The Kalgoorlie tramway network served the

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

n city of

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

from 1902 until 1952.

History

In 1899 English company Kalgoorlie Electric Tramway Limited was granted a concession to build a tramway in

. It shared common ownership with Perth Electric Tramways Limited. Construction commenced in February 1902 with the first section between Kalgoorle and

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...

opening on 20 May 1902.Kalgoorlie Tramways
Perth Electric Tramway Society The network was progressively expanded to operate the following routes by 1905: *between

and

via **Salisbury Road **Federal Road **Boulder Road *within Kalgoorlie to **Outridge Terrace **Lamington Heights via Maritana Street **Collins Street **

Kalgoorlie railway station Kalgoorlie railway station is the most eastern attended station in Western Australia, located at the eastern terminus of the Eastern Goldfields Railway. It serves the city of Kalgoorlie. Beyond Kalgoorlie, the line continues east as the Trans-A ...

**Hannan Street **Kalgoorlie Racecourse **South Kalgoorlie *within Boulder to **Kamballie **Fimiston **Hopkins Street **Boulder Racecourse With the goldfields in decline, some lines closed in the 1920s. After a gold-led revival in the 1930s, the network further contracted in the 1940s. On 31 March 1947 the remainder of the network was taken over by the Eastern Goldfields Transport Board. Tram operations ceased on 10 March 1952.

Rolling stock

The initial rolling stock consisted of fifteen single-truck and ten bogie cars manufactured by

J. G. Brill Company The J.G. Brill Company manufactured streetcars,Young, Andrew D. (1997). ''Veteran & Vintage Transit'', p. 101. St. Louis: Archway Publishing. interurban coaches, motor buses, trolleybuses and railroad cars in the United States for almos ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. The single truck cars were equipped with two 35 hp

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

motors, and the double-truck cars with four motors of the same capacity. Five of the bogie cars were transferred to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

in 1903, with five replacements delivered to Kalgoorlie in 1904. Seven trailer cars were purchased at the same time. In the 1930s an additional eight trams were bodied locally by the Kalgoorlie Electric Tramway. Two of the trams from the network have been preserved by the Perth Electric Tramway Society, at its heritage tramway in

Whiteman Park Whiteman Park is a bushland area located north of Perth, Western Australia. The park is in the suburb of Whiteman, in the Swan Valley in the upper reaches of the Swan River. It encompasses the source of Bennett Brook - an important place o ...

.Tram & Trolleybus Fleet
Perth Electric Tramway Society A third has been preserved 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 ...

References

External links

{{TramsAustralia, state=collapsed City of Kalgoorlie–Boulder Public transport in Western Australia

3 ft 6 in gauge railways in Australia 1902 establishments in Australia 1952 disestablishments in Australia History of rail transport in Western Australia