Ballarat tramway images

The State Electricity Commission of Victoria, the former State-owned electricity generator and distributor acquired the tramway systems at Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong as part of the acquisition of privately-owned electricity companies in a number of centres. The State Electricity Commission operated the small tramway system at Ballarat until September 1971, when the trams were replaced by privately operated buses. A pictureseque section of the former Ballarat system has been preserved along the edge of Lake Wendouree through the Botanical Gardens by the Ballarat Tramway Museum Inc., operating as the Ballarat Vintage Tramway. The Ballarat Vintage Tramway operates a tourist service along this line on weekends and public holidays.

The Ballarat tramways were themselves almost a museum piece as most of the trams that operated the system were over fifty years old at the time of the system's closure. The tramway system had a number of unique features including wrong-side running on a number of sections of roadway. Here is a small selection for your enjoyment of pictures of the Ballarat system as I remember it.

Images of Ballarat Trams

Ballarat 13 was photographed at the Victoria Street terminus in about 1970. The line to Victoria Street was the first Ballarat tramline to be seen when driving along the Western Highway from Melbourne to Ballarat. Ballarat 13 was typical of the single truck California combination trams in use on the Ballarat system, having been purchased second hand from the the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board. It was subsequently modified for one man operation with the ability for passengers to board alight from either side of the tram.

Ballarat 14 was photographed at the Mount Pleasant terminus around 1970. The street scene is clearly from another era with the old wooden shop and the advertising for Robur tea. The Mount Pleasant line was a short hilly line along a fairly quiet street.

Ballarat 38 was one of two bogie maximum traction trams in use on the Ballarat system that had been converted for one-man operation. It was photographed on the Sebastopol route, waiting at a passing loop, bound for Lydiard Street North around 1970. At this point, the tram track was on a reservation on the side of the road.

Ballarat 21 was photographed in Sturt Street, Ballarat, wating to depart for the Gardens via Drummond North in early March 1969. Number 21 was decorated to promote the famous Ballarat Begonia festival. Number 21 was originally built as an "A" class tramcar for the Municipal Tramways Trust of Adelaide, and is now preserved at the Australian Electric Transport Museum at St Kilda in South Australia. Its most obvious distinguishing feature from other single-truck Ballarat trams was the fact that the centre section had five side windows, rather than the four that was the standard on the ex-Melbourne trams.

Ballarat 26 was photographed opposite the beautiful "Lake View" hotel on the former View Point line, whilst running on a Tramway Museum Society of Victoria special tour in early March 1969. The View Point line was closed earlier than the rest of the Ballarat system

This photo shows a rear end view of the unnumbered Ballarat track cleaning tram at the Ballarat Depot in early March 1969. I never saw this car in operational service, and was fortunate that as part of the Tramway Museum Society of Victoria tour of Ballarat, I was able to photograph this tram, as, normally, access to the Ballarat tram depot was not permitted. This tram has now been preserved by the Tramway Museum Society of Victoria.

Acknowledgements: Special thanks to David Wilson for scanning the black and white images from the original negatives.

visitor.