Tram Tuesday - Melbourne, Australia

I was surprised to learn that  Melbourne, Australia has the largest tram network in the world. That's right, larger than St. Petersburg or Berlin, with 250 km of track, 487 trams, and 30 routes. The tram system in Melbourne has been around since 1884 and currently provides over 182 million passenger trips per year.

In contrast to many places that had mostly horse-drawn trams in the early years, Melbourne focused on a cable-drawn system before changing completely to electricity in 1940.

There is no message on the back of the card, but here's a close-up.

Streetcar Sunday - Brisbane, Australia

Electric trams operated in Brisbane, Australia between 1897 and 1969. Prior to that there had also been horse-drawn trams. The electric trams were very popular, carrying as many as 160 million passengers at their peak in 1945. After that ridership declined with the increasing popularity of the automobile and increasing suburban development, until, by 1968, annual ridership had decreased to 64 million passengers.

Since 1969, there has been a move to bring back some sort of light rail, but it hasn't happened yet.
Be sure to check out the earlier post on Sydney's trams. For more information on Brisbane's trams, visit the Brisbane Tramway Museum.

Streetcar Sunday -Sydney, Australia

According to Wikipedia, Sydney once had the largest tram system in Australia, the second largest in the Commonwealth (after London), and one of the largest in the world. It was extremely intensively worked, with about 1,600 cars in service at any one time during the 1930s. In 1945, the system provided 404 million rides.

As with most cities, Sydney started out with horse-drawn trams (or streetcars) in the late 1880s. These were replaced by steam-powered trams, which proved to be very popular, but by 1910 just about all of the trams were electric. The system was highly successful, despite competition from cars and buses. Still, the government was determined to shut it down. The system was shut down gradually, with the last streetcar making its final run in 1961.

If you want to know more about Sydney streetcars, there are lots of good resources. Dedicated individuals have put a lot of work into the Wikipedia reference for Sydney trams, so be sure to take a look. And don't miss this wonderful video, What Happened to Sydney's Trams:


You might also want to check out the Sydney Tramway Museum.
Oh, and here's the back of the postcard, just in case you want to see it.