Trams in New Zealand - Rolling Stock

Rolling Stock

The American firms of J.G. Brill Co, Philadelphia and John Stephenson Co, New Jersey supplied many trams, as well as other firms; English, Australian and local. Birney Safety cars were supplied by J.G. Brill Co. to Invercargill (6) and New Plymouth (3) in 1921, though they were too wide for Napier. Gordon Coates, then Minister of Transport was in New Plymouth for a test run on the new trams. When the driver showed how the 'dead man's control' worked by lifting his hand off the controller, the Minister and all were thrown to the floor when it nose dived on its front wheels then slumped back on the track with a shudder.

A distinctive feature of many Australasian trams was the drop-centre, a lowered central section between bogies (wheel-sets), to make passenger access easier by reducing the number of steps required to get inside of the vehicle. The trams made by Boon & Co of Christchurch in 1906–07 for Christchurch may have been the first with this feature; they were referred to as drop-centres or Boon cars. Trams for Christchurch and Wellington built in the 1920s with an enclosed section at each end and an open-sided middle section were also known as Boon cars, but did not have the drop-centre.

Californian combination cars had an enclosed centre section, with open-sided sections at each end. Hong Kong or toast rack (toastrack) cars were open, with the roof supported by a row of stanchions on each side. Most electric trams were single-deck, but Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and initially Dunedin had some open-top double-deck trams. These were popular with courting couples! In the 1930s the Auckland Streamline trams and the Wellington Fiducia trams had access at each end only, with no separate middle section or centre doors.

Trams were standard gauge (4 ft 8 1⁄₂ in/​1,435 mm), except for Wellington and Gisborne, 4 ft (1,219 mm); Dunedin, 4 ft 8 in (1,422 mm); Napier and the Maori Hill (Dunedin) 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm), the New Zealand railway gauge.