Brisbane Tramway Museum

Okay, so I'm here at the Brisbane Tramway Museum in Ferny Grove, and it's pretty cool. They've got a whole bunch of old trams and even some trolleybuses that used to run in Brisbane, mostly from 1897 until the system closed in 1969.

The whole thing started because the Brisbane City Council was shutting down the tram system, so the Brisbane Tramway Museum Society got together in 1968. They got this site in 1972, and the museum officially opened in June 1980.

Right now, they have 25 trams. Almost all of them, 24 to be exact, were part of Brisbane's tram network. There's even one from Sydney, which is neat. And check this out, they also have two single-deck Brisbane trolleybuses. They're both Sunbeam models from England, with bodies built in Brisbane. You can see them on static display.

What's really cool is that some of the trams are actually operational on a short, 250-meter demonstration track. The oldest one they run is No. 47, a "California Combination" tram from 1901. The newest one they can run is No. 554, a "Four Motor" tram built after the Paddington tram depot fire, which started service in 1964. They also operate a "Toastrack" tram, a "Baby Dreadnought," a "Dropcentre," and another "Four Motor" tram. They run these on Sunday afternoons, weather permitting.

Beyond the trams, they have some support vehicles that were all from the old Brisbane City Council Tramways Department, like a tower wagon for fixing overhead wires and even a Scammell breakdown truck that was a WWII artillery tow truck.

Inside, there's a huge collection of photos about Brisbane's tramway history, plus old tickets and uniforms. Apparently, the drivers and conductors used to wear these really unusual "Foreign legion" caps, or kepis, until 1961, and inspectors wore them even longer.

They've even incorporated parts of the old system into the museum itself. The depot bays here are from the former Ipswich Road tram depot, and their direct current substation uses equipment salvaged from old Brisbane tramway substations. There's even an elevated signal cabin that used to be at Brunswick and Wickham Streets in Fortitude Valley. And the track itself is from various old Brisbane locations, laid in solid concrete just like the original practice. Oh, and look, there's a unique three-way set of points outside the main depot shed that came from the Light Street depot.