History of Trams in Melbourne

The history of trams in Melbourne The tram began its life in industry as an aid to the transport of heavy loads, when miners discovered that it was easier to move a cart mounted on rails than to push it over uneven ground. Tramways spread through industry, the carts - or trams - sometimes pushed or pulled by manpower, sometimes drawn by horses.

As the industrial revolution continued, so did transport technology and, in 1869, a significant improvement on the horse tram was developed in San Francisco. English-born Andrew Hallidie, a manufacturer of steel wire rope, had an idea that the trams could be hauled more steadily and safely by a cable. Hallidie patented the inventions that made cable traction possible and the world's first cable tram system commenced operation in San Francisco in 1873.

This invention, and the progress of the San Francisco system, had been closely watched by an American transport entrepreneur and Melbourne businessman, Francis Boardman Clapp. Clapp set up the Melbourne Omnibus Company with William McCulloch and Henry Hoyt, bringing organised street public transport to Marvellous Melbourne.

Scheduled services consisted of 11 horse-drawn buses taking passengers from the two City railway stations via Bourke Street to the Birmingham Hotel on the corner of Smith and Johnson Streets in Fitzroy. The three-penny fare was cheaper than a cab ride and soon services were operating to Richmond, Carlton and North Melbourne. In 1877, Clapp bought the
Victorian patents of Andrew Hallidie's inventions and changed the name of his company to the Melbourne Tramway & Omnibus Company.

Spurred on by tramways development overseas and the introduction of steam trams in Sydney, the colonial government in 1883 passed the Melbourne Tramway and Omnibus Act. Under this Act local councils whose streets would become part of the proposed network set up the Melbourne Tramways Trust to build tracks and powerhouses for the cable trams. Once
complete, the whole cable system was to be leased to the Melbourne Tramways & Omnibus Company to operate regular services until 1916.

Melbourne’s first cable tramway, the Spencer Street-Richmond line, ran from the corner of Bourke and Spencer Streets to Flinders Street, Wellington Parade and Bridge Road to the Hawthorn Bridge. It opened on 11 November 1885. The road had to be excavated to a depth of nearly four feet (1.2m) and tunnels constructed to house cables running in both directions.

Large steam engines powered a 24,870ft (7,580m) rope (as the cables were called) to the city, and a 14,754ft (4,497m) rope to Hawthorn Bridge.

The cables consisted of six strands of seven steel wires with a hemp core. Threading of the cable called on the resources of an army of men and a team of horses, while to drag it up to Jolimont Hill in East Melbourne the number of horses had to be increased to 25.

Over the next six years, many city streets and suburban thoroughfares saw similar upheavals and feats of engineering. By 1891 Melbourne had 44 miles (71 km) of double track cable tramway, powered by 11 engine houses. Cable lines ran along every main street of the city (except King, William, Russell, Exhibition, Spring, Queen and La Trobe Streets) and along all major exit roads...
The history of trams in Melbourne The tram began its life in industry as an aid to the transport of heavy loads, when miners discovered that it was easier to move a cart mounted on rails than to push it over uneven ground. Tramways spread through industry, the carts - or trams - sometimes pushed or pulled by manpower, sometimes drawn by horses.

As the industrial revolution continued, so did transport technology and, in 1869, a significant improvement on the horse tram was developed in San Francisco. English-born Andrew Hallidie, a manufacturer of steel wire rope, had an idea that the trams could be hauled more steadily and safely by a cable. Hallidie patented the inventions that made cable traction possible and the world's first cable tram system commenced operation in San Francisco in 1873.

This invention, and the progress of the San Francisco system, had been closely watched by an American transport entrepreneur and Melbourne businessman, Francis Boardman Clapp. Clapp set up the Melbourne Omnibus Company with William McCulloch and Henry Hoyt, bringing organised street public transport to Marvellous Melbourne.

Scheduled services consisted of 11 horse-drawn buses taking passengers from the two City railway stations via Bourke Street to the Birmingham Hotel on the corner of Smith and Johnson Streets in Fitzroy. The three-penny fare was cheaper than a cab ride and soon services were operating to Richmond, Carlton and North Melbourne. In 1877, Clapp bought the
Victorian patents of Andrew Hallidie's inventions and changed the name of his company to the Melbourne Tramway & Omnibus Company.

Spurred on by tramways development overseas and the introduction of steam trams in Sydney, the colonial government in 1883 passed the Melbourne Tramway and Omnibus Act. Under this Act local councils whose streets would become part of the proposed network set up the Melbourne Tramways Trust to build tracks and powerhouses for the cable trams. Once
complete, the whole cable system was to be leased to the Melbourne Tramways & Omnibus Company to operate regular services until 1916.

Melbourne’s first cable tramway, the Spencer Street-Richmond line, ran from the corner of Bourke and Spencer Streets to Flinders Street, Wellington Parade and Bridge Road to the Hawthorn Bridge. It opened on 11 November 1885. The road had to be excavated to a depth of nearly four feet (1.2m) and tunnels constructed to house cables running in both directions.

Large steam engines powered a 24,870ft (7,580m) rope (as the cables were called) to the city, and a 14,754ft (4,497m) rope to Hawthorn Bridge.

The cables consisted of six strands of seven steel wires with a hemp core. Threading of the cable called on the resources of an army of men and a team of horses, while to drag it up to Jolimont Hill in East Melbourne the number of horses had to be increased to 25.

Over the next six years, many city streets and suburban thoroughfares saw similar upheavals and feats of engineering. By 1891 Melbourne had 44 miles (71 km) of double track cable tramway, powered by 11 engine houses. Cable lines ran along every main street of the city (except King, William, Russell, Exhibition, Spring, Queen and La Trobe Streets) and along all major exit roads...