Electric trams in Auckland

Hi team . . . Well today marks 100 years to the day when electric trams first started operating in Auckland on November 17, 1902 (although public service on the trams did not start until November 24), running on an converted horse tram line up Queen St., Wellesley St. West, Hobson St., Pitt St. to Karangahape Rd. and then to Ponsonby Rd., a line which, from my research, originally opened to horse-drawn trams on August 11, 1884, the Wellesley St. West/Hobson St./Pitt St. section of  which was double-tracked in 1885 and 1886.

Today however is not 100 years to the day when electric trams first started operating in New Zealand, as has been touted by some sections of  the media. That credit goes to Dunedin when they operated the first electric trams in the country on the Maori Hill line on October 23, 1900.

I hear today at MOTAT in Auckland they are going to run Auckland A Class No. 11 of 1902 on the MOTAT-Zoo line to mark the centenary of electric trams in Auckland which will mark the start of a week of celebrations.

 

Wayne Duncan

Foxton