Melbourne Cable and Electric Tramways

First substitution by diesel buses

By H.H. Bell, J.P., Chairman, Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board [1]. First published 1939.

Originally published in the UK-based journal  Modern Transport, 25 February 1939. Photographs and their captions are from the original article. Imperial measurements have been converted to metric equivalents. Pre-decimal currency has been converted to 2023 dollars, adjusting for inflation using the Reserve Bank of Australia’s inflation calculator.

Street transport system in the metropolitan area known as Melbourne, capital of Victoria, now covers 163.789 miles [263.6km] of route, of which 119.517 miles [192.3km] are served by double-track electric tramways, 28.049 [45.1km] by diesel buses, and 11.046 miles [17.8km] by cable trams. In addition, there are 5.117 miles [8.2km] of single electric track. Although now vested in the Tramways Board, the system was originally the creation of groups of municipalities. Twelve municipalities, headed by Melbourne, brought the cable system into being in 1885, the necessary capital being raised in London on the security of the rates. Construction of the various lines had practically just been completed, and other municipalities were beginning to discuss plans for transport in their areas, when the bursting of the land boom and the failure of numerous banks in the early ’nineties nullified all developmental ideas. Not until 1906 was a forward move made, and then it was a private company which commenced an electric light and tramway undertaking in the Flemington and Essendon districts.

Car designed for tourist service, with one- or two-man operation. Weighing 16.5 tons [16.8 tonnes], it has four 40hp motors and an overall length of 45ft 6in [13.9m].

From the collection of the Melbourne Tram Museum.

Years of agitation preceded the commencement of operations by the Prahran and Malvern Tramways Trust in 1910, and then followed the Hawthorn Tramways Trust (in which I was one of the original members), the Melbourne, Brunswick and Coburg Tramways Trust, the Fitzroy, Northcote and Preston Tramways Trust, and the Footscray Tramways Trust. The war greatly delayed the construction of the latter two Trusts, and neither ever functioned independently, being taken over by the Tramways Board when it was constituted in 1918. The cable lines had been leased for a period of years to the Melbourne Tramway and Omnibus Company, and when, in accordance with the agreement, the Company handed over the property to the Trust in July 1916, the management passed to the Temporary Tramways Board pending the passing of the necessary legislation creating the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board.

Electrification and diesel buses

Mr Alex Cameron, who had been chairman of the Prahran and Malvern Tramways Trust, was appointed charman, and after his return from a tour abroad the Board resolved to proceed with the conversion of all the cable lines to electric traction. Mr Cameron retired at the end of 1935, and I was appointed to the chair. Of the seven members appointed in 1918, I am the only one now on the Board. Conversion proceeded orderly and systematically until 1930, when the financial depression struck Australia and caused operations to be suspended. The North Melbourne, Brunswick, and South Melbourne routes were converted in 1935-37, while the West Melbourne and Port Melbourne routes were abandoned in favour of buses, the traffic on these lines not warranting the large capital expenditure necessary for conversion to electric traction.

Leyland Cub buses in the service of the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board, during cable tramway electrification. Leyland diesel units are now being acquired for tramway replacement.

From the collection of the Melbourne Tram Museum.

Last year, at the request of the Board, I made a tour of the Continent, Great Britain, Canada and the United States, and on my return in October last my colleagues adopted my recommendation that we should try a large bus experiment in the city proper. Towards the end of the year, consequently, diesel buses will take the place of the cable trams in Bourke Street, the route to Northcote being served by double-deckers and that to Nicholson Street by single-deckers. Before that occurs, however, the cable line from Londsdale Street, City, to the suburb of Collingwood will be abandoned, single-deck diesel buses taking the place of the cable trams. [2]

A progressive body

Taking office on January 1, 1936, the present Board, which was reappointed towards the end of December for another period of three years, has shown itself a highly progressive body, and in the year which has just commenced it will again demonstrate that it is alive to the transport needs of the people. Next month we hope to have our latest tram [Note: the SW6 class tram] on the streets, and to have 30 in operation before the year ends. This tram, 46 ft long, 8 ft wide, with seats for 48 passengers, will incorporate several of the ideas I gained while abroad, and has been designed specially for Melbourne conditions so as to give the maximum comfort in the directions of lighting, ventilation and seating. The Melbourne climate is capricious. In the summer the temperature may rise to 100 deg. [37°C] or more one hour, and be down to 68 deg. [20°C] two hours later. It was with that fact in mind that it was decided to use sliding doors, fitted with safety glass, at each of the four entrances, which can be closed in running during inclement weather, opened when fine, or closed on one side and open on the other. The doors will be operated by compressed air and will be controlled by the driver from his platform. A light colour scheme has been chosen for the interior finish and ceilings.

Hitherto the Melbourne trams have not been fitted with ceilings, the underside of the roof and the roof sticks being visible. On this tram the ceilings will be made of a special material which will run the full length of the car and which will be finished in ivory colour. As in all the cars built the last three years at the Board's workshops at Preston, the seats will be arranged transversely, and four pairs of those in each saloon will be of the reversible type. These seats will be upholstered in leather of specially selected colour over rubber cushions, while the sides of the saloons will be lined with leather-cloth to match.

Australian PCC cars

I gave special attention while in England to lighting, with the result that special lamp fittings have been designed to shade the two rows of lamps placed above the seats and yet give an even distribution of light with complete absence of glare. With regard to ventilation, small hopper type ventilator windows have been selected, and these have been placed above the main windows so that ample ventilation may be obtained even in wet weather when the main windows have to be closed. The car body is of steel-frame construction, while the bogie trucks have been designed by the Board’s engineers to give smooth and comfortable riding. The control gear, also the product of the Board’s technical staff, is of the remote type, and is being manufactured in our own workshops. We expect fast and smooth acceleration.

When in the United States I was impressed greatly with what is known as the PCC tram. During the last two years, Modern Transport has contained several favourable references to this tram, so that it is not necessary for me now to dwell on its outstanding qualities of silence, speed, comfort and economy. As the result of several meetings I had in New York with Mr Charles Gordon, of the Research Corporation, the Board has decided to enter into an agreement with the Corporation under which we shall secure the sole manufacturing rights for Australasia. In turn, the Corporation will obtain the rights to any improvements we suggest or put into force. While the Corporation is to supply us with full specifications and drawings, we have decided to have a model of this tram, adapted for Australian conditions, manufactured for us in the U.S.A. As soon as possible after its arrival in this country we shall commence manufacture. I shall be completely surprised and disappointed if this tram is not as great a success as it has been in America. [3]

Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board has 130 of these cars [4] in service: 8ft [2.4m] wide, they are 46ft 6in [14.2m] long and weigh 15.75 tons [16 tonnes].

From the collection of the Melbourne Tram Museum.

Diesel bus development

On the bus side of our undertaking we mean to develop the tourist traffic. To this end a special bus, manufactured for us by Leyland Motors Limited, which was, incidentally, the successful tenderer for the 45 double-deck and 25 single-deck buses we shall require for Bourke Street, is now on its way to us. All the bodies will be manufactured locally, some in our own workshops and the remainder by outside firms. All the bus routes now in operation have been commenced by the present Board. The latest, which commenced on December 22 last, provides a straight cross-city route of six miles between Johnston Street, Collingwood, and Point Ormond, St Kilda, and gives the residents of the former suburb for the first time direct communication to the sea beaches.

Tramway extensions in the suburbs of Essendon, Brighton, Kew and Camberwell have been made during the last three years. The last, almost a mile in length, to the junction of the Doncaster and Balwyn Roads, was undertaken under an agreement with the Camberwell Council by which the Council guarantee [sic] for five years the losses, if any, resulting from operation.

Maximum fare sixpence

In order to stimulate building in the outer suburbs, the Board has made the maximum fare on any direct route to the city 6d [equivalent to $2.61 in 2023 dollars, adjusting for inflation]. As several of our routes are between 8 and 10 miles [13 to 16km] from the centre of the city, that fare, looking to the higher scale of wages payable in Victoria as compared with Great Britain, is a transport bargain, and explains why a southern residential district such as East Brighton has expanded remarkably since we extended the route to Point Nepean Road, an are which previously had neither direct rail, bus nor tram communication with the city. Another popular and, incidentally, profitable move by the Board was the running of Sunday morning trams [5], while the institution of the all-night service has been a boon to many people whose employment necessitates working on until the small hours of the morning [6]. In order to make it easy for the residents of the industrial suburbs to reach the beaches with their families at a cost within their means, the Board has made a family ticket at 2s. 6d. [$13.03] available. For that sum, two adults and three children, or one adult and four children, are carried to and from the beaches or Wattle Park, a reserve of 140 acres [56.7 hectares] of bush preserved in its natural state, but embellished by the Board with a nine-hole golf course and tennis courts, swings, slides, roundabouts, shelters and picnic sites, with water laid on.

All these things have been done notwithstanding the fact that the Board’s revenue is subject to an annual drain of more than £100,000 [$10.4 million] for such extraordinary objects as the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board and the Infectious Diseases Hospital. Up to last year there was also an annual contribution of £22,000 [$2.3 million] to the Licensing Fund. In the last session of the Victorian Parliament, however, a small Act abolishing this payment was passed. Since the Board was formed in 1918 the revenue, as the result of these exactions, has been depleted to the extent of £2,000,000 [$208.5 million] – a handicap which, so far as I am aware, has no counterpart in any other transport system throughout the world.

Footnotes

[1] See Hector Hercules Bell – ringing in the new for a biography of H.H. Bell.

[2] For a description of the outcome of the bus replacement of Bourke Street cable trams, see No stairway to heaven: the failure of double deck buses in Melbourne.

[3] The outcome of the agreement regarding the PCC tramcar in Melbourne is discussed at The remarkable PCC tramcar: why Melbourne missed out.

[4] There were actually only 120 of these W5 class trams produced by the M&MTB between 1935 and 1939. A further five trams were converted from the closely related CW5 class in 1956.

[5] Prior to 4 October 1936 no trams ran on Sunday mornings. The opposition behind the introduction of Sunday morning services is described in Holier than thou: the battle for Sunday morning trams.

[6] All night trams ran in Melbourne from 1937 until 1957 – see Travels in the dark: all night trams in Melbourne.