Brunswick tram depot is located on Sydney Road, Brunswick, 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 ...

. It opened on 26 April 1936 in conjunction with the electrification of the Brunswick and North Melbourne Cable tram line. 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.

History

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 ...

awarded a £30,000 tender in May 1935 for the construction of an electric tram depot at the corner of Sydney Road and Peveril Street. The depot was required to accommodate the electric conversion of the Brunswick and North Melbourne Cable tram line. The nine road depot, with associated workshop, storerooms, and staff mess-hall was completed and opened on 26 April 1936. Although the original plans had trams entering via Sydney Road, this plan was dropped in favour of the current arrangement with trams entering from the rear, via Cameron Street. Plans were drawn up in 1989 to permit Brunswick depot to operate the Upfield railway line, which was slated to be converted to

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

. The plans proposed connections from the Upfield railway line to the Brunswick depot fan, a new station at Brunswick depot, and the addition of three outside storage roads. With the planned light rail conversion scrapped in 1994, the plans were never implemented. 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, Brunswick depot passed to M>Tram. It passed to

when it took control of the entire tram network in April 2004. In 2009 Brunswick was named as Yarra Tram's fourth ''Greendepot'', after an upgrade to make more water and energy efficient, with improved lighting systems,

rainwater harvesting Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is the collection and storage of rain, rather than allowing it to run off. Rainwater is collected from a roof-like surface and redirected to a Rainwater tank, tank, cistern, deep pit (well, shaft, or borehole), Aquifer s ...

, and a variety of other water and energy saving measures. These initiatives were expected to lower Brunswick's water consumption by 2.5 million litres of water per year, and reduce the depot's carbon output. Z3 158 liveried as The Royal Tram in St Kilda Road

Z3 158 liveried as The Royal Tram in St Kilda Road

While visiting Melbourne in October 2011,

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

and

Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...

travelled aboard Z3 158, decorated as a ''Royal Tram''. It was driven by a Brunswick driver, from

Federation Square Federation Square (marketed and colloquially known as Fed Square) is a venue for arts, culture and public events on the edge of the Melbourne central business district. It covers an area of at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Street ...

Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and British Overseas Territories. The name is also used in some other countries. Government Houses in th ...

, along

St Kilda Road St Kilda Road is a street in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is part of the Melbourne central business district, locality of Melbourne which has the postcode of 3004, and along with Swanston Street forms a major spine of the city. St Kilda ...

Layout

Brunswick depot has 11 roads in total. Nine are under cover within the shed, while two are outside.

Rolling stock

As of May 2024, the depot has an allocation of 51 trams: 20 B2 Class, 21 D2 Class and 10 Z3 Class.

Routes

The following routes are operated from Brunswick depot: *: East Coburg to South Melbourne Beach *: Moreland to Glen Iris shared with Malvern depot *: North Coburg to Flinders Street Station

References

External links

Brunswick Tram Depot at the Victorian Heritage Database
{{coord, -37.7572, 144.9629, region:AU-VIC, display=title Tram depots in Melbourne Transport infrastructure completed in 1936 1936 establishments in Australia Buildings and structures in the City of Merri-bek Transport in the City of Merri-bek