Q150 Flashback - 1969 - Brisbane's Trams are scrapped

Brisbane's tram system operated between 1885 and 1969 and ran on standard gauge track. The electric system was originally energised to 500 volts, and subsequently increased to 600 volts. All tramcars built in Brisbane up to 1938 had an open design. This proved so popular, especially on hot summer nights, that the trams were used as fundraisers and often chartered right up until the last service by social groups.

Most trams operated with a two person crew - a driver (or motorman) and a conductor, who moved about the tram collecting fares and issuing tickets. The exceptions to this arrangement were on the Gardens line (Lower Edward Street) where the short duration of the trip meant it was more effective for passengers to simply drop their fare into a fare box as they entered the tram; and the "one man cars" which operated in the early 1930s (see below).

The peak year for patronage was in 1944-45 when almost 160 million passengers were carried. The system route length reached its maximum extent of 109 kilometres in 1952. The total track length was 199 kilometres, owing to many routes ending in single, rather than double, track. Single track segments of the track were protected by signalling which operated off the trolley wire. By 1959 more than 140 kilometres of track were laid in concrete, a method of track construction pioneered in Brisbane.

The last track opened was in O'Keefe Street Woolloongabba, in May 1961. However, this track was not used in normal passenger service and was merely used to reduce dead running from Logan Road back to Ipswich Road Depot.

Of the Australian capital cities which closed their networks between the 1950s and 1970s (only Melbourne retained its network), Brisbane was the last capital city to shut down its trams. Despite the decision to shut down the network, the city's trams were held with great affection by locals. There have been ongoing proposals since the early 1990s to reinstate a functional tram network.

Finally in common with most other cities throughout the English-speaking world, Brisbane converted its remaining tram lines between 1968 and 1969 to all bus operation. The last trolley buses ran on 13 March 1969 and the final trams ran on 13 April 1969.

Most older, wooden trams were stripped of metal parts and then burnt at the City Council's yard at Cribb Street Milton (adjacent to the tramway workshops). The bodies of later, all-metal cars were sold as sheds and playground equipment.
*From Wikipedia
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*1000 views - 31/10/11
*2000 views - 05/02/12

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Brisbane
• Trams
• Flashback
• BTQ7
• 1969
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[o0POSH0o]

Those were the days Australia started going backwards......we are only just catching up again in the last 10 years...... but still lag behind the world in public transport clogging our roads.