Search This Blog

Sunday, May 1, 2016

The Tramways Museum

On our second day in Sydney, DH and I went to the Tramways Museum at Loftus, in Sydney's south. As a couple of 'tram tragics' it was a wonderful outing! There is a large building which houses the museum, a tram track that goes through the grounds of the complex and then travels into the adjacent national park.

While we waited for the next tram ride, we walked around the museum...trams ran in the city between 1879 till 1961 when they were scrapped.
The map of the Sydney Tram Network


One old tram was intriguing...it was a prison tram; obviously used for transporting prisoners.
There was certainly lots to see as we walked around the museum...


And there weren't just Aussie trams either...

What was verboten to wear on that Austrian tram!




Then it was time for the tram rides! Being school holidays there were lots of people...the first tram we rode on was a Melbourne tram...

Just near the museum was a control box...

And we also passed this very interesting building...(well building site really)

It was actually a sandstone façade from an old building in Sydney's CBD which has been erected in the museum grounds. Then there has been building work behind. Eventually it will be the new administration building for the museum...what a wonderful project...but expensive I'm guessing.

Interesting signs in the old tram...
As I mentioned, the tram lines go out of the museum complex and into the national park. To do this, the tram has to cross a busy highway...lights sure help to do this safely! lol


The tram following us was a Brisbane tram; destination Newmarket!
It was a class of tram known as the 'Dreadnought'. In my childhood these trams were just advertising trams'; they carried billboards on the side and went on various lines...just advertising!

But the highlight of our time at the Tramway Museum for ex tram conductor DH was this...

Yep! He was given the task of swapping around the tram's power poles ready for the journey back to the museum. And he did it perfectly even though the last time he did it, was December 1968. That's my boy!!!
 
 
 
 
 

4 comments:

Dorothy said...

How wonderful for your DH to be given that task. Bet he enjoyed the memory - in fact there are lots of memories in this post. I remember the Sydney trams and the horrid tracks that I once got my high heels stuck in !! It wasn't long after I started work (at 14.5yrs of age) that they scrapped the trams in Sydney.

Nanna Chel said...

I love trams too, Maria and it was a shame they scrapped them in Brisbane. When I used to visit Melbourne it was always a thrill to go on the trams. I can see your museum tour was pre-moon boot ;-) I hope your leg is getting better.

margaret said...

interesting, can see you both had fun on your visit. I know Melbourne sill have trams a lot of them came from here. We have modern ones in some cities now that go on the railway tracks too and Blackpool still have the old original ones which is a tourist attraction, I find I got sea sick when I went on them with the swaying motion!

Cynthia said...

That must have been a thrill for your husband. It looks like a very interesting museum and how fun to ride on the old cars. I ne'er thought about there being special cars for transporting prisoners on public transportation.