The trams that made Melbourne: Celebrating 140 years since the city's first cable tram

Hand crafted, magical to those who rode it, and almost forgotten.

But without the arrival of the cable tram 140 years ago, Melbourne would probably not be the tram-loving city it is today.

"They shaped Melbourne and had a big influence on Melbourne, even today," said Matthew Churchward, the senior curator of engineering and transport at Museums Victoria.

"Melbourne's enthusiasm and love of trams goes right back to the cable tram era."

On November 11, 1885, Melbourne launched its first cable tram which ran from Spencer Street in the CBD to Bridge Road in Richmond.

Geoff Brown from the Melbourne Tram Museum said, at its peak in the 1920s, close to 600 cable trams trundled through Melbourne taking people to work, fresh food markets or the MCG.

"Cable trams didn't have motors — they were towed along the streets by an underground cable and to people who first saw it, they were quite amazed," Mr Brown said.

But, in some ways, Melbourne's cable tram network should never have been.

Cable technology was developed for hilly terrain and worked fantastically as public transport in San Francisco.

It was very expensive to install and Melbourne is relatively flat.

Despite that, 1880s leaders decided to invest heavily anyway — perhaps because they did seem 'magical'.

Marvellous Smell-bourne

Melbourne in the 1880s was booming and one of the fastest growing cities in the world.

"There was a term called 'Marvellous Melbourne' at the time, there was all this building, our population doubled nearly in 10 years," Mr Brown said.

"There was a lot of wealth, speculation, investment.

"Although Melbourne was also a city of contrasts. There was a lot of poverty. We also didn't have a sewerage system, so some called us 'Marvellous Smell-bourne'."

Adding to the smell was the city's existing horse drawn cabs and a short-lived horse drawn tram that started operating in 1884, which was the earliest style of tram to run in Melbourne.

But, according to Mr Churchward, horses had a fatal flaw for a city striving to be modern.

"Piles of horse manure in the roadway," he said, with a smile.

"You had the steam and the soot choking up the streets."

That meant 1880s society needed, and was willing to spend big, on this new technology like no other city before or after.

"We took to cable trams with a vengeance. A lot of cities dibbled and dabbled.

"In Melbourne, we said we want to build a decent system and uniform technology."

Government and private sector worked cooperatively to build the cable network, even though electric trams were just around the corner.

Mr Brown said that if Victoria had been looking at trams closer to 1900, cable trams could have been skipped altogether in favour of electric powered trams.

Boom, bust and legacy

Despite the advent of electric trams, Melbourne's cable tram network was a huge success.

"It was clean, it was quiet. It was easier to board than getting on horse-drawn carriages,' Mr Brown said.

"In peak period, there was a tram every 30 seconds or less. A bit better than today.

"A lot of people liked it. The front part was open, except for the roof — there was a sense of freedom."

They travelled at speeds of 13 kilometres per hour at first, and 21 kph at their fastest.

But, while cool and pleasant in summer, the open air section could be hellish in winter, especially for the driver, known as the 'gripman'.

"He had to stand there 12 hours a day working, rain, shine or hail," Mr Brown said.

Cable trams were being replaced by electric versions by the 1900s and probably stayed longer than they should have.

And, while other cities in Australia ripped up tram lines, Melbourne hung on, partly because cables were extremely expensive to dig up.

Mr Churchward said that meant the routes and rhythms that cable trams carved out simply became further ingrained in Melbourne.

"A lot of the main routes in the centre part of the city are originally cable tram routes."

The last cable tram ran in 1940.

Some surviving cable trams remain at museums in Melbourne but their features live on in the interior design of all the styles that came after them.

That includes the 'ding, ding' heard on modern trams. 

In the old cable trams, the bells were run manually by the gripman.

Melbourne once had the largest cable tram network in the world — now it has the largest modern tram network.