Essendon tram depot is located on

Mount Alexander Road Mount Alexander Road (and its northern section as Bulla Road) is a major road in Melbourne's inner northern suburbs, connecting the northern edges of the city district to just south of Essendon Airport. It was named after its original destina ...

Travancore The kingdom of Travancore (), also known as the kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor () or later as Travancore State, was a kingdom that lasted from until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvanan ...

, a suburb of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Victoria,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Operated by

Yarra Trams Yarra Trams is the trading name of the operator of the Trams in Melbourne, tram network in Melbourne, Australia, which is owned by VicTrack and leased to Yarra Trams by the Victoria State Government, Victorian Department of Transport and Planni ...

, it is one of eight tram depots on the Melbourne tram network. Despite the name, the depot is located three kilometres from the suburb of

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

History

The Essendon tram depot was opened on 11 October 1906 by the North Melbourne Electric Tramway & Lighting Company. It passed with the company to the

Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board 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 be ...

on 1 August 1922. When the

Public Transport Corporation The Public Transport Corporation (PTC) was a Victoria State Government owned Public-benefit nonprofit corporation, statutory authority formed under the Transport Act 1983 which operated passenger and freight trains, trams and bus services. The ...

was privatised in August 1999, Essendon depot passed to M>Tram. It passed to

when it took control of the entire tram network in April 2004.

Layout

Essendon depot has 24 roads, 18 of which are covered in three sheds, the remaining six are in the open to the north of the sheds. It has access from

in both directions, and also features facilities for heavy maintenance.

Rolling stock

As of May 2024, the depot had an allocation of 55 trams: 31 B2 Class and 24 Z3 Class trams.

Routes

The following routes are operated from Essendon depot: *: West Maribyrnong to Flinders Street Station *: West Coburg to

Toorak Toorak () is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Toorak recorded a population of 12,817 at the 2021 census. The name ...

shared with Southbank depot *: Airport West to Flinders Street Station *:

Moonee Ponds Junction Moonee Ponds Junction is a bus and tram interchange on the junction of Ascot Vale Road / Pascoe Vale Road and Mount Alexander Road in Moonee Ponds, Melbourne (Puckle Street / Dean Street also meets at the same point). It is located approximate ...

to Footscray

References

{{coord, -37.7789, 144.9313, region:AU-VIC, display=title Tram depots in Melbourne Transport infrastructure completed in 1906 1906 establishments in Australia Essendon, Victoria Transport in the City of Moonee Valley Buildings and structures in the City of Moonee Valley