The West Wallsend Steam Tram Line in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

was an extension of the tram line from

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, w ...

Wallsend, New South Wales Wallsend is a western suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia from Newcastle's central business district. It is part of the City of Newcastle local government area. Origins The Awabakal and Worimi peoples are acknowledged by City of N ...

. Construction of the tram line began in April 1909 and opened for passenger services on 19 December 1910. The route from Newcastle to

West Wallsend West Wallsend is a suburb and small town in the City of Lake Macquarie, Greater Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia. It is near the Sydney-Newcastle Freeway and the western suburbs of Newcastle. History The Awabakal are the traditional p ...

was long and took about one and a half hours. The line was

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

and the tram was powered by a

steam motor A steam motor is a form of steam engine used for light locomotives and light self-propelled motor cars used on railways. The origins of steam motor cars for railways go back to at least the 1850s, if not earlier, as experimental economizations for ...

which hauled two passenger cars or carriages.

History

The tram service went from West Wallsend to Wallsend via Holmesville, Estelville,

Edgeworth Edgeworth may refer to: People * Edgeworth (surname) Places * Edgeworth, Gloucestershire, England * Edgeworth, New South Wales, Australia * Edgeworth, Pennsylvania, USA * Edgeworth Island, Nunavut, Canada * Edgeworthstown, County Longford, Repu ...

and

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...

. During the life of the tram line a couple of derailments occurred, in one of which the tram driver was killed. The last tram service ran on 2 November 1930.

References

Tram transport in Australia City of Lake Macquarie History of Newcastle, New South Wales Rail transport in the Hunter Region Standard gauge railways in Australia {{NewSouthWales-rail-transport-stub

History

See also

References