The city of

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

in Victoria, Australia, operated an extensive

tram 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 ...

way system from 1912 until 1956, when the service was replaced by buses. Unlike Victoria's other major regional cities,

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

and

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is an Australian city in north-central Victoria. The city is located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2022, Bendigo has a popula ...

, which have kept some track and trams as tourist attractions, no trams or tracks remain in Geelong.

History

There had been proposals to build a tram network in Geelong as early as 1888. Two companies, the Geelong Electric Light, Electric Motor, Electric Tram and Omnibus Company, and the Geelong and District Electric Tramway Company Limited, attended a meeting to get support for their plans in June 1888. After lengthy discussions, and the need to get State Government approval, a plan was finally accepted by the Geelong Town Council in 1890. However the

economic depression An economic depression is a period of carried long-term economic downturn that is the result of lowered economic activity in one or more major national economies. It is often understood in economics that economic crisis and the following recession ...

which occurred after the collapse of the 1880s Land Boom, led to the plans being cancelled in 1891. Further agitation for a tramway started again in 1906, but it took until July 1910 before agreement was reached with the

Melbourne Electric Supply Company The Australian state of Victoria has a number of defunct energy supply and distribution utility companies. The North Melbourne Electric Tramways and Lighting Company The North Melbourne Electric Tramways and Lighting Company operated an electri ...

for the construction and operation of a tram system. The company would have the lease on the trams for a period of 30 years. Construction began in December 1910, and part of the line was first tested on 10 January 1912 in front of a large crowd. The Geelong tram network was officially opened on 14 March 1912 with bands, huge crowds, and a procession of four highly decorated trams. Official passengers on the trams included the Mayor of Geelong, the Mayor of Newtown and Chilwell, the Mayor of Geelong West, other councillors, directors of the company, and state politicians. At each municipal boundary permission was asked for the trams to enter, and a ribbon was cut.

Line openings

Duplications

Deviation

Change of ownership

In 1930 the tramways were taken over by the

State Electricity Commission of Victoria The State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SEC, SECV or ECV) is a government-owned electricity company in Victoria, Australia. Originally established to generate electricity from the state's reserves of brown coal, the SEC gradually monopoli ...

(SEC). This was part of the SEC taking over the supply of electricity for Victoria, and it included the tramways in Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat. A

way extension to Eastern Beach opened in October 1940 along Bellarine Street to cater to beach goers. During World War II, passenger traffic increased as a result of petrol rationing and people employed in

munitions Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of ...

factories around Geelong. In 1943 the trams carried 6,500,000 people. Because of the shortage of men to work on the trams, the SEC decided to employ women to work as conductors.

Closure

In 1949, H.H. Bell jnr., the son of the chairman of the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board, prepared a report on the Geelong tramways for the

Geelong City Council The City of Greater Geelong is a local government area in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of and, had a population of 271,057 as of the 2021 Australian census. I ...

. He found that the trams were obsolete, and could not be run profitably in a city with only 52,000 people. The Council accepted his findings by nine votes to one. The Australian Road Safety Council had identified trams as being "Australia's number one road menace", alleging that they were 16 times more likely to be involved in accidents than motor vehicles. In 1953, a government report recommended replacing the trams with buses. The Liberal state government of

Henry Bolte Sir Henry Edward Bolte ( ; 20 May 1908 – 4 January 1990) was an Australian politician who served as the 38th premier of Victoria from 1955 to 1972. He held office as the leader of the Victorian division of the Liberal Party of Australia ...

, elected in June 1955, decided in July that the trams should be replaced by privately-owned buses as soon as possible. Bolte described the Geelong tramway as being outdated and hopelessly inadequate. The SEC argued that the cost of tickets did not cover the cost of wages, and certainly did not meet the cost of maintenance or electricity. It was estimated that the tram system was losing £95,000 each year, and needed to have £2,000,000 spent on it to upgrade the tracks and tramcars. Tramway union members argued that the SEC had let the system run down, and that it was losing business by not extending the network into new suburban areas. The Geelong Chamber of Commerce supported the closure of the system, with the president saying they would be glad to have the trams off the streets. Protest meetings were held to try and save the trams, without success. The last tram ran from the city to Belmont and back on 25 March 1956. Thousands of people were in the streets to celebrate the event. The tram which ran the last service was Geelong No.4. It had made the first test run on the system on 12 January 1912. Over the years, there have been proposals to bring trams back into the city, but the idea has never been looked at seriously.

Routes

Immediately following

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 following services were through-routed: * Newtown –

Railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

Beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

– Railway/Beach * Belmont –

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

* East Geelong –

Chilwell Chilwell is a suburban area in the borough of Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire, England. It lies on the west side of the town of Beeston and is south-west of the centre of Nottingham. History Roman buildings, pottery and coins have been found i ...

After a timetable reorganisation in December 1952, the pattern was altered to: * North – Belmont * Newtown – Eastern Park * West – East * Chilwell –

Station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

/Beach

Tram fleet

The original fleet of Geelong trams was made up of seven single-truck cars, with bodies made 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 and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

using

Brush A brush is a common tool with bristles, wire or other filaments. It generally consists of a handle or block to which filaments are affixed in either a parallel or perpendicular orientation, depending on the way the brush is to be gripped during u ...

trucks A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

. They were assembled in the depot in Corio Terrace (now called Brougham Street). There were also four non-powered trailer cars. Over the years, a variety of different trams operated on the Geelong network. Their trucks (bogies) were made by

Brush Traction Brush Traction was a manufacturer and maintainer of railway locomotives in Loughborough, England whose operations have now been merged into the Wabtec company's Doncaster UK operations. History Hughes' Locomotive & Tramway Engine Wor ...

(UK) and

JG Brill Company The J. G. Brill Company manufactured tram, streetcars,Young, Andrew D. (1997). ''Veteran & Vintage Transit'', p. 101. St. Louis: Archway Publishing. interurban coaches, motor buses, trolleybuses and passenger car (rail), railroad cars in ...

(USA), and their bodies were constructed by Brill (USA),

(

), A Pengelly & Co (Adelaide), and

Meadowbank Manufacturing Company Meadowbank Manufacturing Company was an Australian manufacturer in Meadowbank, New South Wales. History Mellor Brothers, a South Australian firm, established factories in Sydney (Meadowbank Manufacturing Co) and Melbourne (Braybrook Implement ...

(

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 ...

). Trams were moved around the different tramway networks in Victoria. Geelong no.29 was originally built in 1915 for the Prahran and Malvern Tramways Trust, was moved to Geelong in 1928, and was then moved to Ballarat in 1936. When the system closed in 1956, it was running about 30 trams, numbered from 1 to 40.

Surviving trams

There are a number of surviving Geelong trams. They are in a number of museums, including the

Tramway Museum Society of Victoria The Tramway Museum Society of Victoria Incorporated (TMSV) owns a large collection of trams from Trams in Melbourne, Melbourne, Trams in Ballarat, Ballarat, Trams in Geelong, Geelong, Trams in Adelaide, Adelaide, and Trams in Sydney, Sydney as ...

collection at Bylands, the

Ballarat Tramway Museum The Ballarat Tramway Museum is an operating tramway museum, located in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The museum is run by volunteers and has a fleet of trams which operate on part of the original horse tramway around Lake Wendouree ...

, the Bendigo Tramways, and the

Sydney Tramway Museum The Sydney Tramway Museum, operated by the South Pacific Electric Railway Co-operative Society, 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 ...

. Several are also privately owned. * No. 2 (1912) built in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, by

, on

, now restored at the Ballarat Tramway Museum. It is a so-called butterbox model. * No. 9 (1915) built in

, by

, on

, now at Bylands. It is a so-called butterbox model, and is in need of restoration. * No. 14 (1924) built by

, transferred to Bendigo in 1948, now at Bendigo as Tram 11. * No. 15 (1924), at Bendigo * No. 22 (1924), at Bylands. Built by A Pengelly & Co in Adelaide, this tram is in need of restoration. * No. 28 (1925), body stored at Ballarat * No. 29 (1915), built by

for the

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 ...

and sold to Geelong Tramways in 1928. Moved to Ballarat in 1936 as Tram No. 14 and now in the Ballarat Tramways Museum. * No. 29 (1925) built by

for the Municipal Tramways Trust,

, as G class number 302. Operated in Geelong from 1936 as Tram 29 and then transferred to Bendigo in 1947 as Tram 29. Now at Bendigo Tramways, repainted in Adelaide livery and renumbered Adelaide tram 302. * No. 30 (1915), at Ballarat * No. 30 (1925), at Bendigo * No. 32 (1916), at Bendigo * No. 33 (1916), at Bendigo * No. 34 (1916), at Bendigo * No. 35 (1916), at

* Mo. 36 (1913), at Bendigo * No. 40 (1914), at Bylands

References

External links

Opening of the tramway photo

Geelong tram depot photo
* {{TramsAustralia

Transport in Geelong