Municipal Trams

INTRODUCTION

The various stages of development of tramways as a means of urban transport all relied on tram rails laid in a roadway, and their introduction particularly in a young country like New Zealand, stemmed from the poor condition of the roads. Suddenly you could travel some quite long distances and know when you would arrive at you destination, and more likely than not, you would still be in tidy attire. While Steam Trams were first to be introduced (in Wellington and Dunedin in 1878 already) they were never popular there due to their noise and the dirty environment they created. In each case steam was replaced by horses and this remained the primary motive power in all the flatter routes of those urban centres that had tramways till 1900. Dunedin was however an exception due to its many hills, and cable trams were introduced there from 1881 onwards. In Christchurch Steam trams were accepted and ran for many years on some quite long routes, and on Auckland's North Shore a steam tram was introduced as late as 1910 and ran for 17 years.

Once electricity became available (1900 in Dunedin) electric trams were quick to replace the horse drawn models. This was also the point in time when the Councils decided to follow overseas practices and develop the tramway systems themselves. Over the following years, large networks of tramways were progressively established in all the four main centres with Gisborne, Napier, New Plymouth, Wanganui and Invercargill all establishing smaller networks to suit their means and needs.

The Tram Systems

• The Steam Trams

• The Horse Trams

• The Cable trams

• The Electric Trams