The Brisbane Tramway Museum is an Australian transport museum that has preserved a collection of

trams A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

and

trolleybuses A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

most of which operated in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

from 1897 until 1969. The museum is located at Ferny Grove.

History

The Brisbane Tramway Museum Society was established in 1968, when it became apparent that the

Brisbane City Council Brisbane City Council (BCC, also known as Council) is the local government of the City of Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. The largest local government in Australia by population, BCC's jurisdiction includes 2 ...

was preparing to close Brisbane's tram system. In 1972, a site at Ferny Grove was made available and a museum built, opening in June 1980.

Collection

As at 10 November 2005, the museum has a collection of 25 trams, 24 of which formerly operated on the Brisbane tram network. The 25th tram in the museum's collection ran in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. The museum also has two single-deck Brisbane trolley-buses built on MF2B chassis by

Sunbeam A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a lightbeam, beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of light scatter ...

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

, England; fleet numbers 1 (of 1951, with a body by Charles Hope of Brisbane) and 34 (of 1960, body by Athol Hedges). These are on static display. A number of trams in the museum's collection are operated on a short length of demonstration track 250 metres in length. The oldest operational tram in the museum's collection is No. 47, a "California Combination" or "Matchbox" tram, built in 1901. The newest tram in the collection is No. 554 a "Four Motor" tram built by the Brisbane City Council after the

Paddington tram depot fire The Paddington tram depot fire occurred on the night of 28 September 1962, and was one of the largest fires in Brisbane's history.Brief details of the museum’s operational tram cars
Brisbane Tramway Museum The museum's collection of support vehicles are all former Brisbane City Council Tramways Department vehicles and include a tower wagon used for repairing overhead wires, and a

Scammell Scammell Lorries Limited was a British manufacturer of trucks, particularly specialist and military off-road vehicles, between 1921 and 1988. From 1955 Scammell was part of Leyland Motors. History Scammell started as a late- Victorian period w ...

breakdown recovery truck which was formerly used as an

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

towing truck in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

The museum houses an extensive photographic collection of Brisbane's tramway and street transport heritage, together with tickets and uniforms worn by staff of the tramway operators, a feature of which were the unusual " Foreign legion" caps (more correctly called

kepi The kepi ( ) is a cap with a flat circular top and a peak, or visor. In English, the term is a loanword from , itself a re-spelled version of the , a diminutive form of , meaning . In Europe, the kepi is most commonly associated with French ...

s) worn by drivers and conductors until 1961 and inspectors until more recently. The museum is also notable for other elements of the former Brisbane system in its collection. The museum's

depot Depot may refer to: Places * Depot, Poland, a village * Depot Glacier (disambiguation) * Depot Island (disambiguation) * Depot Nunatak * Depot Peak Brands and enterprises * Maxwell Street Depot, a restaurant in Chicago, United States * Of ...

s (garages) are composed of bays from the former Ipswich Road tram depot. The museum's

direct current Direct current (DC) is one-directional electric current, flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor (material), conductor such as a wire, but can also flow throug ...

substation has been built from equipment retrieved from former Brisbane tramway substations. An elevated

signal cabin On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timeta ...

which stood at the corner of Brunswick and Wickham Streets,

Fortitude Valley Fortitude Valley (often called "The Valley" by local residents) is an inner suburb of the City of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. In the , Fortitude Valley had a population of 9,708 people. The suburb features two pedestri ...

has also been preserved. 3-way points at Brisbane Tramway Museum 2006-10-17

The museum's very short section of track has been recovered from Ipswich Road depot, Gregory Terrace and Ipswich Road between Moorooka and

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

. In keeping with the practice of the Brisbane City Council Tramways Department, the museum has constructed its track in mass concrete, that is, the track is laid in concrete, rather than on sleepers and ballast. The cost of such mass concrete trackwork being one the reason why the museum has been unable to extend their length of track after numerous efforts. The museum also houses a unique three-way set of points that was originally located at Light Street depot. These points can be found outside the museum's main depot shed.

References

External links

Brisbane Tramway Museum website Brisbane's Living HeritageVideo of preserved Brisbane Trams
{{authority control Tram transport in Australia Transport museums in Queensland Tourist railways in Queensland Bus museums Tram museums Trams in Brisbane

History

Collection

See also

References

External links