Trams in Hobart operated in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia between 1893 and 1960. It was the first complete electric tram system in the Southern Hemisphere, and the only one in Australia to operate double-decker trams.
Opened in 1893 by a private consortium, the network was taken over in 1913 by the Hobart City Council, who ran a successful network for much of the early twentieth century, reaching its peak in 1937. Following the introduction of trolleybuses in 1935, the growth of car ownership after World War II, and the State Government takeover of municipal transport networks in 1955, the system closed in 1960.
History Necessity Hobart's population was growing, and by 1892 it had risen to around 24,000 living within the city boundaries, with the total population over 35,000. In an area approximately the size of a square mile, Hobart had no public transport service and relied on horse-drawn cabs and omnibuses to access out-lying towns and regions. Hobart had begun to grow and develop, and was slowly constructing the features and resources expected of a modern European city. By the late nineteenth century most major cities in Europe were developing public transport systems such as underground railways or tram networks, and the citizens of Hobart were calling for something similar for their town.A Brief History of the Hobart Electric Trams Hobart City Council
Proposal In 1884 a syndicate of 40 people formed to create a tramway company, each contributing £4 as capital. The Tasmanian Government supported it, and a private bill was introduced to parliament. The Hobart Tramway Company's Act 1884 gave authority to the syndicate to construct, maintain and work tramways in the city of Hobart and gave them the freedom of choosing motive power, including electricity. This venture failed after unsuccessfully seeking finance in London.
A new syndicate was formed by 24 prominent citizens, each contributing £1,000 capital each. The syndicate was formed with the assistance of Henry Dobson, who was a senior member of legal firm Dobson, Mitchell & Allport, and who would be Premier when the tramways commenced. The act was amended to be the Hobart Tramway Company's Amendment Act 1889, which described the proposed routes of New Town, Cascades and Sandy Bay, as well as providing a time frame of completion in four years. Company directors included Charles Grant, an engineer who came to Tasmania as superintendent for the Tasmanian Main Line Company, John Syme, director of the Cascade Brewery, and Edward Braddon, prominent politician and Tasmania's Agent-General in London.
Development
The government had reservations about electrification, and countered the original electrified proposal with a new proposal which allowed for steam powered trams to operation on a 3’6" (106.68 cm) gauge track. The government wished for the first line opened to be 2.485 miles (four kilometres) of track on along Macquarie Street and Cascade Road, providing transport for workers at the Cascade Brewery. Despite the government's insistence, the project's backers would not be swayed, and with the legislative approval having already passed, the British entrepreneurs registered the Hobart Electric Tramway Company in 1886. One of the businessmen, Charles Henry Grant, personally floated the company in London. The same year they built and displayed a model tramway in the Hobart Town Hall in order to raise support for their electrified system.
Construction and electrification It had not been initially clear what the government's opposition to electrification was, but it seems to have been a combination of initial public skepticism to a new-found and little understood energy source, and the lobbying of the powerful local gas suppliers, who saw a new threat to their monopoly over street lighting and household supply. Despite the agonising delay, the London consortium persisted with their proposal and were finally rewarded eight years after the legislation had passed when a contract was eventually let in 1892 to the London firm of Siemens Brothers for the construction of an electrified system.
Siemens had tendered for the contract at a below market value price, as they had hoped that by establishing an easily affordable, successful network in a fairly small city, the Hobart tram network would act as advertising for their products in the Australasian market, in which the company was hoping to expand. Siemens Brothers initially constructed three routes. The first of which ran from the Hobart railway station along the originally proposed route to the Cascade Brewery, a second route departed from Elizabeth Street outside the General Post Office and ran along Sandy Bay Road, and the third route ran northwards along Elizabeth Street to Moonah.
Heyday After nearly 10 years of political wrangling, construction, and delays caused by the overhead electric lines interfering with telephone systems, the first line opened on 23 September 1893, making it the first complete electric tramway system to be established in the Southern Hemisphere.Hobart Led Australia The Mercury 21 September 1943 page 12One of Oldest Tramways Now Owned by Government Truck & Bus Transportation July 1954 page 65Tramways of Australia Electric Traction June 1960 page 4 In a world first, the Hobart tram network operated entirely double-decker trams, although these soon proved to have difficulties navigating on Hobart's hillier routes. The Hobart network was also the first tramway to use sliding bow collectors to collect the power from the overhead wires, borrowing the technology from electrified 'heavy' rail networks in Europe. The Hobart tram network soon proved to be popular for commuters, and began to expand. Single deck trams were introduced in 1906, mainly for the routes on which double-deckers experienced problems.The Hobart Electrical Tramways The Evening Post 2 December 1893Hobart Tramways: A Brief History 1893 - 1960 Australian Railway History issue 997 November 2020 pages 26-30
Hobart City Council had never felt completely happy about a privately run public transport network over which they exerted little control, and were also aggrieved that the Hobart Electric Tramway Company had not accepted their model for the tramways in the initial design stages. At the time it was widely felt amongst Australian councils that public transport systems would be best served by public ownership. As many other councils across Australia were doing at the time, the Hobart City Council sought to forcibly take control of the London-based Hobart Electric Tramway Company in 1911. Lawyers for the company successfully fought off an initial take-over attempt, forcing the Hobart City Council to consult with the State Government about a future take-over.
Two years later the State Government passed the Tramways Bill giving the council the right in law to control the trams. On 3 June 1913 Hobart City Council terminated Hobart Electric Tramways perpetual franchise. The company was compulsorily bought out by the council, and control transferred to the government-operated Hobart Municipal Tramways.
Hobart Municipal Tramways and the Hobart City Council began an expansion programme which doubled the size of the network within ten years. The network's growth was barely affected by the outbreak of World War I. The tramways expanded rapidly, and suburban growth followed the lines, spurred on by the availability of a cheap and efficient commuter service. By the mid-1920s tramlines ran from the city depot to North Hobart, Lenah Valley, Springfield, Glenorchy, Cascade Brewery, Proctor's Road and Sandy Bay.
The Hobart Metropolitan Tramways reached a peak in popularity in the 1930s and 1940s, with a busy profitable network covering over 32 km of track, operating along eight lines. The Sandy Bay branch from the city towards Sandy Bay and Nutgrove beaches proved especially popular in summer months.
Demise and closure
During World War II and in the immediate post-war period pressure from increased private car ownership and diesel-powered buses began to threaten the popularity of trams in Hobart, and both passenger rail and the Hobart tramways were experiencing economic trouble. HMT had commenced trolleybus services in 1935 with the Huon Road route, which followed Macquarie Street up the Cascades route as far as Darcy Street, and then continued to a terminus where the main road to the Huon Valley left the built up area, and began the long climb over the side of Mount Wellington. The success of the trolley buses on this route showed HMT management that the more flexible trolley buses were suitable for use on Hobart's roads. 1942 had seen the Macquarie Street Line to Cascades final replacement of trams with double-decker trolley buses which had a greater passenger capacity. It was another ten years before any further changes to the network took place. By 1950 the public had become increasingly unhappy with the congestion and the state of maintenance on Sandy Bay Road. Hobart City Council decided that in conjunction with the major roadworks required to improve Sandy Bay Road, it would replace the tram lines with trolley buses along that route as well.
In 1949 the Hobart Municipal Tramways became the first system anywhere in the world to use an automatic conversion system from AC to DC current, continuing its history of innovation.Companion to Tasmanian History: Tramways University of Tasmania But after considerable debate, the council took the decision in 1950 to abolish the tramways completely. However, the public reliance on the system meant that the council foresaw it would take at least 15 to 20 years to replace it effectively.
The State Government of Robert Cosgrove had grown tired of the council's increasingly poor management of the public transport system and a local controversy over fare levels. In 1955 a new statewide statutory authority, the Metropolitan Transport Trust (MTT) was formed, and this entity took over the Hobart Tramways, as well as the Launceston Municipal Tramways on 1 March 1955, and in 1960 it also acquired Norton Coaches. Burnie giving the State Government control of public transport in the whole state. Forty-two years earlier the Hobart City Council had battled for over two years to gain control of the tram network, and it had been taken off them by a single decision of the State Government.
By mid-1960, the MTT had decided to close the tramways completely in favour of a combined network of electric-powered trolley buses and diesel-powered buses, and their accelerated programme of closures saw the final Hobart tram run its last route on 21 October 1960.Last Hobart Trams Removed Truck & Bus Transportation December 1960 page 5 By 1968, the trolley buses had also been replaced in favour of a bus network. Most of the tram tracks were covered over or removed by subsequent roadworks, although traces can still be seen along some routes. Most of the cars were also scrapped, except for one double bogie tram, number 141, which was saved and transported to the Tasmanian Transport Museum at Glenorchy.
The Hobart tram network had been the first in the southern hemisphere to be electrified, and was the first in the world to operate entirely double-decker trams. It operated on eight lines for 67 years, before it was replaced by a bus network operated by the Metropolitan Transport Trust in 1960.
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