C type Adelaide tram

The C type Adelaide tram was a class of 20 drop end, California combination trams built by Duncan & Fraser, Adelaide in 1918 for the Municipal Tramways Trust (MTT). All were delivered in 1918, but as they were receiving second-hand motors from the E type trams, the last did not enter service until September 1919. When the MTT introduced an alpha classification system in 1923, they were designated the C type.^[1][2][3]

This article is about a class of tram that first ran on the street tramways of Adelaide, South Australia in 1918. For an overview of the city's tram types, see Tram types in Adelaide.

C type
C186 at the Tramway Museum, St Kilda in November 2008
Manufacturer	Duncan & Fraser
Assembly	Adelaide
Constructed	1918
Number built	20
Fleet numbers	171-190
Capacity	40
Specifications
Car length	10.36 metres
Width	2.41 metres
Height	3.18 metres
Weight	11.2 tonnes
Traction motors	2 x 50hp General Electric 202s
Current collector(s)	Trolley pole
Bogies	JG Brill Company 21E
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)

Because they were much faster than existing trams, they were nicknamed Desert Golds after a contemporary racehorse. At least 10 were transferred to the isolated Port Adelaide network in 1930, the last returning after the Albert Park line closed in November 1934. The last was withdrawn in 1953.^[2]

Preservation

One has been preserved:

• 186 by the Tramway Museum, St Kilda^[3]

References

1. Destination Paradise. Sydney: Australian Electric Traction Association. 1975. p. 19.
2. "Adelaide's Desert Gold Trams" Trolley Wire issue 237 May 1989 pages 3-10
3. C type tram 186 (1918) Archived 2017-11-04 at the Wayback Machine Tramway Museum, St Kilda