The Colonial Tramcar Restaurant was a

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

operating from a converted fleet of three vintage W class trams in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia from 1982 until 2018.

History

Melbourne Colonial Tramcar Restaurant interior, September 2006

The Colonial Tramcar Restaurant Company was formed in 1981 to operate restaurant trams, with 1927 W2 class tram number 442 acquired for conversion after 55 years of

Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board The Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board (MMTB) was a government-owned authority that was responsible for the tram network in Melbourne, Australia between 1919 and 1983, when it was merged into the Metropolitan Transit Authority. It had bee ...

service. Conversion work commenced in 1982 at

Preston Workshops Preston Workshops is the heavy maintenance facility for the Melbourne tram network. The workshop is located on a block surrounded by Miller Street, St George's Road, Oakover Road and the Mernda railway line in Preston, a suburb of Melbourne, Au ...

, with the drop centre floor raised to give a level floor throughout, and a single entry door provided on one side of the tram. Two saloons were provided either side of a central kitchen and washroom, one saloon seating 12 while the other seats 24 patrons. It was based at the Metropolitan Transit Authority's (MTA) South Melbourne depot."News in Brief" ''

Trolley Wire The Sydney Tramway Museum (operated by the South Pacific Electric Railway) is Australia's oldest tramway museum and the largest in the southern hemisphere. It is located at Loftus in the southern suburbs of Sydney. History Construction of th ...

'' issue 203 December 1982 page 2"The City of Melbourne: Dining in Style by Tram" ''Trolley Wire'' issue 214 October 1984 pages 3-11 The service started on 2 November 1982 (

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melbou ...

day) with the single tram, as amendments were required to the Liquor Licence Act to allow for the service of alcohol on a mobile restaurant. The driver and conductor were provided by the MTA while onboard staff are Colonial Tramcar Restaurant employees. Until 1992, the restaurant had to carry a conductor to comply with tramways union regulations about two-man teams operating all trams (in case the brakes failed). This conductor cost the Colonial Tramcar Restaurant $50,000 per year until conductors were removed from all trams in the 1990s. One of the conductors was a lady who could be seen knitting throughout the entire service. Two 1948 SW6 class trams, 937 and 939, were later added to the fleet in October 1992 and February 1995, respectively. With the closure of South Melbourne depot in February 1997, operation was transferred to Southbank depot. In 2006, the 442 was retired and replaced with a third SW6 class tram 938. In 2011 nos 937 and 939 were withdrawn from service and replaced with 935 and 964. All have distinctive burgundy livery, and can seat 36 passengers each. The restaurant, which has one lunch and two dinner sittings each day, advises booking well in advance. The trams are boarded from the

Clarendon Street Junction Clarendon Street Junction is a tram stop located at the intersection of the St Kilda and Port Melbourne light rails with Normanby Road, Whiteman and Clarendon Streets in Southbank, Victoria. It is served by Yarra Trams routes 96 and 109 on the ...

stop near the

Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, colloquially referred to as "Jeff's Shed," is a group of three adjacent buildings next to the Yarra River in South Wharf, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The venues are o ...

. They then run on selected standard tram routes through the city and some nearby inner suburbs, returning to their origin. The ride in the restaurant tram was generally quite steady. Food was prepared offsite in a commercial kitchen and loaded onto the trams in a raw form. Each tram had its own chef and all of the food was cooked as the tram moved. The menu provided a limited choice, as did the wine list. However, unlimited alcohol was included in the fixed, prepaid meal price. On 11 August 2012, 30 diners and three staff had to be evacuated from restaurant tramcar #05 (SW6.964) after it caught fire in

East Melbourne East Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. East Melbourne recorded a population of 4,896 at the 2021 ...

on Nicholson Street. In 1985, The Colonial Tramcar Restaurant became the first restaurant in Melbourne to ban smoking. The Colonial Tramcar Restaurant was a four-time winner of the coveted National Tourism Award (1984, 1988, 1992, and 1993). It was also a nine-time winner of the Victorian Tourism Award (1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 2002) and was welcomed into the Hall of Fame in 1993. Hall of Fame is awarded to an entrant that has won the same category over three consecutive years. In October 2018,

Yarra Trams Yarra Trams is the trading name of the operator of the tram network in Melbourne, Australia, which is owned by VicTrack and leased to Yarra Trams by the Victorian Department of Transport. The current franchise is operated by Keolis Downer. As ...

announced that the restaurant trams had been withdrawn from service and were no longer allowed to operate on the network due to safety considerations. At the same time, Yarra Trams said it was working with the restaurant operator to enable a "stationary dining experience" to continue.

Fleet

*W2 442 (01): This tram ran as CTR No. 1 and is now stored on a private property. *SW6 937 (02): This Tram Ran as CTR No. 2, named “The City Of Melbourne” Body and is privately owned. *SW6 939 (03) This Tram Ran as CTR No. 3, named “Valentine” and is owned by the

Ballarat Tramway Museum The Ballarat Tramway Museum is an operating tramway museum, located in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The museum is run by volunteers and has a fleet of trams which operate on part of the original horse tramway around Lake Wendouree a ...

and in its own “Cuthberts” Livery. File:W2 442.jpg, W2 442 (01) File:SW6 937.jpg, SW6 937 (02) File:SW6 939.jpg, SW6 939 (03)

References

External links

Tramcar Restaurant official site
{{MelbourneTramNavbox, state=collapsed 1982 establishments in Australia 2018 disestablishments in Australia Defunct restaurants in Australia Restaurants disestablished in 2018 Restaurants established in 1982 Restaurants in Melbourne Theme restaurants Trams in Melbourne