Trams in New Zealand

Auckland City had a private company operating horse-drawn trams from 1884. The Auckland Electric Tram Company's system was officially opened on 17 November 1902, but public service was delayed because three of the motormen, from Sydney, Australia, had been drowned in the SS Elingamite shipwreck near Three Kings Islands on 9 November 1902. Public service commenced on 23 November 1902 and continued to 29 December 1956.[7][8][9]

With services running from downtown at the Waitematā Harbour, across to Onehunga on the Manukau Harbour, Auckland had the world's only 'coast to coast' tramway system. The Electric Tram Company started as a private company before being acquired by Auckland City Council. The resulting council owned entity was required to run services outside the borders of Auckland City.

In 1938, a circular trolleybus route opened, operating from Queen Street - Wyndham Street - Hobson Street - Victoria Street and servicing the Farmers department store in Hobson Street. Trolleybuses may have been chosen for this service because the corner of Queen Street and Wyndham Street was too sharp and steep for trams. Electric trams operated a similar Farmers department store connection from a terminus stop in Beresford Street off Pitt Street along Hobson Street to a terminus stop in Wyndham Street.

From 1949 a modernisation programme saw the electric tram routes being replaced by trolleybuses, commencing with the Herne Bay route and with trolleybuses eventually replicating the entire network by December 1956 when the last electric tram ran.

While the introduction of two light rail lines became a government commitment in 2018, as of February 2021 there are only two tram services in Auckland, the Western Springs Tramway and the Wynyard loop tram. Both are heritage systems. The Western Springs Tramway runs between two Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) sites. The tracks run parallel to part of the original Point Chevalier tram route on Great North Road, but they were not part of the original system.

Also known as the Wynyard Quarter tram and Dockline Tram. Operates on a 1.5 km (0.93 mi) circuit close to downtown Auckland. The route consists of the loop Halsey Street, Gaunt Street, Daldy Street and Jellicoe Street.[10] There have been proposals to extend this in the future. The service was promoted and funded by the former Auckland Regional Council and now by Panuku Development Auckland. The tramway is operated by Auckland Tramways, administered by Panuku Development Auckland. Trams commenced testing and crew training on Friday 29 July 2011. The system was opened on 6 August 2011, prior to the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Three former Melbourne trams have been used. X1 class 466, (was for a time 2011-2017 renumbered ATL 257), is being leased from the Newstead Trams based at Bendigo Tramways and arrived at the Ports of Auckland by ship 8 June 2011 and was delivered to the new tram shed 15 June 2011. From 2011 until 2015, Melbourne W2 class 421, then numbered ATL 258 was leased from Bendigo. In July 2015, SW6 model trams 852 and 881 arrived from Melbourne after becoming surplus to requirements. In September 2011, MOTAT's Western Springs Tramway loaned restored 1906 Auckland tram No.44 for the Auckland Heritage Festival and through the summer 2011/12. No.44 was loaned again in September and early October 2012.

The Dockline Tramway has closed a number of times for the gentrification of streets around Wynyard Quarter which have involved relevelling the roads. For instance in until October 2014,[10] and again from mid 2015 until late 2016 while Gaunt Street and the southern end of Daldy Street were gentrified. In April 2017, trams ran on a short section of the line while roadworks and gentrification took place in Halsey Street and Daldy Street, including watergardens and realignment of the tramway along the reinstated Daldy Street.[10] The Tramway was suspended indefinitely on 5 August 2018 due to Panuku selling an area that included part of its tracks to a developer, but was given a reprieve on 22 November 2018 with Auckland Councillors voting to reinstate the full original loop and have the tram running for the 2021 America's Cup, then review its future.[11] The Dockline Tramway was reported to be re-opening summer 2020,[12] Delayed due COVID-19 lockdowns, the Dockline Tramway was eventually reopened on Sunday 7th of February 2020, after Panuku Development Auckland announced that MOTAT would be running the tramway on its behalf. The tramway will be running Sundays 10am-4pm and during Public Holiday weekends. [13]

Devonport on Auckland's North Shore had a horse tramway from September 1886 to 1888 running to Cheltenham Beach. The tramway utilised wooden rails and failed financially after two years.

A steam tramway operated between Bayswater and Milford on Auckland's North Shore. It travelled along Lake Road, through Takapuna and circled Lake Pupuke between 22 December 1910 and 26 April 1927. The steam tram trailers had been built so that they could be converted to electric operation, to a similar design to Auckland M & L type trams. The carriages were hauled by 13" steam motors, built by Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia. The tramway struggled financially, and closed after 16 years. The carriages were sold to Wanganui and Dunedin and converted to electric trams and the steam tram boilers sold for other uses. A single trailer, which became a Dunedin electric tram "Takapuna" No.66, is the sole survivor, at the Otago Early Settlers Museum.

A Christchurch Tramway Tram, Worcester Street, 2005

Christchurch had steam and horse trams from 1880, then electric trams from 6 June 1905 to 11 September 1954. They were replaced by trolleybuses and motor buses. A Christchurch heritage tram line was established in the city centre on a loop track in 1995, and reopened on a limited circuit in November 2013 after being temporarily non-operational following the Christchurch earthquake of 2011, which interrupted tramway services while the CBD was cordoned off. The Tramway reopened 27 November 2013 on a combination of the original route and an extension that was in progress at the time of the earthquakes. There are plans to extend the route in 2014 to include the full pre-earthquake circuit and the extension through the Re:Start Mall and High Street which was nearly complete when the February 2011 earthquake struck.

In Dunedin electric trams operated on several routes from 23 October 1900 (Maori Hill) and 24 December 1903 (municipal service, to Normanby & Gardens) to 29 March 1956, and were replaced by trolleybuses and buses.

Gisborne had Edison-Beach battery-electric trams from 13 April 1913 to 8 July 1929. There were two trams from the Federal Storage Battery Car Co, New Jersey and two from Boon & Co, Christchurch. AR Harris of Christchurch was the New Zealand agent for Edison Batteries. The trams were slow; their maximum speed was 32 km/hour, and initially they were restricted by the Public Works Department to 16 km/hour. There were two inland routes: Ormond Rd, and Gladstone Rd to Te Hapara (Lytton Rd). They were replaced by buses, following a close referendum in 1928.[14]

Auckland Weekly News had photos of the interior and exterior of trams at the 1913 opening.

Invercargill had the southernmost tram system in the world, horse trams 1881–1908, electric trams from 26 March 1912 to 10 September 1952. They were replaced by buses.

Construction began in January 1911 and lines to Waikiwi and Georgetown opened on 26 March 1912. Later that year two more lines opened, to North Invercargill and South Invercargill; the latter was the southernmost electrified street tram line in the world and ran to Tramway Road. The network operated as two routes: Route A between Georgetown and Waikiwi and Route B between North and South Invercargill. The Waikiwi line closed in 1947, though a section remained in operation until 1951. The Georgetown route closed on 2 July 1951, but the section to Rugby Park Stadium remained open until August 1951. The South Invercargill line closed on 31 May 1952. The last route, to North Invercargill, closed on 10 September 1952.

Napier had electric trams to Port Ahuriri, from 8 September 1913 to 3 February 1931. The system was damaged by the Napier earthquake on 3 February 1931, and was never restored, being replaced by buses.[15]

New Plymouth had an electric tram service from 10 March 1916 to 23 July 1954, operated by the New Plymouth Corporation Tramways and reputedly the smallest municipality in the world to operate trams on the overhead electricity system. There were two main routes, through the town centre from the Port to Fitzroy, and from the town centre to David Street, Westown. In 1924 a short line was built to Pukekura Park (this closed in 1937) and proposals were also made for lines to Vogletown and Frankleigh Park.[16]

In 1950 the Westown route was replaced with a fleet of 4 Crossley trolleybuses in 1950, in turn being replaced with diesel buses in October 1967. The Port-Fitzroy route was replaced directly by diesel buses in 1954.

There were 10 trams, 4 single-truck Boon cars (No.s 1–4), 3 Double-truck Boon cars (Nos 5–6 and 10) and 3 Birney Safety Cars introduced in 1921 (Nos. 7–9). These all lasted until closure of the system, at which time the bodies were auctioned off and sold. Only one tram body survives (Birney No 8) and is currently in Wanganui.

Whanganui, then known as Wanganui, had electric trams from 11 December 1908 to 24 September 1950. The service went two ways from the city centre, inland to Aramoho and out to Castlecliff and the Port. The Castlecliff route competed with the Castlecliff railway and the success of the trams at winning patronage led to the cancellation of passenger trains in April 1932.[17] The trams were replaced by buses.

Wanganui tram No.12 was restored in West Auckland by Dave Harre and his team and gifted to the people of Whanganui. The Tramways Whanganui Trust has united the body onto a former Brussels Brill 21e type four-wheel truck, and plans to renovate Wanganui tram No.8 and New Plymouth Birney No.8. 120m of tramline has been laid alongside the Whanganui river between the new tram shed towards the berth of the PS Waimarie and due to be opened for demonstrations and rides once the appropriate Rail Operator Licences have been granted. Further extensions are planned.

A former Wellington tram at the Wellington Tramway Museum.

Wellington had steam then horse trams from 1878, then electric trams from 30 June 1904 to 2 May 1964. They were replaced by trolleybuses and buses. Wellington now has the only funicular cable car line operating in New Zealand.

The Wellington Tramway Museum preserves and operates a collection of Wellington trams at The Kapiti Coast Electric Tramway, Queen Elizabeth Park, MacKays Crossing near Paekakariki on the Kapiti Coast. Planning for a light rail system is underway.

Other horse-drawn tram systems were built on the West Coast of the South Island, where a gold rush started in 1864. The main towns, Greymouth, Westport, Hokitika and Ross, and smaller settlements like Brighton, Charleston, Kamiere and Kumara had wooden tramways. Publican John Behan of Charleston, now a ghost town, petitioned the Canterbury Provincial Council in 1870 for compensation after the rerouting of a wooden tramway along a branch road removed most of his stalwart drinkers. The 'bush tram' from Greymouth to Kumara took three hours, and during the trip passengers had to cross the Taramakau River in a cage or 'flying fox' suspended from a cable see photo c1880. These tramways were for freight and passengers. There were few roads on the Coast, and tramway owners were entitled to charge a toll to pedestrians walking along the tracks. The gauges varied from 3 ft (914 mm) to 4 ft (1,219 mm), with 3-inch (76 mm) wooden rails (see Stewart and May). Some of these were bush tramways, similar to other systems used to carry timber out of the bush.