Hawthorn Tramways Trust No 32

No 32 is important as it is representative of the Hawthorn Tramways Trust (HTT) and Prahran & Malvern Tramways Trust (PMTT) drop-centre bogie cars, which were early precursors of the iconic Melbourne W class design, significantly influencing the final design. Additionally, it entered tramway service from Hawthorn Depot so has a strong connection with the past of our building, and finally is an example of how obsolete Melbourne tramcars survived through re-use by the regional Victorian tramways of Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo.

HTT No 32, Bendigo, March 2006.

Photograph courtesy of Mal Rowe.

It was built in 1918 for the Hawthorn Tramways Trust (HTT) by Adelaide-based car builders Duncan & Fraser Limited, as the final car of an order for eight cars. This order was the first built for the HTT fitted with compressed air brakes rather than the ‘Newell’ patent electric brake, showing the influence of the second Engineer and Manager of the HTT, Struan Robertson who was an advocate of compressed air brakes.

It is a maximum traction bogie drop-end drop-centre combination design, and is of similar design to two classes of Prahran & Malvern Tramways Trust (PMTT) tramcars built in 1913 and 1914, but it can be easily differentiated from them by having four entrance doorways in the drop centre rather than the PMTT cars’ three doorways. It is also similar to an earlier class of HTT tramcars built in 1916, but the newer trams were fitted with unusual cylindrical roof-mounted destination boxes, rather than the ‘Malvern’ type fitted to the 1916 tramcars.

The maximum traction bogie design was unusual, and developed by the J.G. Brill Company of Philadelphia to bypass the limitations imposed by the large size of early electric traction motors. It was not possible to mount two of these early motors in a bogie suitable for use in tramcars. Each truck consisted of an axle with large wheels (usually of 33 inches diameter) driven by an electric motor, and an undriven axle with small pony wheels (usually of 20 inches diameter), effectively a type of ‘penny farthing’ arrangement. The design of the truck ensured that about 75% of the weight was carried by the large driving wheels, ensuring good traction.

The objective of the maximum traction bogie design was to overcome the tramcar length restrictions forced on designers by use of single trucks. The use of two maximum traction bogies enabled tramcars to be about 50% longer than single truck designs, increasing passenger-carrying capacity.

However, the maximum traction bogie design was not an unalloyed success. The reduced axle load on the pony wheels meant that they were subject to frequent derailments. When this occurred, often the bogies swivelled around to such an extent that the power leads were torn out of the electric motors, necessitating a costly motor rebuild. To minimise the chance of this occurring, chains were attached between the tramcar body and the frame of the bogie, limiting the amount the bogie could swivel.

This tendency for maximum traction bogie tramcars to derail was probably a factor in the fatal accident that occurred on 17 January 1917 when the similar tramcar HTT No 11 derailed when travelling at excessive speed over a set of facing points and overturned.

As electric motor design improved, it became possible to reduce the size of motors while still retaining high power outputs, thus allowing motors to be mounted on each axle of a tramcar bogie. By 1920 no more tramcars [1] were being designed or built for use with maximum traction bogies in Australia, although English designers persisted with maximum traction bogies for at least another ten years.

On take-over of the HTT by the M&MTB in 1920 No 32 was renumbered 138 and classified as a P class tramcar. As built, these tramcars had full width seats in the drop centre, but they were modified in 1924-6 by having a centre aisle cut through, improving the safety of conductors. Previously, when collecting fares, conductors had to swing outside the tram along the running boards, but the increasing level of motor vehicle traffic rendered this practice unsafe. The cylindrical destination boxes were also replaced with the standard M&MTB roof mounted destination boxes. No 138 spent most of its M&MTB life allocated to Hawthorn and Camberwell Depots.

In 1945 this tramcar was sold to the State Electricity Commission of Victoria for use on its Bendigo tramway system, where it was numbered 24. It continued in service there until the system closed in 1972, when it subsequently became part of the tourism-oriented tramway operated by the Bendigo Trust. Under its management the tramcar appeared in a range of liveries, including its former M&MTB green and cream livery as P class 138.

In 2008 this tram was overhauled and painted in HTT livery as No 32 by the Bendigo Trust, and placed on long-term loan for display as part of the collection of the Melbourne Tram Museum @ Hawthorn Depot.

Technical details

Motors:	2 x 65hp (GE 201G)
Controller:	GE K36JR
Trucks:	Brill 22E
Passengers:	44 (seated), 102 (standing)
Weight:	16 tons
Length:	45 feet 4½ inches
Width:	8 feet 7 inches

Bibliography

Brill, D. (2001) History of the J.G. Brill Company, Indiana University Press

Cross, N., Budd, D., and Wilson, R. (1993) Destination City (Fifth Edition), Transit Australia Publishing

Cross, N., Henderson, R. and Kings, K. (1981) Destination City (Fourth Edition), Australian Electric Traction Association

Kings, K.S. and Richardson, J. (1965) Destination Eaglehawk, Traction Publications

Prentice, R. (1966) “Tramway by the River – A Brief History of the Hawthorn Tramways Trust”, Running Journal April 1966, Tramway Museum Society of Victoria

Footnote

[1] There was one more design of maximum traction bogie tramcar built for service in Melbourne after 1920.

In the early 1930s it was planned to replace all the M&MTB maximum traction tramcars of C, E, N and P classes – including No 138 – with CW5 class tramcars. The CW5 class design was premised around the scrapping of the maximum traction tramcars and recycling of their bogies and electric traction equipment. This was planned as a Great Depression economy measure that would enable Preston Workshops to retain the ability to build new trams. Five CW5 class trams (681-685) were built in 1934-35 using this equipment from scrapped ex-PMTT C class tramcars (29 and 31-34).

However, the CW5 tramcars were unsuccessful in traffic and the remainder of the order for thirty-four cars was cancelled, leaving a gap in the M&MTB car roster (686-719). One of the CW5 cars suffered an accident in 1956 and rolled over, replicating the HTT 1917 accident. After this, all five CW5 tramcars were withdrawn and converted to W5 class cars, using bogies and electric traction equipment acquired for the final 30 tramcars that were cancelled from the order for W7 class tramcars.

If not for the unsuccessful nature of the CW5 design and cancellation of the remaining order, No 32 and other pre-M&MTB maximum traction bogie tramcars sold to the SECV would not have survived to the current day.