Seventy years after Launceston's tram service ground to a halt, much of the fleet is still being put to good use.
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A select few have been restored to working order, while others have been converted to shacks, sheds and museum pieces.
WHY TRAMS?
Launcestonians were ready to embrace the future when trams 1-6 took off from The Avenue on August 11, 1911.
Lined up between what is now Watson's jewellers and Wendy's, they set off towards the Brisbane Street mall on a four-decade journey that would see Launceston through to trolley buses and beyond.
In their first year of service, the trams collected 2,019,565 passengers - quite the uptake from a population of 23,500.
But then, Launceston residents had been waiting some time.
After 15 years looking for an operator, Launceston City Council took it upon themselves to build the trams, making use of the electricity being generated at Duck Reach Power Station.
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By 1912 the line connected the CBD to all four corners of Launceston - Kings Meadows, Mowbray, Trevallyn and Newstead.
Across 41 years of operation there are understood to have been relatively few serious crashes.
The Weekly Courier in March 1913 tells of a "sensational" crash that occurred shortly after the High Street line opened.
Travelling towards the city, Tram no.2 bolted down the incline at Windmill Hill, overshot the sweeping corner and crashed into the backyard of a home facing Elphin Road.
The conductor was shaken up after jumping from the tram, but the three passengers remained seated and, remarkably, were uninjured.
END OF AN ERA
It was initially hoped the fleet would double in size from the 26 trams in operation by the late 1920s.
However, only three more were built in 1930 before the service began to decline.
The tram depot relocated from Invermay shortly after the 1929 floods and new base was established at what has since become the Metro bus depot.
Trolley buses began replacing the fleet by the early 1950s and on December 13, 1952, Tram no.1 completed its final journey from the Newstead terminus to the Howick Street depot.
From there, it began its wildest ride of all.
SCATTERED
All 29 trams were sold by tender.
Numbers 3 and 19 were sold together and remain together to this day, having been converted into a home at Bicheno.
A handful are in the possession of Launceston Tramway Museum.
LTM motorman and public officer Janet Death said many of the 29-tram fleet had been converted into shacks on the East Coast.
"Some of them have been built so much onto that they're either not recognisable as trams anymore or they're still holiday homes," she said.
"As far as I'm aware there's only three or four that we're unsure where they are - some have been destroyed.
"Tram no. 4 was scrapped. Number 20 I believe was the main feature in a bonfire."
No. 11 was winched into the dining room at the Best Western Hotel, as a nod to the site where J & T Gunn built the first 14 trams.
It remains there to this day.
Tram no. 16 was restored and ran as part of the original Penny Royal Complex, where it still sits dormant in a shed near the Zig Zag Track.
Numbers 2 and 13 are displayed in museums in Launceston and Glenorchy, while no. 14 was recently restored by a volunteer group and is headed for Sydney Tramway Museum via Ballarat.
But Tram no. 1 holds a special place in history.
"As far as I'm aware it's the only one that left the state and then came back," Ms Death said.
Sold to Max Collins in 1953, it travelled to Royal George and Sidmouth before spending 17 years in Canberra as an unused cafe project.
It had stints in Sydney and Bendigo before becoming part of the LTM collection in the early 2000s, where it remains under restoration.
In 2011 it returned to Brisbane Street to commemorate 100 years since its first run.
"We're very lucky and proud that we have Tram no. 1 in our collection," Ms Death said.
"The intention [moving forward] is to have Tram no.1 running."
POWERING AHEAD
LTM operates Tram No. 29 along a two-kilometre stretch of track between the Inveresk station cottage and the old roundhouse.
A team of 40-odd volunteers continue to work on restoring nos. 1, 8 and 26.
In future, the organisation hopes to extend its reach to enable a loop around the University buildings, and beyond.
"The hope is that eventually we will be able to extend the tram line to go across the existing rail bridge (known as Black Bridge) to Glebe Gardens," Ms Death said.
In the short-term, the organisation has simpler goals.
"We want to get it out there that we exist," Ms Death said.
"There's a lot of people who have lived in Launceston their entire life that have no idea that we exist.
"We're hoping to do an extension on the museum that will enable us to show more displays ... it would mean we'd have the capacity for more volunteers as well."
- Launceston Tramway Museum is open 10am-4pm, Tuesday to Sunday at the Inveresk Precinct.
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