Drop Centre Tram #236

In 2004, DH and I were holidaying in New Zealand's South Island when we saw a Brisbane tram. Trams had stopped running here in Brisbane in 1969 but here was an Enoggera tram trundling along beside us as we drove to Ferrymead Heritage Park in Christchurch!!
So when we got to the car park we rushed straight into the heritage park, paid our entry and then went to try to find this tram! Its destination board was Enoggera; it was the old Route No72 tram which passed through the suburbs that each of us had grown up in.
It didn't take us long to find it as it travelled through the park...

So last Sunday at the Brisbane Tramway Museum when I read the information poster in the Drop Centre tram we rode in, I saw that the #236  Brisbane tram went to the Wellington Tramway Museum but it is operated by The Tramway Historical Society at Ferrymead...so I excitedly related this to my friends!

That day in June 2004, DH and I talked to the driver and explained that we came from Brisbane. When the driver finished his driving stint he invited us on a personal tour of the workshops where lots of vehicles were being restored...normally the public doesn't have access to the areas he showed us...we felt quite special :-)
And the same man took our photo in front of tram # 236!

You can just read the number on the side of the tram. Good on New Zealand for rescuing an old Brisbane tram! 

Enoggera...trams and intersections...and a NZ connection!

I just happened to notice a photo of the suburb of Enoggera on a former student's Pinterest board. H lives in the UK now but lived in Enoggera in her early years. The photo showed the now infamous (scene of many accidents over the years and now a well-known bottleneck during peak hour) Wardell-Samford Rd intersection but the image was from the 1960s.

Facing inbound: In the late 1960s the street scene at what locals always referred to as the Enoggera Tram Terminus...

The next photo shows a tram stopped just the other side of the intersection at the Terminus and the conductor is getting the tram ready for the return journey to Chermside.

The tram service was extended from Newmarket to Enoggera in 1949...it was a big day for the locals when the first trams trundled through! The trams were scrapped in early 1969...so just 20 years :-(

First tram to Enoggera

Over the years this road became incredibly busy as areas that had been farming or bushland  were opened up for housing farther out....

Facing Inbound; not peak hour

The former state government announced some grand plans for solving the traffic issues of this intersection before the last election in 2012. When the newly elected government announced that the state was 'broke' locals thought that the plans would be abandoned. Then in December 2012 the temporary fencing went up...

On the other side of the intersection the fencing surrounded those shops on the righthand side of the photo and a whole block of homes amongst all those trees....

Then in August 2013, the houses and shops on the righthand side outbound went...the roadworks were to begin...

Photo taken from beside where this old corner building (small photo below) had been. (Originally this was the Enoggera Post Office with 2 flats upstairs) 

Facing outbound...on this day the shops and homes on the other side of the intersection are still standing but most of the trees have been cut down. 

This work will obviously continue for quite a while as it would be classified as major roadworks.

Now I can't write a post about trams and Enoggera without sharing the following...

In 2004 DH and I were holidaying in New Zealand's South Island and one day we were driving to Ferrymead Heritage Park at Christchurch. As we got closer to the park we had to stop while an old tram carrying tourists crossed over the road...

In an amazing coincidence I noticed that the destination board said 'Enoggera'...unbelieveable! The No 72 Enoggera tram was the one that DH and I caught when we were children and here we were in NZ and an Enoggera tram passed us by! 

So the first thing we did after paying our entry fee to the park, was to find that tram and have a ride!

Here it comes...

See the destination board?

We chatted to the driver who told us that the tram had been bought for the museum quite a few years ago. After our ride, this lovely man took us on a tour of the large sheds where the restoration work takes place...and he took our photo...

We were rapt!