H type Adelaide tram

This article is about a class of tram that first ran on the street tramways of Adelaide, South Australia in 1929. For an overview of the city's tram types, see Tram types in Adelaide.

The H type Adelaide tram was a class of 30 trams built by A Pengelly & Co, Adelaide in 1929 for use on the newly constructed Glenelg tram line. They remained in regular revenue service until replaced by Bombardier Flexity Classic trams in 2006.

H type
H type at Victoria Square in May 2005
Manufacturer	A Pengelly & Co
Built at	Edwardstown
Constructed	1929
Number built	30
Number in service	0
Number preserved	16
Formation	singles or pairs
Fleet numbers	351-380
Capacity	64
Operators	Adelaide Metro
Specifications
Traction system	4 x 60hp Dick, Kerr & Co 1089
Power supply	600 V DC overhead wire
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)

Overview

360 in 2008 at the Tramway Museum, St Kilda

Interior of 367 in 2010

Trams at Moseley Square, Glenelg

The 30 H types (numbers 351 - 380) were built locally by A Pengelly & Co in 1929 to operate the newly converted Glenelg tram line which opened on 14 December 1929. They were also used on the Henley North line from 1935 and through to Kensington Gardens after these lines were through-routed^{[note 1]} in 1952. The H type regularly ran as double sets at busier times. All services were operated by a crew of driver and conductor (driver and two conductors on coupled sets).^[1]

They have many of the characteristics of American interurban streetcars of that period and their heritage ambience has been carefully maintained. Although the H type trams have been through several refurbishment programmes over the years (incorporating more up-to-date features like safety glass, fluorescent lighting and upgraded bogies), they still retain varnished wood and etched glass interiors, a classic tuscan red and cream exterior colour scheme and neither heating nor air-conditioning in the passenger saloons. Between 1952 and 1956 all were repainted silver and carnation red, before being returned to tuscan red from 1971 with the last repainted in 1986.^[2] In 1986, the trolley poles were replaced with pantographs.

In 1968, 366 and 377 were deemed surplus and scrapped. At the time, for operations management reasons all were run in coupled pairs, with an odd-numbered car being coupled to the next even-numbered car. This sometimes required cars to be re-numbered. Thus 353 and 354 were renumbered 377 and 366 to be married with 378 and 365 respectively.^[3]

The H type were the longest rigid-body trams remaining in service in Australia, and the second-longest ever built. They travelled in pairs during peak times, and with the retirement of the W2 trams from Melbourne's network were the oldest passenger trams in service in Australia.^[4]

In November 1990, 378 was fitted out as a restaurant car being repainted royal blue with gold lining.^[5] On 15 July 2000, 372 was used to convey the Olympic flame from Glenelg to Morphettville as part of the 2000 Summer Olympics torch relay.^[6]

Replacement

Most of the H type trams were replaced during 2006 by new Bombardier Flexity Classic trams. However, five H-class (351, 367, 370, 374 and 380) were refurbished in 2000, with the intention of retaining these cars for special weekend and holiday operations.^[7] By 2012, only 351 and 367 remained; the other three were stored at Mitsubishi Motors Australia's Clovelly Park plant.^[8]

In 2012, 351 was restored in tuscan red by Bluebird Rail Operations at Islington Railway Workshops and briefly operated weekend services in August 2013.^{[9][10][11][12]} In December 2013, 352 returned from overhaul by Bluebird Rail Operations painted silver and carnation red.^[13] The only other recorded use of the pair was in February 2015, when they operated a charter.^[14] The final charter run was by 352 in December 2015.^{[citation needed]}

To make room for new Alstom Citadis trams at the Glengowrie depot, in December 2017 both were moved to the Department of Planning, Transport & Infrastructure's Walkley Heights facility.^[15] In 2021 they were donated to the Tramway Museum, St Kilda and transferred there as the sixth and seventh H cars on site.

Preservation

Several have been preserved:

H-class trams preserved in Australia

Class	Number	Location	Comments
H	351	Tramway Museum, St Kilda	On Static Display.
H	352	Tramway Museum, St Kilda	Operational in Regular Traffic.
H	357	Sydney Tramway Museum[16]	Stored at Canberra Railway Museum. Tram may have been sold.
H	358	Sydney Tramway Museum	Out of service, waiting parts.
H	360	Tramway Museum, St Kilda[17]	Operational currently Out of Traffic.
H	361	Bridgewater	Privately Owned, Formerly at Glenelg.
H	362	Tramway Museum, St Kilda	On Static Display.
H	363	Lethbridge, Victoria	Privately Owned.
H	364	Tramway Museum, St Kilda	On Static Display.
H	365	Tramway Museum, St Kilda	Operational in Regular Traffic.
H	366	Woodside, South Australia	Privately Owned.
H	367	Tramway Museum, St Kilda
H	368	Tramway Museum Society of Victoria	Formerly stored at Newport Workshops East Block.
H	369	Bendigo Tramways	Not in use, advertised for sale in 2023.
H	370	???	Withdrawn in 2009.
H	371	Perth Electric Tramway Society	Stored at PETS - Whiteman Park WA
H	372	Perth Electric Tramway Society	Currently under restoration for operation - PETS - Whiteman Park WA
H	373	Tramway Museum Society of Victoria[18]
H	374	Old Tailem Town Pioneer Village	Out by the entrance.
H	375	???	Tram was in existence up until 2006 where it is believed to be scrapped. [19]
H	376	Bridgewater	Privately Owned. Formerly at Glossop School.
H	377	???	Privately Owned, no idea of location.
H	378	Tramway Museum, St Kilda	On Static Display.
H	380	???	Withdrawn in 2009.

In popular culture

• 351 and 378 can be seen in the music video to Taiwanese pop singer Amber Fang's 1990 single "Ai qing de gu shi" (Love Story), which was filmed in Adelaide.

Notes

1. Through-routing: enabling running to the ends of both lines.

References

1. Destination Paradise. Sydney: Australian Electric Traction Association. 1975. pp. 29–30.
2. https://www.sydneytramwaymuseum.com.au/members.old/Trolley_Wire/280%20-%20Trolley%20Wire%20-%20Feb%202000.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
3. "Adelaide" Trolley Wire issue 117 August 1968 page 11
4. Hoadley, David (18 January 1996). "Type H". Archived from the original on 21 March 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2007.
5. "Adelaide's Restaurant Tram" Trolley Wire issue 244 February 1991 page 9-11
6. "Trams and the Olympic Torch Relay" Trolley Wire issue 283 November 2000 page 10
7. "Glenelg Tram Refurbishment Project" Trolley Wire issue 285 May 2001 pages 16-19
8. "Adelaide tram news" Trolley Wire issue 328 February 2012 page 16
9. H-Class tram to return to the Glenelg to Adelaide tramline Adelaide Advertiser 27 July 2013
10. H type trams won't be brought back into service despite successful trial The Australian 15 February 2014
11. "Historic H Class trams will not return to regular operation" Railway Digest April 2014 page 16
12. "Still running…" Track & Signal October 2016 page 103
13. "Here & There" Trolley Wire issue 336 February 2014 page 18
14. "Here & There" Trolley Wire issue 341 May 2015 page 22
15. "Here & There" Trolley Wire issue 352 February 2018 page 19
16. Adelaide Tramways H Type Tramcars Sydney Tramway Museum
17. H type trams 360, 362, 364 & 365Archived 4 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine Tramway Museum, St Kilda
18. Adelaide H Class 373 Tramway Museum Society of Victoria
19. "The GWR Steam Railmotor and Trailer Project".

External links

Media related to H class trams at Wikimedia Commons