New Plymouth Trams 1916-1954

Tram Days: New Plymouth's public transport in 1923.

People liked trams. Some cities in New Zealand had horse-drawn trams from the 1880s and electric trams replaced them soon after the new century began.

Trams travelled on tracks laid in the roads and there was a time when cars, horses, wagons and trams all shared the same roads.

New Plymouth once had trams. People hopped on in places like Fitzroy, Moturoa and Westown and rocked, rolled and rattled all the way into town. They were good days. Tram travellers really felt as if they were getting somewhere.

Rewind to 1916

Trams have arrived in New Plymouth. What was happening way back then? True or false? You decide.

1. There are a lot less young men in New Zealand than there were in 1914.

2. Sheep farmers are really pleased because Britain will buy all their wool for the next three years.

3. Men between the ages of 19 and 45 don't have to go to war but most do.

4. An unskilled worker earns just over $5 a week (two pounds ten shillings in those days).

5. Wellington is New Zealand's most densely populated province. That means there are more people per acre than anywhere else in New Zealand. Taranaki is the next most densely populated place.

World record trams!

Dunedin was a big tram city. It had more tramlines in proportion to the number of people than any city in the world. Dunedin began with horse-drawn trams and then had mighty engines hauling cable cars up some of the world's steepest city streets. One tramline was the steepest in the world. Look for these things on this site.

Hear a tram!

Listen here to the sound of a tram taking off.

All those in favour say, "Aye"

New Plymouth was the last city in New Zealand to run trams, but why did it take so long to get them?  It might have been a bit like the bus station decision in recent years. Everyone knew it was a good idea but they couldn't agree where to put it or what it should be like.

What if you went back in time to the days when the council had to decide if the city should have trams? Pair up with a classmate and then find another pair. Decide which pair is against the trams and which pair is for them. In pairs, jot down your reasons for or against the trams.

Get together for a council meeting and see which pair has the best reasons. Then, have one vote each – for or against. Would New Plymouth have had trams if you were all on the council?

Are there tram cities now?

There sure are. Melbourne is a famous tram city in Australia. Their trams began about the same time as Dunedin's but they are still running today. When you drive or walk around Melbourne you have to watch out for trams. 498 trams roll along the lines every day. Melbourne has even kept the much loved old trams but they have modern high-tech brakes. This city also has state of the art new trams.  Check them out here.

Word wise?

All the words below appear in this week's story. Decide whether the best meaning is (a) or (b) and then check your answers as you read the story.

1. municipality (a) council or (b) town
2. initially (a) at first or (b) signing the first letters of your name
3. essential (a) vital or (b) quite important
4. briskness (a) low temperatures or (b) liveliness
5. tasteful (a) pleasing to look at or (b) very fancy
6. adherence (a) disobedience or (b) obedience
7. prohibiting (a) forbidding or (b) allowing
8. traverse (a) talk about or ( b) travel over
9. used in earnest (a) used urgently or (b) used for fun
10. installed (a ) accidentally stopped or (b) put in place

Read on!

Begin this week's story by reading down to: "Remember to board on the left hand side."
Read between the lines. Find out about life in these times by looking for clues that will tell you these things.

1. Did New Plymouth's workers get to build their own trams?

2. Were people ready to try new ideas?

3. How did the trams change the town?

4. Were there as many houses in places like Merrilands and Bell Block as there were in Fitzroy and Westown?

5. Where was a popular place of entertainment in those days?

Look here for this week's story.

You know the rules!

Read the next part of the story. It tells you about the tram rules and they were quite strict.

Pick a rule from the story and draw a picture poster that displays this rule. Don't use any words. There are posters like this around today. An example is the "No Smoking" poster - a cigarette with a line through it.

Become a playwright

Fill in the missing lines in this short play to make it read your way. Find four people if you can and then rehearse the play and perform it to the class. You can be the director.

Trams rule!

Mrs Pree: (Boarding the tram) One and two halves to the city please conductor.

Conductor: That will be five pence madam.

Mrs Pree: Five pence conductor? I have never paid more than four pence half-penny. Are you new on this tram young man? You don't seem to know the true fare. Here's four pence half-penny and not another word.

Conductor: One adult and two children now pay five pence madam. The fare has gone up and you have a sticky out hat pin in your hat.

Sally Pree: Thomas won't sit down Mum.

Thomas Pree: I like standing up. I can stand without holding on. Whoops! ( falls over)

Mrs Pree: A sticky out hat pin? What ever do you mean?

Conductor: Yes madam. Rule six. Sticky out hat pins are banned on all trams and might I say madam that your pin is very long and very sharp.

Mrs Pree: Well I never! First you overcharge me by a full half-penny and then you find fault with my hat. Thomas. I say Thomas do sit down dear.

Conductor: Perhaps you could try your hat pin madam.

Sally Pree: (To conductor) My brother boarded this tram from the wrong side.

Conductor: (To Sally) I know. So did your mother.

Sally Pree: I like riding on the trams.

Conductor:

Mrs Pree: Very well young man here is sixpence and I expect a penny change.

Thomas Pree:

Mrs Pree: I have no intention of removing the pin. It is a silly rule and silly rules should not be obeyed.

Conductor:

Thomas Pree: Mum! That man has his fingers on your hat.

Mrs Pree:

Thomas Pree: What happens if you pull this cord?

Sally Pree: That's the emergency cord.

Thomas Pree:

Conductor: Oh look what happened to your very sharp hat pin madam. Dr Solly is a short walk along from this stop. I think you had better hop off here.

Mrs Pree:

Conductor: I'm sorry madam. Rule nine. There will no fare refunds if passengers decide to leave the tram at an earlier stop than first intended. I do hope you enjoyed your short ride madam. Good day.

Dead man control

Read this part of the story to find out all about the dead man control. Work out how this control actually worked. Why did the tram stop when the hands came off the controls? That wouldn't happen with a car. It would keep moving!

Imagine being a passenger on the day the dead man control was used. Pick one of these people and write a letter of complaint to the editor of The Daily News. Take the role of the person you pick so you can describe what happened.

Passengers: An egg salesman, a beekeeper, a horse and coach driver or Mrs Pree from the play above.

Now write a letter in reply from the manager of New Plymouth trams. His letter will give some fine excuses for the tram coming to a sudden stop. Read both your letters out in class.

Are buses better?

Finish the story and think about the time when buses first started to compete with trams.

Pair up with someone and list the advantages of the bus. What if you had the job of designing newspaper ads that aimed to get passengers out of trams and on to your buses. People quite liked the old trams remember. You will have to have a good ad campaign to get them on to a bus.

Design and draw up your ad using ideas from your list. Your ad needs a good headline, a great picture, some top reasons for why people should take the bus and important details like the price of fares. (Don't forget they had pounds, shillings and pence in those days.)

In my day...

The story tells you that New Plymouth once had trolley buses. Check the site below to find out these things:

1. How were they similar to trams?
2. What makes them environmentally friendly?
3. What special new feature do they have today that makes them better than ever?
Here's the site

Forward thinker

You know now that Melbourne kept its trams. Christchurch has restored some of its and they are back on the tram lines. Just look here!

The year is 1953 and you a member of the New Plymouth City Council. What if the big tram vote was coming up and you were the only council member who could see that keeping the trams might be worthwhile?

Perhaps you could see into the future. Jot down the main points you would include in your great tram speech. This is the speech you give to convince all the other councillors that keeping a tram or two may be a good idea.

Find them a job!

List the jobs that would have been lost once the trams stopped running. List the skills the tram workers needed to do each job. Match each tram job with a new job that the redundant tram worker could apply for – one that uses the same sort of skills.

What would they say?

Off Track: Here's tram number 10 on the trolley tracks for the last time.

More than 3000 people turned up to farewell New Plymouth's trams. Print out the photo above and draw speech bubbles to match some of the people that were there on the big night. See if you can capture the mood of the celebrations with the words that you write in your speech bubbles.

Fast forward to 2004

In July it will be 50 years since New Plymouth's trams last ran. To celebrate, come up with a tram plan similar to the Christchurch one. Its plan, remember, has five trams taking passengers on a 2.5-kilometre loop past the interesting attractions of Christchurch.

Melbourne does a similar thing. Its city loop trams are free and run all the time.

For a reminder about what New Plymouth has to offer look here.

For a map to help you plan your tram route, look here. (To enlarge this map click inside the square and then inside the square with the arrows.)

Think about these things while designing your tram plan.
1. The roads the trams will travel on and the total length of the loop.
2. The number of trams you will need.
3. Where the main tram station should be and what facilities the station will need.
4. The price of the fare or will it be free?
5. Will people be able to get on and off your tram along the route?
6. When will your trams run?
7. What sort of trams will you have? Restored ones from the olden days or brand new state of the art trams?