Newcastle's Trams - A Castle Collapsed, But Rebuilt (sort of).

[@Blessed2XS]

You are an Australian Gem 🇦🇺 I hope that this KZbin Channel gets the huge following that it deserves!

[@bigm383]

Thanks, Marty, for another excellent video. You must have driven all over Newcastle to video all of that footage. I live in Wallsend and can still see remnants of trams all over the city and suburbs. In fact, if there’s a street called ‘railway street’ ICAN guarantee that it’s part of the tramway. There were also plenty of train tracks belonging to coal mines, particularly through Wallsend and West Wallsend. Anyhoo, a great production, as usual.🥂🚃🚋🚂

[@backtracks.channel]

Thanks. Yes a good day of driving to get all the shots I wanted. I hadn't realised how many former railway lines there were until making this video and starting to look at old maps. Probably worth a video another time. Thanks for watching.

[@dennisforner6090]

A very comprehensive & in-depth history of Newcastle's tram system - I had no idea it spread out so much from the city. Newcastle has a lot going for it - especially great beaches. I recall going to the steelworks on a school excursion many years ago - it was such an integrated part of Newcastle - now no more!

[@backtracks.channel]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@YvonneYoung-t5f]

This is wonderful. I've been sitting at my computer researching something else in Newcastle trying to recover what may be a very faulty memory. I fell down a rabbithole and saw photos of old trams and then decided to find out when the trams ceased running. I was born in Newcastle in 1950 and couldn't remember ever travelling on one although I was very aware of their existence. There were visible tracks everywhere and having family in Wallsend knew about the Terminus. No wonder I couldn't remember them, the last one ran only weeks after I was born. I don't live in Newcastle anymore so this video was a great tour around the city I know so well and invoked many old memories of people long gone and places I've spent time in, and places that changed a great deal over time. There was a time when most people I knew worked at the BHP or associated companies, or the dockyards. I worked in the city in the late 60's and remember how packed Hunter Street was at knock-off time with double decker buses lined up to take everyone home. Very different today. Anyhow, thanks for the memories.

[@backtracks.channel]

Glad you enjoyed it. Lots of great history in Newcastle.

[@cojoes1423]

Excellent video! I wish we could embrace the mixed-use urban development of our past more. Our towns and cities are so car-centric, and it’s not efficient, safe, or as sustainable.

[@Mediawatcher2023]

@Backtracks.Channel Light rail transit (LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit characterized by a combination of tram and rapid transit features. While its rolling stock is similar to a traditional tram, it operates at a higher capacity and speed, and often on an exclusive right-of-way. thats the difference

[@andrewburns9480]

Great work again, Marty! Whereabouts is the preserved (P Class?) tram seen at 11:43?

[@backtracks.channel]

Thanks - and nice way to link the specific part of the video! The tram is in the Newcastle Museum. newcastlemuseum.com.au/home. It is just near the former Civic Railway Station. Free Entry!

[@gregessex1851]

I live about 100m from the new terminus at Newcastle Beach and the old terminus at Parnell Place. I am very impressed with the accuracy in your current photos compared with historic images. Very professional job. I also did some work inside the old depot. Towards the back, they dug a big hole in the sand and buried some of the old trams. At least that is the story told to me by the depot manager.

[@backtracks.channel]

Thanks. What a great part of Newcastle to live in. And you have a Craft Beer Cafe right near by! I like the story. I like to think the 'bones' of old trams still exist in the sand under the new apartment development..

[@gregessex1851]

@@backtracks.channel Yes, that is our local pub, the Grain Store which is on the corner.

[@gregessex1851]

@@backtracks.channel One of the best things about living there, apart from the Ocean Baths when they reopen, is that cycling and walking has become my main form of transportation.

[@bigm383]

@@gregessex1851 Lucky bugger!🍻🍺😀

[@gregessex1851]

@@bigm383 lifestyle choice. Sell the large family home in the burbs for a small apartment in the Eastend.

[@josephphillips9243]

Marty I hope and I would not be suprised to see your videos in a library or other historical trust. Once again magnificent quality.

[@backtracks.channel]

Maybe one day :)

[@ktipuss]

3:26 That is correct. Scott Street beside the railway was double track, and Hunter Street through the shops was single track outbound. The old Stockton Borehole and Glenrock Colliery railway branched off the main line between the former Civic Station and the former Newcastle Station and crossed Hunter Street and the original tram line to run along Burwood Street, then from there through what are now mostly laneways to The Junction at Glebe, where the line split to go to each colliery (hence the name of the suburb "The Junction"). It was operated by 19 Class locos and closed I think in 1967; the tracks remained in place for some years afterwards. When Hunter Street was dug up for the present tram line (er, sorry, "light rail"), the old colliery track at its Hunter Street level crossing were also finally lifted, and they found that the diamond crossings where the original tramlines crossed it were still intact! I understand they have been preserved somewhere.

[@backtracks.channel]

Thanks for the confirmation on the running patterns. While I found maps with the lines of the tramway - I couldn't find ones that showed the running patterns of the trams. Hence I had to just see which way the trams were heading in the photos. Thanks for the additional info on railways - really interesting. Yes I was surprised at how many former colliery lines there were in Newcastle. Hence names like Railway Street in Merewether - and no railway to be seen today. I think there are a few images on line of the Hunter Street crossing - thanks for the explanation - I hadn't quite understood what these were showing.

[@backtracks.channel]

ha, yes re the "tram" vs "light rail" naming.. I didn't want to cause any issues on this.. my policy on the videos is to name the system / lines what they were officially called at the time - right or wrong.. but yes they are all trams to me.

[@jamesmcgowen1769]

I never knew trams existed in Newcastle untill watching this production! Thanks for the video😀

[@prudencepineapple9448]

Kudos to you, Marty! Another fantastic video!

[@metricstormtrooper]

Now if hobart could re open our tram system and star light railn on the existing rail line which has been out of service for ten years.

[@neilforbes416]

The trams and then buses started their outward journey from Parnell Place layover, west along Scott Street, then left turn into Telford Street(which is now no more than a parking area), then a right turn into Hunter Street where they ran through the middle of Pacific Park(two halves of the park lay on the northern side and southern[hospital] side of Hunter Street). From Telford Street to Perkins Street and just beyond, the trams, then buses ran westward as Hunter Street was One Way from Telford Street to just past Perkins Street. Scott Street merged into Hunter Street just east of the intersection with Brown Street at the Wynn's corner.

[@backtracks.channel]

Thanks Neil. Appreciate you sharing that detail. Yes hard to know from looking up the Internet these days.

[@neilforbes416]

11:28 My uncle Dave Forbes worked at the Hamilton Tram Depot and was still there in the mid-70s(when he retired) as a bus depot. The Parnell Place depot was used as a layover for buses as they completed their inward journey to Newcastle before setting off again on the same route, or a different route.

[@Mediawatcher2023]

@beukfirbes416 I do remember that depot back in the late 1980's when i got off at the former Newcastle (The) Station.

[@ThisBloke760]

The new tram could be more useful if they extended it to the John Hunter Hospital servicing several shopping centres along the way including Jesmond and Wallsend

[@warrenhunt5556]

G'day Marty! Just a bloody brilliant presentation on an important piece of Newcastle history. Learnt heaps. Cheers cobber and well done. Hooroo!

[@johnboxxy3432]

Maybe one day the line will be extended to the hospital, along Tudor St with park and ride facilities at Broadmeadow industrial area, go via the stadium and then on through New Lampton. This would put lots of people within walking distance of the tram line and hopefully discourage people from chocking the city and beaches with private cars .

[@gregoryjohn4]

I heard a little while back that one of the six trams in Newcastle is not functioning and has been cannibalised for parts to keep the other five operating. I think that at any one time, there are four trams in operation on the line so that repairs and maintenance can be regularly performed on the out of service trams while not interfering with operations. So if one of the remaining trams also breaks down, they would be in trouble keeping the line operating. Everything that the government does in Newcastle is half baked, on the cheap and unfit for a city the size of Newcastle. There is no forward planning for a metropolis that will soon be approaching 1 million people in the next few decades.

[@roadtonowherefilms]

I'd love to see some extensions of the current LRT system. Newcastle's wide streets make it very doable

[@Alan-zi4or]

What a shame - one vote / I hope they extend the network

[@ktipuss]

Newcastle City Council thought about taking the system over from the NSW Department of Transport, but the vote of Councillors fell just one vote short of taking it over. I'm sure that if the NSW Railways had kept control of NSW's trams, we would still have had the original network in place in both Newcastle and Sydney.

[@gregoryjohn4]

​@ktipuss I think that the Council vote to keep and run the trams was just after the closure of the Network by the government.

[@rhysrail]

I would love to see a Newcastle upon Tyne video, as while the tram system hasn’t reopened we have a metro system that I’d (obviously being from Newcastle) consider probably better

[@Hongaars1969]

Hi Marty. Great discovering this video. I must have a look at all your previous uploads too. Here I go again about where I lived and worked etc…following are several related and unrelated anecdotes For several years from 2009-2017, I frequently worked in Newcastle, often spending overnight in a hotel and working two consecutive days When I first started traveling there, trains from Central (Sydney) terminated at Newcastle station although I would sometimes disembark at Hamilton station. The light rail had just been opened when I stopped working in Newcastle. When time permitted (at the end of a long day of consulting/ working from my hotel room), I walked around central Newcastle. Having now seen this video, I admit to having had no idea just how extensive the network was….once again….WHY WHY WHY rip up existing infrastructure…. At one stage, the company I was contracted to flew me to Newcastle with the seaplane (no longer in operation). I read how 100 years ago, the train travel times from Sydney to Newcastle were faster than they are now. In my opinion, if there was a high speed rail connection between the likes of Wollongong/ Sydney/ Newcastle then the former and latter would be satellite towns/ cities to commute to and from Sydney but I don’t expect that (true) high speed rail shall appear in Australia in my lifetime. Once again, a big thank you Zoltán

[@backtracks.channel]

Thanks Zoltán for watching. And thanks for the share. Yes funny how with all the new technology things don't always get better. I have rode trams in many countries and Sydney's trams feel like some of the slowest - and I know that they are slower than in the 1950s. BTW I think Amsterdam's have to be the some of the fastest I have ridden.

[@Hongaars1969]

@@backtracks.channel and I could go down another tangent re trams and Amsterdam. Ps. Have you travelled the tramline that traverses the entire Belgian coast?! As yet I have not but it’s on my list. PS. I live in Dubrovnik Croatia. There was also a tramline system in place but it too was uplifted and removed in late 60’s/ 70’s. I’ll eventually do more research on it. Cheers Zoltán

[@backtracks.channel]

Thanks for you continued support. And gosh didn't think our channel would reach so far. And agree so many cities / towns ripped up their trams.. and now wish they didn't... but isn't that so for so many things... One good thing is BACKTRACKS has so much content on old trams lines to cover haha...

[@gregoryjohn4]

Lambton was mis-spelt, but I'll forgive that. You did a good job covering the old Newcastle tram network. It was a large network behind Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, and similar in size to Perth. It was a shame that it was lost. Once gone, it will never return. At least to nowhere near the extent that it was until the mid 20th Century. The current tram line was built largely to compensate for the removal of the train line from the CBD, which was truncated back to near where Wickham station used to be. The government promised extension of the tram line to Broadmeadow and, ultimately, a network with perhaps up to six lines. But things move slowly in Newcastle, and there is no sign of the tram extension to Broadmeadow. And I doubt that I will see any new lines in my lifetime. Pretty poor planning for NSW's second city of about 680,000 people.

[@backtracks.channel]

Thanks for the comments.. I do try and get things correct.. just had to rewatch to see where I spelt it wrong.. yes just realised in the map I got NEW LAMBTON... wrong. cheers m

[@jonathancox2907]

Great video but im disgusted with the people at the time for getting rid of the trams.so typicall all because cars n buses were better.what a joke that is.they knew how to wipe out tram history just like the rest od our cities did.the light rail today there is a joke too.bring more lines back,not just one line.it will be better in the long run.😢😢😢

[@JDTrain]

If I was alive in 1950, the network would still be here today.

[@backtracks.channel]

Haha. Yes. Just one vote.

[@chrisinnes2128]

You've only covered one third of the Newcastles that had trams Newcastle under Lyme in England also had trams

[@backtracks.channel]

Thanks for the feedback. That also means if I want to cover off all Newcastle with trams, I now have 100% more videos to make :) I checked a few times to ensure I hadn't missed one when making the video. But yes looks like I missed that one. I just went back now to see how I missed it and realise that the list I was looking only mentioned the Stoke-on-Trent system - but now I see that Newcastle under Lyme was a neighbouring town where the tram went. Thanks again. i will make a note in the video description.

[@neilforbes416]

7:30 It's not "Crowd Ace" Street, it's Croudace Street with the last syllable pronounced "ass".

[@backtracks.channel]

Thanks for the correction. Sounds like when it comes to correctly pronouncing Newcastle Street names I am less of an Ace and more of an Ass? :)

[@neilforbes416]

@@backtracks.channel You have a legitimate excuse as you don't travel here that often. But a TV anchorperson reading regional news stories out of *INSULATED* Canberra to various regional stations *HAS NO EXCUSE AT ALL!* He/She *MUST* know the *CORRECT* pronunciations of place names in the targeted area he/she is covering.

[@Mediawatcher2023]

​@@neilforbes416 thats not always the case

[@JohnHayes-d8b]

Merewether

[@conepiecechronicles]

Anyone for steamed trams?

[@neilforbes416]

No, Marty! *Not* Light Rail! They were, are and always will be *TRAMS!* though these ridiculous new ones that run a mere 2.7 Km from the Wickham interchange east to Pacific Park(wrongly labelled "Newcastle Beach") is a pathetic excuse that has, not an on-board battery, but much worse, a mere *capacitor* to power it between stops where it has to raise its pantograph to recharge. *UTTERLY STUPID!* I've taken to calling this fleet *"Dinky-Toy Trams!*

[@Mediawatcher2023]

Light rail transit (LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit characterized by a combination of tram and rapid transit features. While its rolling stock is similar to a traditional tram, it operates at a higher capacity and speed, and often on an exclusive right-of-way. You have to remember there's a big differnce

[@gregoryjohn4]

The battery trams that were chosen pretty much ensure that there can be no extension. At least not without overhead wire infrastructure.

[@neilforbes416]

@@gregoryjohn4 They're *NOT* batteries on these *dinky-toy* trams, they're *capacitors* that have to be recharged at *EVERY* tram-stop on that pathetic 2.7Km tramway.

[@gregoryjohn4]

@neilforbes416 yeah, well unsuitable for a network of any size, so it's unlikely that the government has any serious plans to expand the line into a network.

[@neilforbes416]

@@gregoryjohn4 Newcastle's inner-city area was *NEVER* suited to trams in the first place. So it was an absolute *BRAIN-FART* to bring them back now.

[@robertcoleman4861]

👍👍👍👍👍