Tram types in Adelaide

Type A

A type tram number 1 as restored to its 1909 condition, March 2009

The first electric trams to be used for public transport in Adelaide were the A class four-wheel "California combination" cars. 'Combination' describing that they provided both 'outside' seating (on cross-benches at each end) and 'inside' seating in the central saloon. Open cross-bench seats were favoured by smokers (and budding young tram enthusiasts), whilst women were expected to sit 'inside'. Official seating capacity was forty passengers (20 in the saloons, 10 each end on the open benches), with a further sixty standing - making a 'crush load' of 100.

Seventy were built between 1908 and 1909 by local coachbuilders Duncan & Fraser, with running gear and electrical equipment was sourced from England and the United States.

They pioneered routes as they opened, including those to Kensington, Marryatville, Maylands, Payneham, Walkerville, North Adelaide, Parkside, Unley and Hyde Park. Later in their careers they were relegated to the quieter routes such as Croydon and Port Adelaide as larger trams became available, and were gradually retired from the 1930s. After an 'Indian Summer' during the 1940s, the last of these trams ran in 1952.

Type A trams were the work-horses of the newly opened lines, comprising seventy of the initial one hundred electric trams built for Adelaide. Capable of up to 22 miles per hour (35 km/h), they proved to be a vast improvement over the horse trams that they replaced. The bodies were made by Duncan & Fraser, who had also built horse tram cars for the Adelaide & Suburban Tramway Company, as well as both horse and electric trams for several different operators in Melbourne, Ballarat, Bendigo, and Geelong.^[10]

All 70 A type trams were originally fitted with Brill Winner style (tip-over) seats in the saloon section, however 20 cars (numbers unknown) swapped their seats with those (Hale Kilburn fixed rattan seats) from 20 C class trams in 1937. These trams were never fitted with air-brakes during their service lives, instead using handbrakes for normal stops and magnetic track brakes for emergencies.^[11]

Ballarat tram 21 (ex Adelaide A type tram 10) as seen preserved in its final condition at the Tramway Museum, St Kilda, 30 November 2008

On 9 March 1909 the first type A was the leading car in the procession for Adelaide's tramway system official opening. From 1917, six A type trams were used on the isolated Port Adelaide system, which closed in 1935. Towards the end of 1936, tram 100 was briefly renumbered 100A as E1 type tram 101 had been temporarily renumbered 100 for the Centenary of South Australian celebrations (more details in the E1 type section); the original numbers of both trams were restored soon after. Most of the A class were stored as surplus to requirements in the 1930s, returning to service in 1941 due to petrol rationing leading to increasing passenger numbers. Fifty-eight were permanently joined in "Bib and Bub" (named after comic characters by May Gibbs) pairs to conserve manpower and used this way until 1950. Although the bib and bub pairs still required a conductor per tram to collect fares, they needed only one driver per pair resulting in a twenty-five percent reduction in labour.^[12] All type As were withdrawn from service by May 1952, with the formerly coupled trams being the last to go. Tram 30 was withdrawn from service three months earlier in February 1952 after sustaining accident damage. Many were sold for use as shacks, although trams 10, 69 and 92 had been sold in 1936 to the State Electricity Commission of Victoria.^[13]

The 58 A type trams that were coupled into the 'Bib and Bub' sets were formed as follows: 1/2, 4/5, 6/12, 8/9, 11/13, 14/16, 17/18, 19/20, 21/23, 22/24, 25/26, 27/28, 29/30, 61/64, 62/65, 66/68, 70/72, 71/74, 73/75, 76/78, 77/79, 80/81, 82/83, 84/86, 85/88, 87/89, 90/91, 94/95, 97/98.^[11]

Type A1

Seventeen B type 'toastrack' trams were rebuilt by Duncan & Fraser (though it is believed that car 45 was rebuilt "in house" by the MTT at Hackney Workshops)^[11] were converted during 1917 (after the A2 conversions)^[14] into A1 type 'California Combination' trams, similar to the A and later C types although retaining straight-sill frames rather than the drop-ends of the A class. Conversion to a five-saloon window combination car was a less costly process than that for the A2 trams, and involved building new saloon bulkheads, but installing windows between the original pillars. The windows ran in tracks adapted from those formerly used by the weather blinds, and the lower pillar sections were clad inside and out, with additional fascia timbers added inside the pillars to finish the job.)^[14] They were converted primarily for the isolated Port Adelaide tram system which was run by the MTT between 1917 and 1935. These trams retained their previous B type numbers (refer to fleet table above). All cars had Hale Kilburn fixed rattan seating in the saloon except for car 44 which had wooden seats running along the sides of the saloon; the original wooden seating was retained for the open ends, and these cars were rated with the same passenger capacity (seated as well as 'crush load') as the A type. A2 type trams were never fitted with air-brakes during their service lives, and instead relied on the handbrake for normal use and magnetic track brakes for emergency use.

Only 7 of these cars were required for service on the Port Adelaide tram system from 1917, and ran in service there until final closure of the system in 1935; the remainder (probably Nos 51-60)^[14] were used on the main system. Several were withdrawn from service after closure and were stored in Port Adelaide depot, then transferred to Hackney Depot/Workshops until they were scrapped. After closure of the Port Adelaide system, a few A1 type trams managed to see quite varied 'inoperable' use by the MTT. Car 44 was used as a first aid room at Hackney Depot between 1946 and 1961. Cars 45, 48 and 52 were used as store rooms at Hackney Workshops to house the spare parts originally ordered for the proposed H1 fleet, a 'service' they finished in 1954. Car 47 was used as a lunch room at Hackney Workshops while car 50 was partly converted into a 'driver instruction' car in the early 1950s. The work involved mounting the body of car 50 onto the underframe and running gear of sprinkler car S2: however, this work was never completed. A few of the A1 type trams from Port Adelaide managed to see further service after the closure of that system when they were transferred to the main system. Like the A class, four A1 type trams were converted into permanently-coupled pairs known as 'Bib and Bub' sets. The trams involved were 55/56 and 57/58. These cars were the last A1 type trams to be withdrawn from service in November 1950 along with the sets of A type trams not converted back into single car operation. They were subsequently scrapped.^[11]

Type A2

The A2 type trams were also converted from B type 'toast rack' trams, early in 1917,^[14] and similarly entered service on the Port Adelaide tram system in 1917. For this conversion, the work was undertaken entirely by the MTT at their Hackney Workshops. Rebuilding involved removing six cross-bench seats and their pillars from the centre of the car, then installing a heavily constructed saloon in their place.^[14] Unlike the A1 type, which had more traditional-looking sides, the A2 type trams had rivetted flat steel plates on the outsides of the saloon. The A2s were easily distinguished by their three large saloon windows (the other Adelaide single-truck combination trams had 5 "square" looking saloon windows). Despite the different body work for the saloon section, the seating and standing capacity for these trams was stated as being the same as the A, A1 and C types - and like those trams, the A2s were never fitted with air-brakes; instead they relied on handbrakes for service stops and magnetic track brakes for emergencies throughout their working lives.

The A2 type were specifically converted for service on the Port Adelaide system and ran there from 1917 until closure of the system in the 1930s, after which they were transferred to Hackney Workshops where they remained until 1946.^[11] During that year, the bodies of 41 and 43 were sold (and eventually found their way to the Fleurieu Peninsula, where they reportedly still remain), however number 42 was kept at Hackney Workshops as storage for advertising material. It remained there in that capacity until it was made available to the Tramway Museum, St Kilda in 1958, for eventual restoration. It has since been stripped and rebuilt back into its original B type 'toast rack' configuration.^[11]

Type B

Restored "Toastrack" tram 42 at the St Kilda Tramway Museum

Along with the seventy A type trams, 30 four-wheel cars, with completely open sides and eventually to become known as toast racks, were also purchased to start the system. Most of these trams were retired by the mid-1930s.

Being open to all weather they were not suitable for the colder times of the year. In 1926/27, twenty were enclosed and styled A1 and A2 type cars and one was converted to assist with track-work. The open cars carried fifty passengers seated and fifty standing for a crush-load of 100, the same as the A type trams.

They were open trams with passengers seated on cross-benches, and no weather protection on the cars' sides.^[10] Duncan & Fraser built them with summer excursions in mind but they had limited utility due to the lack of weather proofing. These trams were never fitted with airbrakes throughout their service lives and instead used a handbrake for normal use and a magnetic track brake for emergency use.

The 'toast-rack' design of the cars made them popular during summer and were used to transport concert-goers to transit authority arranged concerts at Kensington Gardens as well as beach-side suburbs Henley and Semaphore. This arrangement added handsomely to the revenue of the transit authority. Most of these trams were retired by the mid-1930s.

Twenty of the cars were converted to combination trams in 1917 and redesignated as types A1 and A2.^[15] B type 38 was rebuilt in 1929 as a ballast motor for use on the Glenelg line conversion. The rebuild involved removal of the entire body work and most of the end cabins with the trolley pole mounted on a steel pole in the middle of the now all flat deck. All type B, A1 or A2 cars, except for trams 38 and 42, were withdrawn from service in 1936 and scrapped in 1946. Some vehicles (including 42) found other uses around Hackney depot such as store rooms and even as a fuel tank in the case of B 38 which was converted to that use after some years as a ballast motor.^[11][13]

Type E

Twenty of the 1910 seventy-car D type order from A Pengelly & Co were styled as the E type. They were similar to the 'D type trams except that the smoking section was more open and had less protection from the weather. The crossbench seats meant that the conductor had to collect fares from the footboard; like the D type trams, they were rated to carry 54 seated passengers and 100 standing.

Due to public antipathy to imported trams, type E trams were built by JG Brill Company in Philadelphia, United States, then imported in parts and assembled by A Pengelly & Co of Adelaide from 1910 to 1912.^[16] They were partially open trams with passengers sitting on cross bench seats and a closed saloon at one end. As combination trams, the E type could carry 54 seated passengers with a total 'crush load' of 150. In 1918, all 20 E type cars were re-motored with more powerful GE 201 traction motors (rated at 65 hp each) replacing the original GE 202 units (rated at 50 hp each). The original traction motors were used in the construction of the 20 C type 'Desert Gold' cars which were being built at the same time.

Their main use was on the Glen Osmond and St. Peters, also taking picnic parties to Burnside and Magill. During 1936 all twenty E type cars were converted to full saloon and designated type E1. Some survived in regular service until 1958.

The body of E1 tram 118 has been acquired by the Tramway Museum, St. Kilda, and is currently being converted back to its original E type configuration, with the intention of returning it to operational order.^[11][13]

Type E1

Side profile of Type E1 111 in 2009

^[11] When converted from Type E trams, the crossbenches were removed and the saloon extended the entire car length. The original timber saloon seats were transferred to the newly converted saloon section while the original saloon received new upholstered seating. One of the original crossbenches (attached to the motorman's bulkhead) was retained after conversion. As before conversion, these trams were used mainly on the Glen Osmond and St Peters routes. Tram 101 was temporarily renumbered 100, painted in ivory and gold, and used in the 1936 South Australian centenary celebrations.^[13]

Type D

Between 1910 and 1912, fifty bogie cars were built by Adelaide coach builders A Pengelly & Co for the MTT, and were officially known as 'Closed Combination Metropolitan Bogie Cars'. When introduced, they were the largest public transport unit in operation and could carry 154 passengers in total (54 seated and 100 standing). Although similar to E class trams, the D class trams differed in having sliding doors to enclosed each of the bench-seats, to give protection from inclement weather.

Four trams almost identical to Adelaide's D class were built by Duncan & Fraser in 1912 for use in Melbourne, initially by the Prahran & Malvern Tramways Trust, who then sold them to the Hawthorn Tramways Trust in 1916; coincidentally they carried the same fleet numbers, 21 to 24, for both of these operators. In 1920 the Melbourne &Metropolitan Tramways Board became owners of all four cars when they acquired each of the municipal tramway trusts in Melbourne; they became Melbourne's O class trams, and were numbered 127 to 130. By late 1926 the M&MTB had constructed enough standard W class trams to render smaller groups of non-standard cars surplus. As the O class were unpopular in Melbourne, they were amongst the very first cars to be disposed of. Due to their similarity to the Adelaide D class, the Municipal Tramways Trust willingly purchased them in 1926. Joining the operational fleet in early 1927, they became part of the D class, and were re-numbered 191 to 194 (from 128, 130, 127, and 129 respectively).^{[17][18][19][20]}

After injuries to conductors collecting fares while standing on the footboards, a centre isle was cut through the centre bulkhead and four of the six cross-bench seats of these trams in 1934. Cars 191-194 had already been similarly modified in Melbourne prior to their purchase by the MTT, albeit with five of the cross-bench seats being cut-through. With noticeably higher steps than other Adelaide trams, they were unpopular with some passengers.^[15][11]

The D class trams operated in regular service until 1958, and one of the ex-Melbourne cars (number 192) has been preserved in operating condition by the Adelaide tramway museum.

Type C

During World War I, the MTT urgently needed more tramcars due to passenger traffic increases with the line extensions. Twenty were built by Duncan & Fraser and carried 112 passengers, fifty seated and sixty-two standing and were considerably faster than the A type trams they were based on due to being fitted with a larger engine.

They became known as 'bouncing billies' because of their lack of air-brakes and safety concerns. It was because of this that MTT drivers went on strike.

A planned purchase of large trams was delayed by World War I. Type C trams were small combination cars, built in 1918–1919 as an interim measure. They were similar in basic design to the older A type but had a more modern curved roof rather than a clerestory roof. During their construction, the old motors from the E type (General Electric 202 motors) were fitted to these new trams. Rated at 50 hp each compared to the 33 hp units fitted to the A types, these trams were considerably faster.^[11]

Due to their consequent higher speeds they became known as Desert Gold trams, after a New Zealand racehorse that had won races in Australia at the same time. This speed became useful in competition against unlicensed buses in the 1920s, and they were used in peak service until 1952 with the last use for the royal visit of 1954. Trams 181 to 190 inclusive were allocated to the Port Adelaide system for a short period in the 1930s before closure of the system, mainly used on the Port Adelaide - Albert Park line.^[15] During the 1930s, the original Hale Kilburn seating fitted to these trams were replaced with Brill Winner seats taken out of 20 A type trams (numbers unknown).

One of the Type C Trams has found a home at Port Parham and been in the possession of the Jenkin family since the 1950s. Its number was 190. It retains many of the fittings internally. Photo taken and provided by Michael Jenkin. This is an infrared photo.^[21]

Types F and F1

F1 type tram 282 as seen restored at the St Kilda Tramway Museum, May 2008

Eighty-one F type cars were built by A Pengelly & Co and went into service in 1922 with three being built by MTT's own workshops. F type trams were a highly popular design and provided much more space and comfort than the previous designs.

More modern running gear taking up less space meant the car body was lower to the ground making the tram easier to board and alight. F type trams had seating for 60 and standing room for a further 110 standees.

These trams were used all over the network and especially well-suited to carry the large numbers of passengers associated with race meetings, football matches and the showground. They remained in service until the end of the street tramway system in 1958.

The F and later F1 type trams were built between 1921 and 1929 were mostly by A Pengelly & Co with three F1 type trams being built 'in house' by the Municipal Tramways Trust at Hackney Workshops. The F series trams being built from 1921 to 1925 with the F1 series being built from 1925 to 1929. These trams became known as 'Drop Centres' since the centre section of the tram had been lowered in height to ease boarding and alighting. They were the first trams to be fitted with airbrakes in Adelaide and were designed so that six streams of passengers could board or alight on each side of the tram at the same time, with a large capacity and reportedly comfortable ride.^[13] The F and F1 series trams were the most common trams used in Adelaide from their introduction to the closure of the main tram network with a total of 84 of the drop centre trams built for use in Adelaide.^[15] The main difference between the two types lay in the construction of the underframe, with the F types having a combined steel and timber frame construction while the later F1 type having an all-steel underframe.^[11] There were other variations in the fleet which will be detailed later on.

With such a number of trams in service, it should come as no surprise that a number of detail variations occurred in the fleet, only the main variations are listed here. In 1929, cars 274 and 275 were fitted with additional air brake pipes for use in hauling the horse transport cars between the City and Morphettville Racecourse on the Glenelg line. These airpipes were later removed, most possibly after the suspension of the horse transport service in 1936. As originally built, all the drop centre trams were built with General Electric PC5L2 and later PC5K2 control equipment (except for nos 251 - 261 which had English Electric control equipment). However, in 1952–1953, cars 259, 260 and 261 had their English Electric control gear replaced with General Electric control gear. At the same time, 251 - 258 and 264 had English Electric controllers of a different type fitted. The original control gear from 264 ended up in the solitary H1 car, 381.^[11]

While all 84 cars had completely timber seats in the drop centre section, the enclosed saloons had several different styles of seating. Cars 201-261 all had rattan seating in the saloons except for 250. All these cars except for 250 had imitation leather seating fitted after 1946. 250 and 262 had moquette seating. 263-284 had wooden seating fitted.^[11]

From October 1953, a number of F and F1 type trams were repainted from Tuscan and Cream livery into Carnation Red and Silver. The trams repainted were 201-204, 213, 216, 218-219, 224-225, 227-231, 246, 248, 254, 256-257, 260-261, 264-265, 267-269, 271-279, 283 and 284. Cars 224, 255 and 262 all had minor variations to the livery.^[11] Most (though not all) of the repainted cars had an emergency exit door fitted behind the motorman's compartment reducing the seating capacity in these trams from 60 to 56. A few un repainted cars were also fitted with these doors.

Cars 201-262 had been fitted with Brill 77E2 type trucks and 263-284 had been fitted with cast Commonwealth Steel type trucks. However, by the final year of operations in 1958, F type cars 234, 245 and 249 had been retrucked with the Commonwealth Steel type trucks taken off of 266, 284 and 263, the retrucked Fs taking the F1 numbers in that order. By this time, most of the original F type cars had been withdrawn from service. The F1 type tram was the last type of tram to see service on the main Adelaide street tramway system with F1 269 making the final run to Cheltenham and return on 22 November 1958, Adelaide tramway operations ceasing that night with the exception of the Glenelg line.^[11]

Type G

G type 'Birney' tram 303, May 2008 at the Adelaide Tram Museum

Former Port Adelaide 'Birney' tram 301 (now Bendigo Tramways 30) running along Pall Mall, Bendigo

Four G types were built by JG Brill of Philadelphia and assembled at the MTT workshops in Adelaide in 1935.

They operated from Port Adelaide to Semaphore, Largs, Rosewater and Albert Park and did not connect with the main tram system. They were also used in Geelong and Bendigo where they continued service until 1972 and remain on there as a tourism service. The G type trams were significantly smaller and lighter than other trams carrying only 50 passengers.

As a means of more economic operation over the lightly patronized Port Adelaide system, four 'Birney Safety Cars' were constructed by J.G. Brill and were imported complete by the Municipal Tramways Trust. Numbered 301 to 304, this small class of four trams were built with features such as folding doors and steps as well as being the only trams in Adelaide able to be operated by one man (thereby doing away with the need for a conductor). These were the only trams built new for the Port Adelaide system, the other trams in the fleet allocated to Port Adelaide being either transferred from the main system or converted from the B type toast rack trams (into A1 and A2 types). Until the arrival of the Flexity and Citadis trams over 80 years later, these were also the only trams in Adelaide to be entirely constructed overseas. Introduced into service from December 1925, these four trams only ran on the Port Adelaide system for 10 years before the system was completely closed in July 1935.

In January and February 1936, the four were sold to the State Electricity Commission of Victoria for use in Geelong and were renumbered 27 to 30 in the SEC Geelong fleet and joined two other Birney trams acquired from new for use in Geelong making 6 in all there. In 1947, the four former Adelaide 'Birney' trams were transferred to Bendigo to operate on the tramway system there, also owned by the State Electricity Commission. The two Geelong 'Birney' cars were also transferred to Bendigo arriving in 1949. While in service in Bendigo, these trams ran in revenue service until 1972 when the system was closed down, with part of the track retained by the Bendigo Trust for tourist operation. All 6 of the 'Birney' trams that made it to Victoria have all been preserved in operational condition with former Adelaide tram 303 returning to South Australia in 1976.

^[11]

Type H

H type tram at the Adelaide Tram Museum

H types 358 and 357 at Brighton Road, June 2006. These two cars have since been preserved at the Sydney Tramway Museum at Loftus, New South Wales

H 360 and H 378 at the St Kilda Tramway Museum, November 2008

Refurbished H type trams 370 and 380

Type H tram 351 at Adelaide terminus in the early 1980s

Thirty large 'inter-urban' cars were delivered in 1929 by A Pengelly & Co for use on the new Glenelg line and served for over seventy-five years.

They became known as 'bay trams' and were very popular. They were designed to run in two or three car sets. By the mid-1930s they only ran in one or two car sets. H type trams ran until January 2006. Five were refurbished and continue to run on the Glenelg line as a tourism attraction.

Known as Glenelg trams, The Hs are a long rigid body tram that is end loading with a full length saloon and were built by A Pengelly & Co in 1929 specifically for the Glenelg line, they commenced operations on 14 December 1929. Incredibly, 4 of the cars remained in limited heritage service on the Glenelg line at the start of 2009, nearly 80 years after they were introduced. They also saw service on the Henley North, Kensington Gardens and Cheltenham routes until their closure.^[13] They were built with Tomlinson automatic couplers and were also fitted with General Electric PC5L2 control gear and could be operated in multiple, either in pairs or until 1937, as triple car sets. After a few years in service, they were also fitted with air horns. Although specifically designed for use on the Glenelg line, the H type trams saw service from 1935 on the Henley North line and then on the Kensington line from 1952.^[22]

A total of 30 H cars were built for service on the Glenelg line with the first cars (351 and 352) being run under trial for the first time in October 1929, these two cars opening the line on 14 December 1929. Until February 1937, some services on the line were run with triple-car sets until an accident at Grovene (now called Glengowrie) which saw the practice discontinued.

During the 1930s, 5 H type were experimentally fitted with pantographs of 5 different patterns. 376 was fitted with a Simens Schukert pantograph, 377 was fitted with a Fischer bow collector, 378 was fitted with an ASEA pantograph, 379 was fitted with a Metropolitan Vickers pantograph and 380 was fitted with an English Electric pantograph. The pantographs on 376, 379 and 380 were all fitted on a small pantograph tower while 377 and 378 had their pantographs mounted on the roof itself. During the experiments, the pantographs were only used on the reserve track section which at the time was fitted with a railway-like catenary overhead system rather than the traditional tramway-style overhead used on the rest of the system. Because the overhead at the time was not staggered to suit pantograph operation, the pantographs fitted all suffered from uneven wear and as a result the experiment ceased.^[11] Ironically, all the surviving H type trams were fitted with pantographs 50 years later in October 1986.

The next major round of changes to the H types occurred in the 1950s, starting in c.1952^[23] with a repainting of most of the fleet from the traditional Tuscan and Cream to a new Carnation Red and Silver livery with an Ashbury Green interior which had been completed by the end of the decade. The first H types to be withdrawn from service were also taken out of service during the time (352 in December 1957 and the first 380 in May 1959. 351 was renumbered 380 at this time). This was the first in a series of renumberings of the H cars, designed to keep a consecutively numbered fleet for rostering purposes (i.e. 363-364 or 371-372). A table of the renumbered cars is listed further down. During 1956, the entire fleet had their original Dick, Kerr & Co motors replaced with English Electric motors originally intended for the H1 fleet. In 1968, 366 and 377 (original numbers) were scrapped with cars 353 and 354 renumbered to replace them (refer to renumbering table further below) with the result that the H type fleet had been reduced to 26 cars.

From 1971 onwards, cars 351, 357, 358, (2nd)363, (2nd)366, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371, 372, 373, 374, 375, 376, (2nd)377, 379 and 380 were all refurbished and repainted into their original Tuscan and Cream livery except for 363 and 364 which originally entered service after refurbishment in an experimental Carnation Red and Grey livery in 1971. These two were repainted into Tuscan and Cream in 1973. Most of these cars had their original varnished timber interior restored too, although there were a few variations in the refurbishment program. 377 was also repainted into a one off black and gold livery to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Glenelg line in 1979. 377 retained this livery for a few years afterwards. 380 was also briefly repainted in 1979 into a special livery by a number of Glenelg area students as part of the SA schools 'Come out' festival of that year.

During the 1980s, most of the remaining unrefurbished cars (355, 356, 360, 362 and 378) were disposed of, bringing the operating fleet down to 21 cars. In October 1986, along with the opening of a new tram depot at Glengowrie, 369 became the first car to be fitted with a pantograph on a permanent basis after the overhead had been altered to make the wire 'zig sag' to minimise wear on the pantograph. All the other cars in the fleet were subsequently fitted with pantographs and roller bearings on the trucks replacing the old plain bearings. For a short period after installation of pantographs, a trolley pole was retained at one end 'just in case' but was finally removed soon afterwards. In 1987, the last of the silver trams (361) was refurbished under a new program which introduced a few more modern features to the cars. Eventually, 10 H types were refurbished under the new program (357, 358, 361, 364, 365, 368, 369, 371, 372 and 373).^[23]

Car 378, which had previously been disposed of in 1986, was repurchased and refurbished for use as a restaurant tram and was launched on 1 November 1990 as the 'Adelaide Tram Car Restaurant', run by a private operator. It was not successful and the tram was later purchased by TransAdelaide and renamed 'Grand Lady'. As with the private operator, the operation was not a success under TransAdelaide. The tram was retained but very rarely used^[24] and was last seen on the mainline in 2001.^[25] For some years it was stored at Glengowrie depot, then in 2006 it was sold to the South Australian History Trust, which made it available to the Tramway Museum, St Kilda, where it has been run on occasions.

In 2001 and 2002, cars 351, 367, 370, 374 and 380 were again refurbished to the extent of a complete rebuild. New modern chopper controls were added replacing the original GE PC5L2 control gear. From 2007 the five trams have seen service for weekend, public holiday and charter trips.^[15] With an in service operational life of 80 years, these five trams are the oldest public transport vehicles still in service in Australia (although 374 hasn't been in service since 2004 after sustaining some underframe damage). With the purchase of replacement trams, sixteen Type H trams were disposed of with some sold, for a total of $65,000, and the remainder donated. They were destined for uses as varied as a restaurant, an attraction at a bed and breakfast boarding house and a tourism display at Glenelg, Adelaide.^[26]

^[11]

Type H1

Prototype, and only, Type H1 tram no. 381, on an enthusiast tour of 1 April 1956, was an uncommon visitor at the terminus of the Colonel Light Gardens line.

Until the arrival of the Flexity trams in 2005, H1 type car 381 was the most modern tram in Adelaide.Originally part of an order for 40 H1 type cars, 381 was just completed by JA Lawton & Sons of Adelaide when the reconstitution of the MTT caused cancellation of the remaining thirty-nine cars.^[13]> A partly constructed 382 was scrapped before it was completed as a result of the change in policy.^[11] Like the H type upon which 381 was based on, it was fitted with PC5L2 type controllers although in this case, they were taken out of F1 type tram 264 (more details to be found in the F1 type section). Originally fitted with a standard link and pin type coupler, 381 was later fitted with a Tomlinson automatic style coupler (although it was not able to operate in multiple with the H type). Power operated doors were also fitted.

381 ran its first trial run on 22 January 1953 and entered service the following month. For most of its short operational life, 381 was used on the Kensington and Henley North lines (which were through routed the same year 381 was built).^[27] 381 was also the last tram to operate over the Kensington line before closure in February 1957. It was withdrawn from revenue service in December 1957 when it was stored at Hackney Depot/Workshops. In June 1958, it was then moved to City Depot on Angas Street. In May 1959, it was again moved for further storage, this time to the permanent way depot at Maylands where it remained until 1965 when it was donated to the Tramway Museum, St Kilda.^[11] As a result, it has spent many more years in preservation then it did in revenue service.^[11]

Flexity Classic / Type 100 / Type I

Flexity Classic tram

Beginning in January 2006, 30 metres (98 ft 5 in) long, articulated, low-floor Flexity Classic Light Rail vehicles, built by Bombardier in Germany, began operation. Eleven trams were ordered at a total cost of $58 million to replace most of the then seventy-seven-year-old Type H trams on the Glenelg line.^[28] Bombardier won the supply tender against one other bidder, receiving an initial order for nine trams in September 2004.,^[29] another two Flexity trams were ordered for use on the Victoria Square to City West extension, opened in October 2007. Several of the earlier Flexity cars were unloaded at Outer Harbor in Adelaide while the later deliveries were shipped to Melbourne and offloaded there before being road hauled to Adelaide. Flexity 111 was noted running evaluation trips around parts of the Melbourne tram network before delivery to Adelaide.^[30] Station platforms were lowered to match the new trams lower floors, and some of the track and sleepers replaced to provide a smoother ride. There have been problems with the tram's airconditioning systems, during Adelaide's very hot summer weather, but these were rectified with engineering changes to the trams.^[31]

Classification terminologies have been varied. The trams are generally referred to as Flexities or Flexity type by TransAdelaide, although they are also referred to as Type 100 (from their fleet numbers) or the Type I, following on from the MTT classification system. Other classifications deriving from designations in use on other systems with Flexity Classic trams, including S Class (VGF, Frankfurt), M06 (Norrköping) and NGT8 (Dortmund), have also been used.

By 2008 the state government was considering lengthening the trams, instead of purchasing more, to accommodate increasing passenger numbers.^[32] In September 2008, an order was placed with Bombardier for an additional 4 Flexity Classic trams to be used on the City West to Adelaide Entertainment Centre section. These have been numbered 112–115. Despite being a fairly new tram, already there have been a couple of variations, most notably the constantly changing 'all-over advertising' that changes the appearance of the tram quite considerably. Vehicle 102 has also had traditional leather hand holds installed instead of rubber hand holds which are fitted to the rest of the fleet.

Citadis 302 / Type 200

The newest trams in Adelaide are six Alstom Citadis model 302 trams which were purchased second hand from the Spanish city of Madrid. Compared to the Flexity Classic trams already in service, they have a higher 'crush loading' (186 compared with 115) but 10 fewer seats. They are also 2 metres longer and are formed of five articulated sections rather than three.

Originally built as part of an order for seventy Alstom Citadis trams by Spanish operator Metro Ligero for service in Madrid, six Citadis trams were acquired by TransAdelaide for service on the Glenelg line as well as to provide services for the new line to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Although originally planned to be used on the Madrid network, a subsequent scaling down of plans there resulted in a number of Citadis trams being placed into storage upon arrival in Madrid and never turned a wheel in service. The six trams bought by TransAdelaide came out of this stock. Five of the purchased trams had never run in Madrid and one (MetroLigero 169) saw just a couple of weeks service as a demonstration tram in Stockholm (demonstrated by the Manufacturer Alstom).^[33] The six trams purchased were modified at the Preston Workshops in Melbourne before arriving in Adelaide. They were renumbered from MetroLigero numbers 165–170 to the TransAdelaide 200 series with vehicle numbers 201–206.^[34] In December 2017 a further three arrived.^[35]

Former Madrid Citadis tram 167 (now renumbered 204 in the Adelaide numbering system) undergoing its first Adelaide test run in the early hours of 17 November 2009. The location is Brighton Road tram stop, 2 km short of the terminus of Glenelg.