When you start to look at State heritage Icons, you need to mention the Glenelg tram.
It has a rich and colourful history so here my attempt and interpretation.
The Glenelg Tram is a 15-kilometre (9.3 mi) light rail line in South Australia running from Hindmarsh, through the Adelaide city centre, to the beach-side suburb of Glenelg. It is Adelaide's only remaining tramway. The service is free between the Adelaide Entertainment Centre in Hindmarsh and South Terrace in the City, and along the entire length of Jetty Road, Glenelg. Apart from short street-running sections in Adelaide city centre and Glenelg, the line has its own reservation, with minimal interference with road traffic. Until January 2006, 1929-vintage
H-class cars provided all services on the Glenelg line, these have been replaced by Flexity Classic and Citadis 302 trams.
In the beginning, the route was built in 1873 by a private company, the Adelaide, Glenelg & Suburban Railway Company Ltd. The original line had a very different character to today’s route.
Municipal Tramways Trust
In 1929 ownership and operation transferred from the SAR to Adelaide’s Municipal Tramways Trust (MTT). Steam trains ceased on 2 April 1929 and the line was closed to be rebuilt to standard gauge, electrified at 600 V dc and converted to tramway operation. The Goodwood flyover was constructed at this time, separating the new tram tracks from the conventional railway. Thirty
H class trams were built for the line by a local manufacturer, A. Pengelley, along the lines of North American interurban cars of that era. The line re-opened on 14 December 1929, with the city terminus reverting to Victoria Square. There were one or two quirks in the earlier years, the most famous being the “horse trams” operated in the 1930s. These were trams specially constructed to carry race horses from stables located along the line to the racecourse at Morphettville. This service was a carry-over from the days of the steam railway, which had also performed this function. Another unusual feature was operation of triple sets of H-class trams in peak hours, and express trams that ran non-stop over a significant portion of the route. In 2006, only one express service remained. H class trams at the Moseley Square terminus circa 2005. The line was the only route to survive the closure of Adelaide’s street tramway network during the 1950s, saved largely by its high proportion of reserved track, which enables fast journey for passengers and minimal interference with road traffic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenelg_Tram
