Wellington Tramway Museum facts for kids
| Established | 19 December 1965 |
|---|---|
| Location | Queen Elizabeth Park, New Zealand |
| Type | Railway museum |
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The Wellington Tramway Museum is a cool place to visit in Queen Elizabeth Park, on the lower North Island of New Zealand. It's about 45 kilometers from Wellington. This museum is all about old trams! They have been running trams on a special track through the park since 1965. The trams you'll see here are from the 1920s and 1930s. They used to carry people all around Wellington city from 1878 until 1964.
Contents
History of the Museum
The museum has almost 2 kilometers of special track in Queen Elizabeth Park. They also have many trams from the old Wellington tram system. Some of these trams are working and can be ridden. Others are being fixed up or are stored safely.
The museum also owns a tram from Brisbane, Australia. It is currently on loan to another museum in Christchurch. They also have parts of a tram from New Plymouth. The museum also keeps a small collection of old diesel and trolley buses from Wellington and New Plymouth.
From 1969 to 1974, a person named Saul Goldsmith was the president of the Tramway Museum.
When You Can Visit
The museum is open every Saturday and Sunday from 11 AM to 4:30 PM. The last tram ride leaves at 4 PM. It is also open on most public holidays, but not on Christmas Day.
After Christmas, the museum opens every day from December 26th until Wellington Anniversary Day in late January. They also open for some school holidays. You can check their website for these special dates.
When the museum is open, you can ride a historic Wellington electric tram. The ride is almost 4 kilometers long. You can also look at all the cool exhibits inside the museum.
Wellington Trams at the Museum
The museum has many different types of trams. Here is a list of some of them. The colors help you know what condition each tram is in:
| Key: | In Service (you can ride it!) | Under Overhaul/Restoration (being fixed up) | Stored (waiting for its turn to be fixed) | Static Display (you can look at it, but not ride it) | Scrapped (parts were used for other trams) |
|---|
| Fleet Number | Type | Builder | Year Built | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Cable car grip tram | Mark Sinclair, Dunedin | 1901 | This was a cable car used in Wellington from 1902 to 1978. It's on display in the tram barn. It can't run at the museum because its tracks are a different size. |
| 5 | Cable car trailer | Unknown | c.1880s | This trailer was once a horse tram. It was used with cable cars until 1974. It moved to the museum in 2011 and is now being cared for by The Wheelwright Shop. |
| 6 | Cable car trailer | Unknown | c.1880s | This trailer was also a horse tram that became a cable car trailer. It was given to the museum in 1978. It's on display in the tram barn and cannot run on the museum's tracks. |
| 17 | Combination | British Electric Car Company | 1903/4, rebuilt 1911 | This is the oldest Wellington tram still around! It was found in 1986 after being used as a small house. It was restored and returned to the museum in 2018. It is currently being fixed to run again. |
| 82 | Palace | Rouse and Hurrell, Wellington | 1911, rebuilt 1913 | This was the last "Palace-type" tram in New Zealand. It was used for advertising in the 1950s. Its body got too old and was taken apart. Some useful parts were saved. |
| 86 | Palace | Rouse and Hurrell, Wellington | 1911, rebuilt 1913 | This tram's body was found inside a building in 2018. It was thought that tram 82 was the last of its kind. But then tram 86 was found! It is now stored at the museum. |
| 151 | Double saloon (Mark I) | Wellington City Council Tramways Department | 1923 | This tram was given to the museum's early group in 1961. It is used for regular rides at the museum. |
| 159 | Double saloon (Mark I) | Wellington City Council Tramways Department | 1925 | This tram was given to a museum in the USA in 1961. But that museum later gave it to the Wellington Tramway Museum. It is used for regular rides. |
| 185 | Double saloon (Mark II) | Wellington City Council Tramways Department | 1925 | This is the only Mark II Double Saloon tram that was made for hilly routes. It was found on a farm in 1978. It is stored and waiting to be restored. |
| 207 | Double saloon (Mark II) | Wellington City Council Tramways Department | 1929 | This tram was bought by the museum in 1964 when the Wellington tram system closed. It is currently being restored. |
| 235 | "Fiducia" single saloon | Wellington City Council Tramways Department | 1937 | This is the oldest "Fiducia" tram still around. The museum bought five of these trams in 1964. Tram 235 is stored and waiting for restoration. In 2023, it was taken apart to provide parts for other "Fiducia" trams. |
| 238 | "Fiducia" single saloon | Wellington City Council Tramways Department | 1937 | Tram 238 is not running. It is stored and waiting to be restored. |
| 239 | "Fiducia" single saloon | Wellington City Council Tramways Department | 1937/8 | Tram 239 is currently working and used for regular rides. |
| 244 | "Fiducia" single saloon | Wellington City Council Tramways Department | 1939 | This tram was the first to use the last new tramway line in New Zealand in 1940. It was given to the Wellington Tramway Museum in 2021. |
| 250 | "Fiducia" single saloon | Wellington City Council Tramways Department | 1939/40 | Tram 250 was bought for spare parts. Its body was broken up, and its frame was used for track work. Its motors are now kept as spare parts. |
| 260 | "Fiducia" single saloon | Wellington City Council Tramways Department | 1952 | This was the last "Fiducia" tram built. It started service on December 19, 1952. It was fully restored and finished in 2016. It was also the last tram built for a traditional street tram system in New Zealand. It is currently working and used for regular rides. |
Camp Russell and Camp Mackay
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The museum is built on a part of the land where US Marines had camps during World War II. These camps were called Camp Russell and Camp Mackay. The Marines stayed there between 1942 and 1944. In 2012, a special ceremony was held at the museum on Memorial Day. It was a way to remember the US Armed Forces who were in New Zealand during those years. The trams would have been very familiar to the Marines when they visited Wellington.
External links
- Wellington Tramway Museum official website: http://wellingtontrams.org.nz/
