tramdriver

The opening of the tramway took place on August 10, 1885, when two cars carrying Hon. W. Miles, M.L.A. (Minister for Railways), directors, officials and guests, ran from the bridge to the Exhibition, and then to the Breakfast Creek line. The first car was drawn by “four magnificent roan horses” and although it was derailed it was quickly replaced on the track and reached the Exhibition in 14 minutes. The Telegraph said, “Drivers will have to be warned not to raise their whips too high, as this constitutes a danger to passen-gers travelling on the top.” The Telegraph also said: “The adoption of this new system of traffic marks a new era in our history, and should go to prove that Queensland does not intend to be behind in this very fast age.” When the public service began the Company had 18 cars and 100 horses. Two more cars arrived by the sailing ship “Tyburnia,” in January, 1886. Car depots and stables were built at Light Street, New Farm and Logan Road; and, later, at West End. In February, 1886 a contract was let to Mr. Mus-son to lay double tram tracks across Victoria Bridge, and the first car crossed the river on April 30, 1886. This made a through connection between Breakfast Creek and Woolloongabba, and it commenced to run next day. Waggonettes were installed in February, 1886 to run as “feeders” between the tram terminus at Breakfast Creek Bridge and Hamilton Hotel. These vehicles carried eight passengers each. What a contrast with present-day loading to Hamilton and Ascot! Later the Company bought out certain bus lines and used the vehicles as feeders in other places. Source: www.qocs.org.au/brisbane-tramways-their-history-and-devel...

I did not know there were ambulance trams.

Here is some info from our catalogue, Archives Investigator, about the Railway and Tramways Ambulance Corps: "...The Commissioner for railways established the Railway and Tramways Ambulance Corps in 1885. The purpose of the service was to conduct training for railway staff in first aid techniques at metropolitan and rural centres to ensure that basic medical treatment could be provided to staff and the travelling public. Topics covered by the early classes included anatomy, bandaging, treating of wounds, arresting haemorrhage and transport of the injured and sick. ..." » More here

Thanks for that information. The "More here" link goes to a timed out link, alas.

Sorry! Here is the link to some Ambulance Corps info from our catalogue, Archives Investigator. If the link doesn't work you can do an "Agency" search from here using the keywords "ambulance corps" in the title field. We have also uploaded a Flickr set called Railway Ambulance Corps

OK. The link behind "some Ambulance Corps info" once again is timed out. This seems to be a common problem with links to a variety of online databases. For example, you cannot link to anything in the Australian War Memorial collection, or the National Archives of Australia online collection without the link timing out. Until an insider tells you the work around trick for those two insitutions' online collections, that is. I did as you suggested and used the Agency search with "Ambulance Corps" and found plenty of useful information. Thank you.

Brisbane trams commenced operation in August 1885 by the Metropolitan Investment Company with horse-drawn cars on a fixed track. A decade later a new company formed, the Electric Tramways Company Limited, and they took over the electric parts of the tramways, including the line from Logan Road to the southern end of Victoria Bridge which began in 1887. On 21 June 1887 electric cars commenced and within a year the horse-drawn system became redundant. The narrow streets in Brisbane, especially in the inner city, meant limiting the body width of vehicles. As in many other Australian cities, municipal authorities were attracted to the idea of owning and running tramways, not least as the trams could be powered by government-owned electricity stations, powered by coal. In January 1923 the Brisbane Tramways Trust acquired the private company and by December 1925 the tramways were under the control of the Brisbane City Council, which constructed a large electricity powerhouse at New Farm. The track expanded until 1962 providing a maximum route length of 106 kilometers. Source: www.qhatlas.com.au/where-did-trams-go