Brisbane Tramway Museum

Space-Age Trams

News and Views from a Tramway Muse

The first passenger trams appeared over two-hundred years ago at the delightfully named Swansea and Mumbles Railway in Wales. The tramcars were primitive horse-drawn contraptions, not unlike contemporary stagecoaches of the time. However, the stability of rails enabled double-decking, a feature denied on many of the deeply-rutted cart tracks.

Brisbane’s first horsedrawn trams arrived in Moreton Bay in April 1885 aboard a German sailing ship, the Von Moltke. Eighteen were offloaded, with manufacture split equally between two U.S companies: Stephenson & Co. of New York, and J. G. Brill of Philadelphia. Six of the cars were double-decked.

The Brisbane Tramways Corporation justified the overseas purchase in a report shortly before arrival:

“The American cars are in use all over the world, and are noted for their elegance of shape, their finish and lightness (a most important consideration in this climate), combined with strength, durability, and a degree of comfort that is met with in the makes of but few manufacturers.”

An article in The Brisbane Courier also described the shipment:

“The cars are constructed of cedar and mahogany, highly polished, and fitted with all the latest improvements”.

An official Government party boarded the first tram on Monday, 10 August, 1885. Pulled by a team of four magnificent show horses it was a sight to behold, but the horses were unaccustomed to walking between rail lines and the tram derailed several times. There was also concern when the driver’s whip almost struck several officials on the top deck!

If you want to see an early horse-drawn tram, the museum has one of the very first in its collection. Originally made by Stephenson & Co of New York in 1885, it now wears a reproduction body built by the Brisbane City Council in 1959. Sadly, tram horses are in short supply these days, so the museum has to rely on human power for special events!

© David Fryer. maximalist@bigpond.com