Bus Transportation February 1952 page 8
- 1 2 3 Cooper, Ian (1979). Trolley Buses of Tasmania. Sydney: Australian Electric Traction Association. pp. 52–73. ISBN 0-909459-05-3.
- 1 2 Lynas, Ian (1983). Buses & Trams of Australia's Government & Municipal Operators. pp. 58, 63. ISBN 0-9592580-0-0.
- 1 2 Jones, David (2000). Australian Trolley Buses. City Tramway Publications. p. 15-17. ISBN 0 473 07118 5.
- 1 2 Cooper, Ian (2006). Launceston Municipal Transport 1911-1955. Rozelle: Transit Australia Publishing. pp. 110–128. ISBN 978-0-909459-20-8.
- 1 2 3 4 Cooper, Ian (2010). Tasmania's Trolley Buses. Rozelle: Transit Australia Publishing. pp. 129–182. ISBN 978-0-909459-22-2.
- ↑ That Curiosity - the trolley bus Trolley Wire issue 171 August 1977 pages 12-17
- ↑ 40 per cent of BUT output for overseas Commercial Motor 22 July 1949
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