Sydney Steam Motor Tram

Last updated

NSWGT Steam Motor Trams
(Sydney)
NSWGT Tram Motor No. 7.jpg
Baldwin Tram Motor No. 7 at Balmain, New South Wales
Manufacturer Baldwin Locomotive Works
Randwick Tramway Workshops
Henry Vale
T. Wearne
Designer Baldwin Locomotive Works
Constructed1879-1923
Number built123
Specifications
Train length17 feet 2 inches (5.23 m)
Width8 feet 6 inches (2.59 m)
Maximum speed20 km/h
Weight14 t 2 cwt
Track gauge 4 feet 8+12 inches (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The Sydney Steam Motor Trams were built for and operated by the New South Wales Government Tramways of Australia.

Contents

History

Steam trams were introduced when four steam tram motors imported to Sydney as a temporary transport for the International Exhibition of 1879. It was built at the Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia, United States and hauled double decker trailers conveying passengers from the Redfern railway terminus to near the Botanic Gardens. [1]

A Beyer, Peacock & Company steam tram of 1885 was sent to Australia in 1886 as a trial unit by the New South Wales Government Tramways (NSWGT) for comparison against the Baldwin steam tram. The Baldwin design prevailed and this engine returned to England in 1889 to become Beyer Peacock works shunter No. 2. The engine is rumoured to have fallen into the sea on its return voyage, [2] but it survived and is still in working order and known as 'John Bull'. [3] Some sources show it as numbered '47' in Sydney, but number 47 had already been allocated around 1883.

Design

The steam tram motor is essentially a small enclosed saddle tank locomotive steam motor with four driving wheels in an 0-4-0 arrangement. A wooden cab encloses the entire locomotive, which features five windows along each side. Access to the cab is through doors from either the front or back platform. The tram is powered by an orthodox locomotive type boiler, American bar type framing, conventional "D" type slide valves and spring suspension. Coke and later coal was carried in a bunker on the rear platform and water in the semi-circular saddle tank.

Typical specifications for an 11" Baldwin steam tram motor:

Service

Sydney Steam motor and trailer car, 1879 Steam Tram (2688542952).jpg
Sydney Steam motor and trailer car, 1879

The Redfern to Botanic Gardens tramway was planned to operate for the duration of the exhibition. Proving so popular an extension to Randwick was opened in 1880. The peak of steam working was reached in 1894, when the tramway's length reached 40 mi (64 km) when there were over 100 steam trams in service. In 1905-6 steam tram routes were replaced by electric trams, with the former gradually relegated to outer suburbs.

Government tram lines in Sydney that weren't converted to electric operation were the Kogarah to San Souci line, the Arncliffe to Bexley line, the Sutherland to Cronulla line, and the line from Parramatta to Castle Hill. There was also a privately-operated line from Parramatta Park to Redbank Wharf, which only operated using steam tram motors, until it closed in 1943. [4]

Steam trams also operated on regional New South Wales tramways at Newcastle, [5] Maitland, [6] and Broken Hill. [7] Steam tram motors, with railway contour wheels, were used on the East Maitland–Morpeth railway line, between 1895 and 1915.

The Steam Tram Motors in service were:

Steam Tram Motors
BuilderDateCyl Diam.Original Nos.Total
Baldwin 187911 inch1-44
Baldwin188011 inch5-106
Baldwin188110 inch11, 13, 15-18, 267
Baldwin188111 inch12, 14, 19-259
Baldwin18819 inch27-304
Baldwin18829 inch31-333
Baldwin188211 inch34-41 (*)8
Baldwin188210 inch44, 452
Baldwin188310 inch46, 47-49, 51-54, 56, 57 (**)10
Baldwin188411 inch58-69 (***)12
Baldwin188511 inch77-9620
Baldwin189111 inch76 (2nd), 97, 98-11015
Henry Vale189011 inch50 (2nd), 70 (2nd), 757
Henry Vale189111 inch5 (2nd), 12 (2nd), 13 (2nd), 27 (2nd), 28 (2nd), 76 (2nd)6
T. Wearne188410 inch761
T. Wearne188610 inch97 (2nd)1
Randwick Workshops 191611 inch126A-128A3
Randwick Workshops191711 inch129A, 130A2
Randwick Workshops192311 inch131A, 132A2
Randwick Workshops1957body only built for processions1

(*) Numbers 42 and 43 were two Kitson steam motors, [8] ordered in 1881, [9] that were unreliable in service. [10]

(**) Number 55 was an experimental steam motor, made by Merryweather & Sons, that arrived in 1881. [11] [12]

(***) Numbers 70 to 75 were six 'Baldwin-Downe' steam motors, delivered 1883-1884, that were first bogies of combined motor-passenger cars known as 'Jumbos'. [5] [13] [14]

Demise and Preservation

The last NSWGT steam motor was withdrawn from service in 1937 and replaced by a trolley bus service. Preserved trams are:

The Beyer Peacock steam motor, known as "John Bull", survives at the National Tramway Museum. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tram</span> Street-running light railcar

A tram is a type of urban rail transit consisting of a rail vehicle, either individual railcars or self-propelled trains coupled by a multiple unit, that runs on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are called tramways or simply trams/streetcars. Many recently built tramways use the contemporary term light rail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Powerhouse Museum</span> Technology museum in Sydney, Australia

The Powerhouse Museum is the major branch of the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS) in Sydney, and owned by the Government of New South Wales. The Powerhouse is a collection of museums with its main centre in Ultimo, New South Wales, the others being the historic Sydney Observatory at Observatory Hill, and the newer Museums Discovery Centre at Castle Hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steam dummy</span> Steam locomotive made to resemble a railroad passenger coach

A steam dummy or dummy engine, in the United States and Canada, was a steam locomotive enclosed in a wooden box structure made to resemble a passenger railroad car. Steam dummies had some popularity in the first decades of railroading in the U.S., from the 1830s but passed from favor after the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NSW Rail Museum</span> Railway museum in New South Wales, Australia

The NSW Rail Museum is the main railway museum in New South Wales, Australia. A division of Transport Heritage NSW, it was previously known as the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum (NSWRTM), Rail Heritage Centre and Trainworks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trams in Sydney</span> History of the tramway system closed in Sydney NSW Australia

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.

This list collects the transport-related vehicles exhibited or owned by the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) in Auckland, New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tram engine</span>

A tram engine is a steam locomotive specially built, or modified, to run on a street, or roadside, tramway track.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merryweather & Sons</span>

Merryweather & Sons of Clapham, later Greenwich, London, were builders of steam fire engines and steam tram engines.

The history of trams, streetcars, or trolleys began in the early nineteenth century. It can be divided up into several discrete periods defined by the principal means of motive power used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trams in Newcastle, New South Wales</span>

The Newcastle Tram System was an extensive network that operated between Newcastle and the outer suburb of Wallsend from 1887 to 1950. At its peak the line extended from the city to Speers Point and West Wallsend. The service was rarely profitable, and low utilisation for a variety of reasons including the convenience of buses led to it closing and the tracks being removed.

The West Wallsend Steam Tram Line in Australia was an extension of the tram line from Newcastle, New South Wales to Wallsend, New South Wales. Construction of the tram line began in April 1909 and opened for passenger services on 19 December 1910. The route from Newcastle to West Wallsend was 25 km (16 mi) long and took about one and a half hours. The line was standard gauge and the tram was powered by a steam motor which hauled two passenger cars or carriages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trams in Australia</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New South Wales Z12 class locomotive</span>

The New South Wales Z12 class was a class of 4-4-0 steam locomotives operated by the New South Wales Government Railways of Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3265</span>

3265 is a preserved former New South Wales Government Railways C32 class steam locomotive. Built in 1902 by Beyer, Peacock & Company, England, it is owned by the Powerhouse Museum and based at the NSW Rail Museum, Thirlmere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trolleybuses in Sydney</span> Trolleybus system in Sydney, New South Wales

The Sydney trolleybus system in New South Wales consisted of two unconnected lines in the Eastern Suburbs and St George areas of Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wigan Corporation Tramways</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sydney P-Class Tram</span> Class of trams

The P-class trams were a class of trams operated on the Sydney tram network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sydney C-Class Tram</span>

The C-class trams were a class of single bogie end-loading electric trams operated on the Sydney tram network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trams in Rockhampton</span> Historic regional public transport system

Rockhampton Council Tramways was a steam tram service which was operated by Rockhampton City Council from 1909 until 1939 in the city of Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia. Rockhampton was the only regional city in the state of Queensland to have had a tram service. The line has since been rebuilt and is operated as a tourist attraction by the Archer Park Rail Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valley Heights Steam Tram Rolling Stock</span> Historic site in New South Wales, Australia

Valley Heights Steam Tram Rolling Stock is a heritage-listed collection of tramway machinery at 17b Tusculum Road, Valley Heights, City of Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1889 to 1891. The property is owned by Steam Tram and Railway Preservation (Co-op) Society. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 21 October 2016.

References

  1. MacCowan, Ian. The Tramways of New South Wales.
  2. 1 2 "The "Odd-Ball" Steam Tram Motor" (PDF).
  3. "Preserved Steam Locomotives Down Under - John Bull". www.australiansteam.com. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  4. "Parramatta Trams | Parramatta History and Heritage". historyandheritage.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  5. 1 2 Newcastle to Plattsburg by Steam Tram The Trials and Tribulations of 1887 Trolley Wire issue 168 February 1977 pages 3-15
  6. "NSWGT, A-Class Steam Tram Motors 6A & 30A with trailers, preparing to depart Maitland for Newcastle, following the Maitland system's closure on 4 January 1927". Living Histories. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  7. McCarthy, Ken (October 1983). "Trolley Wire, Steaming Down Argent Street" (PDF). Sydney Tramway Museum. pp. 3 to 12.
  8. McCarthy, K. (February 1981). "WORKING ON THE TRAMS IN THE 1880 s" (PDF). Trolley Wire. 192: 14.
  9. "PARLIAMENT". Daily Telegraph . 24 August 1881. p. 3. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  10. "NEWS OF THE DAY". Sydney Morning Herald . 28 June 1883. p. 7. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  11. "NSWGT, Experimental Merryweather Steam Tram Motor No. 55, Sydney suburbs, [1900s]". Living Histories. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  12. "Tramway Locomotive". Daily Telegraph. 29 April 1881. p. 4. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  13. "THE SYDNEY TRAMWAYS". Argus. 29 November 1883. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  14. "A Compound Tramway Motor for Australia". Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. 29 September 1883. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  15. "Steam Tram Motor No. 1A, 1898". Powerhouse Museum.
  16. Steaming Down Argent Street - A History of the Broken Hill Steam Tramways 1902-1926.
  17. "Tram 103a". Valley Heights Steam Tramway.