Trams in Sydney - Reminiscence

Reminiscence

• On Glebe Point Road a small section of the original tram tacks were uncovered during roadworks in late 2009. The City of Sydney have left these exposed to serve as a historical reminder.
• A section of uncovered tramway track is on O'Dea Avenue in Zetland. A single track is visible through the concrete road surface for a few hundred metres. Occasionally other buried sections of track are exposed when roadworks are carried out. For example, at the intersection of Victoria Avenue and Penshurst Street, Chatswood, extensive tram tracks are visible whenever road resurfacing is carried out.
• There is a small section of tram track going in both directions on Lower Fort Street Road in Millers Point.
• There is a small fragment of tram track exposed in the Moore Park grounds near the Sydney Cricket Ground.
• There is a small fragment of tram track exposed on Old South Head Road, Watsons Bay at the top of Heart Break Hill.
• The tracks in Pitt and Castlereagh Streets were asphalted over, and were not removed (except possibly in the mall).
• Several ornate tram shelters still stand, such as at the corner of Park and Elizabeth Streets, City.
• At North Bondi and Bronte, bus shelters are built into small cuttings that were previously tram stops.
• Ornamental rosettes located where overhead wiring span wires were attached can be seen on many older buildings and rock faces - there are seven on a rock wall near the Sydney Opera House at the site of Fort Macquarie Depot.
• Many street corners where trams turned were 'cut-back' to allow space for trams to turn, and subsequently many buildings on such corners still have rounded fronts.
• The abnormally wide median strip in Anzac Parade south of Kingsford once accommodated tram lines.
• When walking up the steps to The Gap at Watsons Bay, there is flat ground in between two sets of steps. This continues for a fair way in both directions, and is the old tram right of way.
• The Ultimo Tram Sheds are now preserved by the Powerhouse Museum.
• Tunnel Portals to Wynyard from the Sydney Harbour Bridge still exist and can be seen from the pedestrian walkway.
• Former location of Wynyard tram platforms is now part of the Wynyard Lane Car Park at the station.
• Millers Point tram tracks were buried by bitumen when the lines were closed, as the line which comprised the stop in millers point where the current buses terminate and return up town, was dug up around 1979-80 and the tram lines were removed and a new road surface laid.

A map of these and other surviving physical remnants has been created. See "Sydney Tramway Remnants Map" in "External Links" below.