MOTAT Live Day Trams 2023

Join me for the MOTAT Live Day Trams 2023 which was sadly a bit damp at the best of times! The day begins with a cavalcade as all the trams leave the lower barns up onto the zone to begin their day.

Baldwin Steam Tram No. 100 is the oldest tram at MOTAT. Built in 1891, it served in Sydney and Whanganui before being saved and donated to the Old Time Transport Preservation League in 1958 and joined MOTAT when it opened in 1964. On this live day it was testing biocoal made from forestry slash at the Scion facility in Rotorua.

B-Class Combination Tram No. 11 is the oldest electric tram at MOTAT, and the first out of the box in Auckland in 1902. It is the oldest electric tram operating in Aotearoa and was originally 1 of 19. It joined MOTAT in 1972 after spending several years as a classroom at the neighbouring Auckland Zoo.

Tram No. 44 is an A-Class Dinghy from 1906, originally 1 of 24. From 1931 to 1964 it lived life as a greenhouse in Royal Oak before being donated to MOTAT and being restored.

No. 47 was the first of the bogie truck Double Deckers from 1906. 6 were ever built and all called Big Ben. This one saw life as a maintenance vehicle in the Hataitai tunnel from 1954 to 1962 when it was donated to MOTAT.

No. 135 is a Mark I Double Saloon tram from 1921 also from Wellington and was 1 of 140. I’m not sure when this one was donated to MOTAT, but it would’ve been in the late 1950s or early 1960s.

The first of the non-kiwis, Tram No. 321 is a 1925 W2 from Melbourne. Built by the Holden Motor Body Builders in Adelaide for the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board. It ran until 1980 and was donated to MOTAT in 1981.

The Streamliners were the last tram design to see service in Auckland. No. 248 is from 1938 and was 1 of 14. It was one of the last 4 trams in the Last Tram Parade in 1956. Her sister, 253, nicknamed “Queen Mary” was the opening tram at MOTAT in December 1967.

No. 893 is the second Melbourne tram running today. A 1944 SW6, it was purchased to operate as a workhorse for MOTAT in 2009, taking the bulk of passenger transportation and carrying all those important prams.

The Fiducias were a fleet of 29 trams to run in Wellington, with No. 257 hitting the road in 1951. Fiducia is Latin for trust, reliance, and assurance. It operated in Wellington until 1964 when the tramway closed, and then 257 with its sister 252 were donated to MOTAT.

Video production Scott Pilkington @spil030 2024

Music made available through the YouTube Music Library.

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