This article describes the tram types in Adelaide that have operated for the past years: from early days when they undertook a major share of the public transport task before car ownership was well established; through the 49-year period when only one tram line operated; to the city's 21st-century tramways revival.
The three eras of Adelaide trams since 1878 The evolution of public and private transport in Adelaide has closely reflected the economic and social development of South Australia. Growth of the Adelaide conurbation also reflected the development of efficient public transport. Horse-drawn transport characterised the foundation years, but with industrial development and the growth of the suburbs the extension of tramway (and railway) networks was a feature of urban transport and development until the Second World War.
There have been three generations of trams over the years since street vehicles first ran on steel (or iron) rails in Adelaide:
1878–1917, horse trams built in the United States and locally: more than 150 lightweight horse-drawn trams travelled along about of lines in the streets of the city's centre and its suburbs. 1909–1952, electric trams built locally, at first from American kits: more than 300 electric trams ran on more than of routes similar to those of the horse trams until all street tram services ceased in 1958. From then until 2006 only the 1929-vintage "Glenelg" trams survived, running mostly off-street on the line from Adelaide's centre to the beach. Since 2006, contemporary trams built overseas: Twenty-four state-of-the-art trams of two makes replaced the by-then vintage trams on the Glenelg line and subsequently on of newly built line extensions north through the city centre and on to the city's cultural and entertainment precincts.
Horse trams
At a glanceAdelaide was an early adopter, in 1878, of horse trams but the last of Australia's capital cities to subsequently move to more efficient technologies. Eleven private companies eventually competed on their own lines that totalled by 1901. More than 150 trams were built in the United States or, later, to almost identical designs by local coachbuilders or horse tram companies. Since the horse tram companies lacked the capital to upgrade their technology after drought and a long economic depression, the South Australian Government bought the assets of most of them in 1907. It established the Municipal Tramways Trust to rapidly construct an electrified network. Horse trams operated during the new lines' construction until the last was withdrawn from Adelaide-centric lines in 1914 (and in 1917 in Port Adelaide).
First electric trams acquired after the horse tram era: Type A and Type B in 1908.
During the 39-year horse-drawn era that started on 10 June 1878, trams were mainly double-decked with an enclosed saloon long and an open seated area of the same length above it; and single-decked cars long. Although they were owned by 11 companies, their designs were similar: extremely lightweight in construction and with minimal springing. However, even at an average speed of 8 kilometres per hour (5 miles per hour) they were a vast improvement on the speed and comfort of horse-drawn street carriages. Their light weight was reflected in horse trams that ran to Henley Beach not being fitted with an upper-deck canvas awning for fear that a sea breeze would blow the tram over, and by the practice followed when horse trams met while travelling in opposite directions on single track: the one with the fewer passengers, derailed by able-bodied males, was pulled out of the way to allow the other car to pass.
An Adelaide company, Duncan & Fraser Ltd of Franklin Street, assembled the city's first 20 horse-drawn trams manufactured (and dismantled for shipping) by the John Stephenson Company, New York City. The company that ordered them, the Adelaide & Suburban Tramway Company, manufactured horse trams in its own factory at Kensington from 1897.
By 1907 there were 162 trams, drawn by 1056 horses, servicing routes totalling about in length. Except in minor respects the trams' designs did not evolve during the 36 years in which they operated.
The South Australian government purchased the assets of almost all of the companies in 1907 and in December incorporated the Municipal Tramways Trust (MTT) to introduce an electrified system. While the electric lines were being built, the trust operated many of the acquired horse trams but in decreasing numbers, withdrawing horse tram services altogether in July 1914 in the City of Adelaide and, after delays caused by the war, in 1917 on the isolated Port Adelaide system.
A battery tram trialled in 1889
Adelaide's horse tram era was briefly punctuated by a technology that foreshadowed the direction in which public transport would be transformed around the world. In 1889 – eight years after the world's first commercially successful electric tram ran in Germany, and in the same year that Melbourne introduced overhead-powered electric trams – the Adelaide and Hindmarsh Tramway Company Limited conducted trials of a tram powered by Julien's Patent electric traction technology. It was a battery-powered tramcar, which was promoted as offering the advantages of electrical power without the cost of erecting overhead wires.
On 9 January 1889 the car, adapted from a double-deck horse car built by Adelaide coachbuilders Duncan & Fraser, made the first of several fast journeys to Henley Beach. The project ended the following year when the two proponents were killed in a railway level crossing accident. Adelaide had to wait another 20 years for electrification.
Electric trams In total, 337 electric trams of 14 types have operated over Adelaide's tramways, which totalled a little more than until 1958, when the street tramways were closed down, and which now total . During the 44 years between the inauguration of the first electric tram in 1909 and the delivery of the last tram in 1953 the Municipal Tramways Trust commissioned 313 of the first 12 electric tram types described in this article.
Details of the trams in the order of their introduction are in the following panel, expandable by clicking [show].
Adelaide electric tram types in date order of their introduction or conversion FirstranIn revenue service. Designation Known asQuotation marks show terms used by the public. Qtybuilt Tramnos Last ranApplies to revenue service. See the section for details of vehicles that are in preserved and operating condition.100 and 200 Series are the trams now in revenue service. Seating andcrush load1909 Type A California combination 70 1–30,61–100 1952 40 / 1011909 Type B Open crossbench("toast rack") 30 31–60 1930s 50 / 1021910 Type E Bogie open combination 20 101–120 1936 54 / 1521911 Type D Bogie closed combination 54Four trams almost identical to the 50 Type D trams were acquired from the builder in 1912 by a tramway trust in Melbourne; the MTT did not acquire them until 1927. 121–170,191–194 1954 54 / 1521917 Type A1(conversions from Type B) California combination From Type B total of 30. 44–60 1950 40 / 1011917 Type A2(conversions from Type B) "Tanks" From Type B total of 30. 41–43 1935 40 / 1011918 Type C "Desert Gold" and"Bouncing Billies" 20 171–190 1954 40 / 1021922 Type F Dropcentre 50 201–250 1958 60 / 1701925 Type F1(almost identical variant of Type F) Dropcentre 34 251–284 1958 60 / 1701925 Type G Birney safety car 4 301–304 1935 32 / 801929 Type H(later, 300 Series) "Glenelg tram", "Bay tram" 30 351–380 2015 64 / 170 Reduced to 64 / 94 about 1990. 1936 Type E1(conversions from Type E) Bogie saloon From Type E total of 20. 101–120 1958 49 / 1521953 Type H1(prototype) "The streamliner" 1 381 1957 52 / 1842006 100 Series"Flexity" 15 101–115The original no. 103, damaged during shipping from Germany, was subsequently retained for its spare parts. The replacement no. 103 was the final 100 Series tram delivered. N/a (15 in serviceas at 2018) 64 / 1152009,2017 200 Series "Citadis" 9 201–209 N/a (9 in serviceas at 2018) 54 / 186
Trams of the 20th century
The MTT's 100 inaugural trams were of two North American designs, manufactured by the J.G. Brill Company of Philadelphia and shipped for final assembly by Adelaide coachbuilders Duncan & Fraser, who subsequently built 20 more cars. Between 1910 and 1912 another Adelaide coachbuilder, A. Pengelley & Co. of Edwardstown, assembled 50 more Brill trams, bringing a total of tram constructions before the First World War to 170.
In 1913 the MTT had developed its first design to meet the specific requirements of its own system. Eighty-four of these fast-loading "dropcentre" trams were to become the mainstay of the street network until it was closed in 1958. However, the constraints of the First World War delayed their construction until 1921. As a stopgap to meet demand from extended routes, 20 four-wheeled trams were built cheaply in 1918, to almost the same design as the first of the inaugural tram types. Four Brill lightweight trams were imported in 1925 to handle the lightly trafficked, isolated Port Adelaide system.
In 1929, twenty years after a false start, the Glenelg railway line was converted to electric operation. Since most of the line was in a private reservation, the MTT designed an interurban-style high-speed (for the time) end-loading saloon tram with power-operated doors and folding steps. Thirty of them, capable of running coupled together, were built hurriedly for the line's opening. Popularly known as "Glenelg" or "Bay" trams, they were to operate in revenue service for 77 years. An updated version of the Glenelg trams was designed in 1939, but post-war material shortages delayed the introduction of the first – and ultimately the only – car until 1953.
While the last tram was being built, a parliamentary select committee concluded a report into the MTT in June 1952. The South Australian government then replaced the local government councillors comprising most of the MTT board with its government officials and announced its intention to close all of Adelaide's tram services, to be replaced by buses. The last street tram operated on 22 November 1958, leaving only the Glenelg line and its unique trams to survive, on a route from Victoria Square, the geographic centre of Adelaide, to Moseley Square, Glenelg.
By 2006 the Glenelg trams had been in full-time operation for 77 years. In January a new generation of tram was introduced to run not only on a newly upgraded Glenelg line but also on of new street lines that were to be extended north of Victoria Square through busy central Adelaide thoroughfares. These new trams were designated the 100 Series. By year's end the 1929-vintage trams had been largely phased out of normal revenue service (the last being in 2008), only running occasionally on special occasions. In 2009 the second series of new trams went into service as the 200 Series; more arrived in 2017, bringing the total number of trams on the system to 24.
During the MTT's first 15 years, trams were identified only by their numbers. In 1923, the differing designs were allocated as "Type A" to "Type F". Subsequent acquisitions were allocated to new letters. For ease of reference, trams are described in this article using the 1923 alphabetical classifications, regardless of whether they were introduced or converted before or after that year.
The alphabetical order of types did not fully correspond to the order of trams' introduction: Type C was the classification given to trams introduced seven years after Type D. Further, when 20 open-sided "toast rack" Type B cars were enclosed, they were reclassified as Types A1 and A2 rather than B1 and B2.Type A1 and A2 trams are listed under the headings Type B conversions to Type A1 and ... Type A2. As the less confusing option, MTT trams are listed in this article in alphabetical order of their type.