H Type Adelaide Tram
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The H type Adelaide tram was a class of 30 trams built by A Pengelly & Co,
Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
in 1929 for use on the newly constructed
Glenelg tram line The Glenelg tram line is a tram/ light rail line in Adelaide. Apart from a short street-running section in Glenelg, the line has its own reservation, with minimal interference from road traffic. The service is free in the city centre and a ...
. They remained in regular revenue service until replaced by
Bombardier Flexity Classic The Bombardier Flexity Classic is a model of light-rail tram manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. Although it is marketed as the most traditionally designed member of the Flexity family, it is still a modern bi-directional articulated t ...
trams in 2006.


Overview

The 30 H type (numbers 351 - 380) were built locally by A Pengelly & Co in 1929 to operate the newly converted
Glenelg tram line The Glenelg tram line is a tram/ light rail line in Adelaide. Apart from a short street-running section in Glenelg, the line has its own reservation, with minimal interference from road traffic. The service is free in the city centre and a ...
which opened on 14 December 1929. They were also used on the Henley North line from 1935 and though to
Kensington Gardens Kensington Gardens, once the private gardens of Kensington Palace, are among the Royal Parks of London. The gardens are shared by the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and sit immediately to the west of Hyde P ...
after these lines were through-routedThrough-routing: enabling running to the ends of both lines. in 1952. The H type regularly ran as double sets at busier times. All services were operated by a crew of driver and conductor (driver and two conductors on coupled sets). They have many of the characteristics of American
interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...
streetcars of that period and their heritage ambience has been carefully maintained. Although the H type trams have been through several refurbishment programmes over the years (incorporating more up-to-date features like safety glass, fluorescent lighting and upgraded bogies), they still retain varnished wood and etched glass interiors, a classic tuscan red and cream exterior colour scheme and neither heating nor air-conditioning in the passenger saloons. Between 1952 and 1956 all were repainted silver and carnation red, before being returned to tuscan red from 1971 with the last repainted in 1986. In 1986, the
trolley pole A trolley pole is a tapered cylindrical pole of wood or metal, used to transfer electricity from a "live" (electrified) overhead wire to the control and the electric traction motors of a tram or trolley bus. It is a type of current collector. Th ...
s were replaced with pantographs. In 1968, 366 and 377 were deemed surplus and scrapped. At the time, for operations management reasons all were run in coupled pairs, with an odd-numbered car being coupled to the next even-numbered car. This sometimes required cars to be re-numbered. Thus 353 and 354 were renumbered 377 and 366 to be married with 378 and 365 respectively. The H type were the longest rigid-body trams remaining in service in Australia, and the second-longest ever built. They travelled in pairs during peak times, and with the retirement of the W2 trams from Melbourne's network were the oldest passenger trams in service in Australia. In November 1990, 378 was fitted out as a restaurant car being repainted royal blue with gold lining. On 15 July 2000, 372 was used to convey the
Olympic flame The Olympic flame is a symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. Several months before the Olympic Games, the Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece. This ceremony starts the Olympic ...
from Glenelg to
Morphettville Morphettville is a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Marion. The northern part of the suburb is bounded by the Glenelg tram line, and fully occupied by the Morphettville Racecourse (horseracing track). The tram barn storage a ...
as part of the
2000 Summer Olympics torch relay The 2000 Summer Olympics torch relay was the transferral of the Olympic Flame to Sydney, Australia, that built up to the 2000 Summer Olympics. The torch travelled to various island nations as part of a tour of Oceania before beginning an exten ...
.


Replacement

Most of the H type trams were replaced during 2006 by new
Bombardier Flexity Classic The Bombardier Flexity Classic is a model of light-rail tram manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. Although it is marketed as the most traditionally designed member of the Flexity family, it is still a modern bi-directional articulated t ...
trams. However, five H-class (351, 367, 370, 374 and 380) were refurbished in 2000, with the intention of retaining these cars for special weekend and holiday operations. By 2012, only 351 and 367 remained; the other three were stored at
Mitsubishi Motors Australia Mitsubishi Motors Australia Limited (MMAL) is a fully owned subsidiary of parent company Mitsubishi Motors Corporation of Japan. The company was established in 1980 and began vehicle manufacturing in that year, having taken over the facilities ...
's
Clovelly Park Clovelly Park is an inner southern suburb of Adelaide in the local government area of the City of Marion. Before becoming an 'advanced' suburb, it was a farm and vineyard. The suburb is bordered by Daws Road to the north, South Road to the eas ...
plant. In 2012, 351 was restored in tuscan red by
Bluebird Rail Operations Rail First Asset Management (RailFirst), formerly known as CFCL Australia (CFCLA), is an Australian rolling stock leasing company operating in the rail freight market. It leases assets to a number of private rail operators in the local rail indus ...
at
Islington Railway Workshops The Islington Railway Workshops are railway workshops in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. They were the chief railway workshops of the South Australian Railways, and are still in operation today.Alstom Citadis The Alstom Citadis is a family of low-floor trams and light rail vehicles built by Alstom. , over 2,300 Citadis trams have been sold and 1,800 tramways are in revenue service throughout the world, with operations in all six inhabited continents ...
trams at the
Glengowrie Glengowrie () is a suburb of the Australian city of Adelaide, approximately 12 kilometres south west of the city centre. The name Glengowrie means " Glen of Gowrie", so called in honour of Lord Gowrie (formerly, Alexander Gore Arkwright Hore-Ru ...
depot, in December 2017 both were moved to the
Department of Planning, Transport & Infrastructure The Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT), formerly the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (DPTI), is a large department of the government of South Australia. The website was renamed , but without a formal announce ...
's Walkley Heights facility. In 2021 they were donated to the Tramway Museum, St Kilda and transferred there as the sixth and seventh H cars on site.


Preservation

Several have been preserved: *357 and 358 by the
Sydney Tramway Museum 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, New South Wales, Loftus in the southern suburbs of Sydney. Hist ...
*351, 360, 362, 364, 365, 367 and 378 by the
Tramway Museum, St Kilda The Tramway Museum, St Kilda is Australia's principal museum of the 19th and 20th century trams of Adelaide, South Australia. It is situated at St Kilda, north of the centre of Adelaide. It is operated by the Australian Electric Transport Mus ...
*369 by the
Bendigo Tramways Trams in Bendigo have operated since 1890. They ceased to operate as a means of public transport in 1972 but part of the main network continues to operate today as a tourist attraction. Limited trials have also been made in 2009 with operating ...
, Bendigo, Victoria *373 by the
Tramway Museum Society of Victoria The Tramway Museum Society of Victoria Incorporated (TMSV) owns a large collection of trams from Melbourne, Ballarat, Geelong, Adelaide, and Sydney as well as preserved buses and other work vehicles. History The TMSV was founded in 1962 with ...
Adelaide H Class 373
Tramway Museum Society of Victoria


In popular culture

* 351 and 378 can be seen in the music video to Taiwanese pop singer Amber Fang's 1990 single "Ai qing de gu shi" (Love Story), which was filmed in Adelaide.


Notes


References


External links

{{Adelaide public transport, state-collapsed Adelaide tram vehicles