The N-class was a class of 10 trams built by

Duncan & Fraser Duncan & Fraser Limited was a vehicle manufacturing company founded in 1865 in Adelaide, South Australia that built horse-drawn carriages and horse trams, and subsequently bodies for trains, electric trams and motor cars, becoming one of the larg ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

for the

Hawthorn Tramways Trust The Hawthorn Tramways Trust was a tram operator in Melbourne, Australia. Its assets and liabilities were transferred to the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board on 2 February 1920. History The Hawthorn Tramways Trust (HTT) was formed pursuan ...

(HTT) as numbers 11 to 20, all passed 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 ...

(M&MTB) on 2 February 1920 when it took over the HTT, becoming the N-class and being renumbered 117 to 126.N Class
Vicsig These were Maximum Traction bogie tramcars of the drop-end-and-centre design (precursors of the Melbourne W class trams), with four doorways in the open centre (smokers') compartment as well as one at the front and another at the rear; each of the two passenger saloons featured four side windows. The cars were very similar to trams built by Duncan & Fraser for the contemporary

Prahran & Malvern Tramways Trust The Prahran and Malvern Tramways Trust (PMTT) was a former tram operator in Melbourne, Australia. The trust was formed in 1907, with its first line operating in 1910. Its functions were taken over by the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board in ...

(P&MTT) in 1913/14, which had three saloon windows, a larger smokers' compartment, and three centre doorways. Cars 14 to 20 were used to inaugurate services for the Trust on 6 April 1916, and the others entered service within two weeks. As a trial for what became the P class trams, one car (number 20) was fitted with air-brakes and the large roof-mounted cylindrical destination displays, which were unique to the HTT. The remaining cars were equipped with air-brakes after 1918. After the M&MTB take-over, the original HTT French grey livery was replaced by a brown colour scheme and fleet number of each tramcar was increased by 106; a simplification of the alphanumeric classification scheme saw the whole class being added to the C class (which had originally been allocated to the 1913 P&MTT Maximum Traction bogie trams). Improvements over the following years included the fitting of air brakes, route number boxes, and roof-mounted destination boxes being replaced by the standard Melbourne boxes; seating capacity was reduced to 44 when an aisle was cut-through the drop centre cross-bench seats. By the 1930s when they had been painted in the standard Melbourne green colours, these trams resembled a smaller version of the ubiquitous Melbourne W class trams. Tramcars that survived to serve during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

had their rear doorways blanked-off as a safety measure. One car, number 121, was scrapped in 1938, whilst 125 was placed into storage in 1940 and the body later sold in early 1945. In October 1945, numbers 117 and 123 were sold for further use to the

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. Within months of Vi ...

and

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, mak ...

tramways respectively. Number 118 was sold to

Geelong Geelong ( ) ( Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the south eastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon ...

in January 1947, being joined by 120, 122, and 126 in the last quarter of that year, and 119 the following January. Number 124 was sent to Ballarat in 1947. When the Geelong tramways closed in 1956, number 118 was scrapped, however the other four were transferred to Bendigo and saw further service until early 1972.

Preservation

Five have been preserved: *119 by the

Sydney Tramway Museum The Sydney Tramway Museum (operated by the South Pacific Electric Railway) is Australia's oldest tramway museum and the largest in the southern hemisphere. It is located at Loftus in the southern suburbs of Sydney. History Construction of th ...

as Ballarat number (2nd) 37 *120, 122, 123, and 126 by the Bendigo Trust as (3rd) 4, N 122, 23, and (3rd) 2 respectively.

References

{{MelbourneTramNavbox, state=collapsed Melbourne tram vehicles 600 V DC multiple units