M-class Melbourne tram

M-class
Manufacturer Duncan & Fraser
Assembly Adelaide
Constructed 1916-20
Number built 17
Fleet numbers 107-116, 183-189
Capacity 38
Specifications
Car length 9.70 metres
Width 2.72 metres
Height 3.25 metres
Wheel diameter 838 mm
Wheelbase 2.29 metres
Weight 12.2 tonnes
Current collection method Trolley pole
Bogies JG Brill Company 21E
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)

The M-class was a class of 17 trams. Built by Duncan & Fraser, Adelaide for the Hawthorn Tramways Trust (HTT) as 1-10, all passed to the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board on 2 February 1920 when it took over the HTT becoming the M-class and being renumbered 107-116.[1]

The Footscray Tramway Trust ordered seven from Duncan & Fraser, however by the time they were delivered in 1920, the trust had also been taken over by the MMTB. They initially entered service from Hawthorn depot in August 1920 numbered 33-39, before being transferred to inaugurate services on the isolated Footscray network in February 1921. They were transferred to Essendon depot in 1923/24 and renumbered 183-189.[1][2]

In 1930, 107-116 were sold to the State Electricity Commission of Victoria with 183-189 following in 1935. Numbers 107, 109, 112, 114, 115, 185, 187 and 188 entered service in Bendigo, 108, 110, 111, 113, 116, 183, 184, 186, and 189 in Ballarat.[1]

Preservation

Eleven have been preserved:

  • 107, 110, 185, 187 and 188 by the Bendigo Trust as 12, 6, 19-21
  • 111, 113 and 116 by the Ballarat Tramway Museum as 26, 28, 27[3][4][5]
  • 111 by the Melbourne Tram Museum, Hawthorn[6]
  • 183 was initially preserved by the Perth Electric Tramway Society as Ballarat number 30, it was sold to the United States in 1980
  • 184 by the Perth Electric Tramway Society as Ballarat number 31[7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Cross, Norman; Budd, Dale; Wilson, Randall (1993). Destination City Melbourne's Electric Trams (5 ed.). Sydney: Transit Publishing Australia. pp. 58, 124. ISBN 0 909459 18 5.
  2. ↑ M Class Vicsig
  3. ↑ No 26 Ballarat Tramway Museum
  4. ↑ No 28 Ballarat Tramway Museum
  5. ↑ No 27 Ballarat Tramway Museum
  6. ↑ Hawthorn Tramways Trust No 8 Melbourne Tram Museum
  7. ↑ Tram & Trollleybus Fleet Perth Electric Tramway Society
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