Trams in Australia

Trams in Australia are now used extensively as public transport only in Melbourne, and to a lesser extent, Adelaide and Bendigo while Sydney operates a modern light rail system. Several other major cities had tram networks however these networks were largely dismantled during the 1950s and some as late as the 1970s. However some of these cities have retained tram museums or replica tourist routes.

History

In the 19th century numerous horse drawn systems were established, with Adelaide and Brisbane establishing reasonably large systems (for their day) and retaining their horse drawn trams when other systems had adopted steam or cable traction. Victor Harbor and Gawler in South Australia are examples of small, single-line horse-drawn systems which survived until 1953 and 1931 respectively; the Victor Harbor line reopened in 1985.

Following a short lived experiment with a privately run horse tram line in Pitt Street in the 1860s, Sydney adopted steam trams, which were operated by the state government. By comparison, Melbourne adopted cable trams, which were owned by the local government, but operated initially by a private company. The Melbourne cable tramway system became the largest in the world in the late 19th century, with some cable lines retained until 1940. Sydney operated only two cable tram lines (in North Sydney and along South Head Road) and eschewed the high capital outlay required for cable traction, preferring instead to retain their steam trams, until most...
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