Jonesy's Brisbane Tram Treasures: Nov 1964/Jul 1965

8mm film taken by Sydney Tramway Museum member Richard Jones during the latter years of the Brisbane Tramway Network.

[@tigeryoung8611]

A magnificent and important record if an average day 60 years ago. Thank you.

[@carminecalante8682]

I live in carina. And some of the houses that you see alongside the tram line on old Cleveland road in camp hill are still there! Truely fascinating and such an important film for Brisbane’s heritage

[@kerensabirch5214]

My Dad bought special tickets to take us children on the very last tram trip down Coronation Avenue. At the time, we didn't think it a big deal but he said we'd appreciate having done so in the future. I hope he knows how right he was. 🥰

[@matthewberry1738]

Holy crap! You could only faintly recognize some of these place today. Brisbane has become a different animal.

[@w_avor]

"Ever since the removal of the tram, Brisbane's transportation system has never been the same."

[@electro_sykes]

its now better, because we have road tunnels for our cars

[@MS-qd6bm]

We worked hard for what we got back then, people had more respect and we appreciated things a lot more, not like today it's a throw away society.

[@bigrobbie1843]

My dad was a trammie, a conductor in fact, and he alway used to comment about some other event alignment when the flags came out asking the populace to invest in city loans. I Used to enjoy the trammies picnics at the end of the year at bishop island, courtesy of the ferry service ( which were under the same department ), though sometimes we had them at Mowbray park. Dad was stationed at light street in the 50's, then Annerley in the 60's. Yeah, we may all be teary-eyed about their loss, but they did cause huge traffic foul-ups. At least some could have been kept, I agree but the cost of maintaining a small infrastructure was just not viable. That was the mood of the age ".. out with the old, i with the new" Magic shot at Gabba fiveways of a trolley bus then a drop centre, then a dreadnought all with a loco crossing. Spent many an hour there waiting for my turn at the public dentist up the road.

[@JamesFFiT]

But aren’t they just preventing the even worse traffic foul ups if they weren’t there = even more cars causing the foul ups Lol.

[@Locoman3801]

Many Thanks for sharing this great archival footage although it's silent film ; although I wasn't born until 1966 - I'm just loving all of that "nostalgia" from what I missed out on as I've only seen the remnants of the Brisbane or Sydney systems when I was young but luckily I was able to take a ride on a variety of trams when my Dad took us lot to the tramway museum at Loftus back in the 70's & when I was able to go there again in the 90's with my own family in tow , how I wish that they could've kept the main lines in use for a lot longer at least or even kept them in service.

[@electro_sykes]

some routes like to hamilton didn't make any sense, whilst others like Gympie Road should have been kept and upgraded, but clem jones loves cars

[@BigBlueMan118]

@@electro_sykes Hamilton made sense, why do you think it didnt? It would be great to have Hamilton today, you could have taken over the Doomben line or continued it to the Airport.

[@electro_sykes]

@@BigBlueMan118 the routing of it didn't make sense.

[@BigBlueMan118]

@@electro_sykes How would you have done it? Are we talking about the same tram route to Hamilton, the one that just went straight down Kingsford Smith Drive across the Valley into the City?

[@ceebee23]

The loss of trams in Brisbane is still very suspicious... the tram depot fire in particular ... mmmm

[@Isochest]

Corruption is everywhere and shitty Narcissists queue up for the post of fake leader

[@jb-br8bf]

I am genuinely disappointed that the trams were ripped up and removed. considering how many cities are spending billions on building new tram networks we could have been ahead of the curve.

[@electro_sykes]

but brisbanites love cars

[@AnarchyEnsues]

If you want trams, Brisbane needed to build density, instead of suburbia, we needed to turn from a big town into a city, instead we turned into a really really big town.

[@bishthefish]

Car companies and lobbyist wont stand for that m8

[@IntrospectorGeneral]

A lot of the Brisbane tram track is still there buried under new bitumen and do sometimes show up when road works are being done. A couple of hundred metres of track are still visible in the central trackway along Old Cleveland Road through Camp Hill-Carina.

[@HDCAMAN]

Fantastic shots

[@AudioTones67]

Love the section of mobile camerawork on Beaudesert Rd > Evans Rd Salisbury!

[@AndrewCastlemaine]

Ever grateful that Melbourne kept our trams

[@ejandersen2878]

Appreciated seeing the trams again, thank you.

[@jamescolindaley]

i never saw it but i have read about it ...that five ways use to have steam trains on all directions going through there , i can't even imagine that happening without accidents but apparently they use to do rather affectively and just seeing it now with just one steam train was amazing thanks guys ...

[@BigBlueMan118]

Yeah but we arent talking about modern train operations dont forget back then they were only running a few trains per day on many lines

[@thomasburke2683]

There are a couple of clips of trolley buses also in this video. Unfortunately, trolley buses could not operate on the same electrical system as the trams; the trams only needed a single trolley to pickup current, using the steel wheels on steel rails to earth, while trolley buses having rubber tyres, needed a double trolley, for live and neutral wires. In some cities, after tram tracks were lifted, the overhead wiring was converted to a dual system for the operation of trolley buses. This allowed electric traction, zero pollution, with the flexibility of a road bus (eg overtaking parked vehicles).

[@davechristian7543]

Jonesy goes Traming back in time.#pmsl

[@annerowan3647]

I remember the trams. One point of termination was the terminus at sandgate road, Clayfield where the Ohio cafe is and the barn is still there.

[@paulrisson3780]

Brisbane should never have gotten rid of their trams. They are the most popular form of public transport globally. The only reason that Melbourne still has its trams is because of my dad's cousin, Major General Sir Robert Risson. He was head of the tramways board in Victoria. And another thing, did you notice all the Australian made cars. What a time

[@TheOzbob]

Wonderful. Thank you!

[@GaryCameron780]

Is anyone else's OCD bothered by the fact the entrances to the trams are wide open and on some there are people hanging out? LOL

[@thomasburke2683]

It's Queensland, in summer one's OCD would be greater without the open-door ventilation.

[@bevcorbett7839]

We all liked to sit near the door and watch the cars go by. Cars all stopped at the tram stops when ppl got on or off...

[@frederickherring2284]

Used to love goin into town on the drop centres

[@darylcheshire1618]

they were the most modern trams in Australia

[@robertfoster7807]

Australia had 10 times the manufacturing industry back then compared to now

[@leeenfieldsmle]

Some of the footage is 1967, HR Holdens.

[@ix-Xafra]

Shelbyville has a monorail!

[@rodneydrew9117]

it was clem Jones that took them away

[@21stcenturyozman20]

In the late ’60s, did any Brisbane tramlines run close to the kerb? I have a memory of that (possibly false!) somewhere in the CBD.

[@jimbo79914]

Thank You so much for the excellent movie. I could pick some of the places. Questions! How many trams were in Brisbane at its peak? Can you reverse a tram at all without changing to the other pole. You know , maybe a foot? How far was the width a trolley bus could go from far left to far right with out disconnecting?

[@marshalldavis6172]

Hi James, I don't know any of the answers myself but you could try checking out or contacting The Tramways Museum in Ferny Grove in Brisbane. Website is: www.brisbanetramwaymuseum.org/

[@darylcheshire1618]

The Melbourne W class trams have a reverser handle. I think they can be reversed back to a frog. I have seen a tram move with the wrong pole and the pole was bent back. I think the poles are meant to bend or break before the overhead wire comes down. When the pole comes off the wire it hits the cross wires and goes “pok-pok-pok”.

[@perfidiousalbion9975]

the city looked so nice, shame they got rid of the trams and trolley buses

[@electro_sykes]

they did it for more cars and to get rid of the poors

[@again5162]

For 2.3 billion on the Gold Coast the new trams were described as rapid transport, most daily bike commuters make better time depending if you take a few short cuts. A bunch of bikelanes going under major intersections would have been a wiser move it's the perfect place to bike all year and has many great paths already. Also many Olympic level athletes train each morning around Runawaybay and I have seen even 1 of them crash!

[@marcot9634]

A quest for all brisbane tram enthusiasts: wikipedia says that brill and single trucker(not baby dreadnoughs) cars survived into the 50s. Is this real? Does somebody have testimoniances about it?

[@marcot9634]

@@Gunzel14 thanks, however let me ask another question: these cars that were kept as backups kept their brown/beige/red livery or were repainted into Silver livery?

[@chrisgray4239]

Lucky Melbourne for keeping their trams...although Brisbane has an excellent public transport system that is under utilised by a spoilt public for choice

[@electro_sykes]

yeah, cars are great. I feel like elon musk driving to work everyday.

[@carrahulley8484]

FLY TAA

[@dancostello6465]

No need for air conditioning.

[@dezzaofoz]

Brisbane today wall to wall traffic and mass migration!!

[@dansgeld]

consider that Brisbane has such poor public transport, i would never catch a bus

[@electro_sykes]

thats the whole point, they wanted more cars. Cars were seen as pods in the day

[@JamesFFiT]

How would you know if you never use it? Lol

[@JamesFFiT]

We have an amazing busway = soon to be converted to metro, and I never have an issue on our trains! I’m 3 stops and a 9 minute journey from the cbd all without being stuck in traffic and needing to pay / find parking.