tramdrivers

Trams held up on Victoria Bridge after a derailment at North Quay, Brisbane, 1940

from State Library of Queensland

• Vesna Verencevic said:

  Some interesting facts about Brisbane's public transport through history: TRAMS AND TRAINS Until 1885 Brisbane was a 'walking city. There was a train from the city to Ipswich in 1875, but this was mainly an appendage to the Darling Downs freight service into Ipswich. A line to Sandgate through Fortitude Valley was primarily a Sandgate service, as the seaside village had been started early by speculators as a watering place for town dwellers. A horse tram service began in 1885, running from North Quay to Exhibition and Breakfast Creek Road. Within the next four years, the service was extended to New Farm, the Bulimba Ferry (Teneriffe), West End, and Woolloongabba. The beginning of an urban railway network was laid down, to Cleveland (1889) and from Corinda to Stanley Street, via Dutton Park (1884). A train journey into South Brisbane from Dutton Park was started in 1891. Between 1881 and 1891 metropolitan Brisbane's population grew from 37,000 to 100,000. The horse-drawn trams were replaced with an electric system in 1897, running from Logan Road to Victoria Bridge. By 1904 there were electric services to Red Hill, Ascot, Kelvin Grove, Clayfield, East Brisbane, Newmarket, and Toowong. Affluent residents of New Farm and the gentlemen's villas along Milton Road, and workers at West End could now catch a tram into town. The concept of greater Brisbane was gaining currency. The metropolitan area had a population of nearly 120,000 in 1901, compared with nearly 29,000 in the Brisbane municipality and 25,500 in South Brisbane. Source: queenslandplaces.com.au/brisbane-and-greater-brisbane