Remnants of the Bondi Trams

Remnants of the Bondi Trams
There are remnants of the trams everywhere, once you learn how to look. These pictures are along the Bondi tram routes, except one picture comes from Zetland.

Tracks Tarred Over or Replaced by Cement

	Any time you travel along a road that has bitumen in the middle of the road and concrete at the sides, it's probably an old tram route. It's everywhere in Sydney's inner suburbs. Oxford Street, Paddington outside Victoria Barracks.
	Oxford Street, Paddington, near Glenmore Road.

	Curlewis Street, at Campbell Parade, looking from Gould Street. Note the pale cement in the middle of the road.
	Curlewis Street, at Gould Street, looking away from the beach. More pale cement.

Tram Sheds

Large waiting sheds were erected at many tram stops, especially where there might be a crowd of shoppers, or a lot of people after a sporting event. These waiting sheds are now very rare and are items of major heritage value. They were built for trams not buses. This one is on Bondi Road near Waverley Park.

These days they have been replaced by smaller glass and metal bus shelters, which are far more exposed to the weather.

Much to their credit, Waverley Council have erected several "Heritage Style" bus shelters - a fitting tribute to Bondi's Trams.

This shelter in the city at Hyde Park is a well known landmark.

It's now the bus stop for William Street services at the corner of Park and Elizabeth.

Tracks Visible in the Road

	This is a very rare sight in Sydney, since all the tracks were quickly taken up or tarred over once the trams were taken off. The haste was such that it makes you feel they knew they had made a terrible mistake. This picture, with one track right down the middle of the road, was taken in Zetland.
	Fake tram tracks in Bondi Junction Mall remind us of the real thing.

Roads Crossing Over Tram Tracks

There are not many bridges in Bondi, but this one is famous. It's quite hard to spot and you may have gone past it a million times already.

You can see it from any bus coming up from the beach. It's on your left at 331a Bondi Road.

Here the Bondi Trams ran in a cutting and passed under Bondi Road which, just at that point, is a little steep for fully laden trams.

Bridges Just for Trams

This bridge is still known as the Cutler Footway and it links Paddington to Darlinghurst, crossing over Boundary Street and Barcom Avenue. It was originally used only by trams, with a footway for pedestrians on one side.

The Cutler Footway was built for the trams that ran to Bondi via Bellevue Hill and Birriga Road. After the trams were taken off, the tracks were taken up and a smooth surface for cars added. The 389 bus still follows much of the old tram route including this bridge.

Cut Off Corners

	Trams tracks cannot turn sharply, and this was always a problem in Sydney's narrow streets, many of which were later widened. Here's an example at the Royal Hotel on Bondi Road. The solution was simple:- resume a tiny bit of land from the owner and knock the sharp corner right off.
	These corners are everywhere once you know what to look for. Never imagine that a rounded corner is just good design by the RTA, or that the local council has built a nice left turn lane just for your car. This corner is the most classic case on the the Bondi Tram route. A 381 bus can be seen turning left, exactly where the trams turned left over 50 years ago.
	This 389 bus can be seen turning left, at the spot where the trams turned left over 50 years ago. It's in Paddington and the bus is turning into Macdonald Street.
	Bondi Junction Mall. At Bondi Junction, the Bronte trams turned right and went past the Tea Gardens Hotel and past the Star picture theatre. The Bondi trams continued along Oxford Street to Bondi Road, passing two more picture theatres and the Coronation Dance Hall.
	Museum station is a much loved and quite pleasant building where the road curves around the corner when you turn from Elizabeth Street into Liverpool Street. "Curves", did you say? The Bondi Trams had been going round this corner for 30 years when the train station was built.

Trams in Cuttings

This small park at the south end of Bondi was built by filling in the cutting where the packed trams gradually climbed up the hill to Bondi Junction.

The tram tracks passed under Bondi Road at this point.

Trams in Their Own Reservation

	The northern end of Campbell Parade looking back towards the Swiss Grand Hotel. Note the pale cement in the middle of the road.
	Campbell Parade, just before the North Bondi surf club. The tram reservation has been tarred over and is now a two-hour parking lot.
	Gurner Street at Cascade Street, Paddington. This short piece of road was once a pair of tram tracks reserved for trams. Now there is a bus stop for the 389 bus. Around 1914, several terrace houses were demolished to build the tram tracks round a tight corner and into Hargrave Street. The house in the background is a modern replacement. Originally the trams went straight across and veered right to reach Hargrave Street.

Roads Designed for Trams

	Birriga Road, Bellevue Hill, is a steady climb up from Bondi, with wide sweeping curves. Think trams.
	Whilst the road for cars goes up to the right, the trams used to veer left. These days it's mainly a parking lot opposite a school, but it is still used by buses coming up Birriga Road.
	This is where Queen Street meets Edgecliff Road in Woollahra. Two tram tracks came round the bend and up a gradual hill. It's now a few parking spaces for local residents.

Clusters of Shops

	Little shopping centres sprang up wherever a tram route terminated. Originally the Bondi tram route terminated at Denham Street. It was extended to reach the Bondi Aquarium and Wonderland City (a theme park that overlooked Tamarama), and thence down to the beach, and later on to North Bondi.
	This was the tram terminus with its shops at North Bondi. Several bus routes use it now, but it was built for the Bondi trams in 1929. Check out that art-deco block of flats, one of the best of its period in Sydney.
	North Bondi bus terminus originally had three tram tracks.

Strip Shopping Centres

	With a tram stop every couple of blocks, busy streets gradually because a continuous shopping strip. The saying "Shoot through like a Bondi Tram" originated here in Paddington because, in the peak hour, there were express trams which did not set down in Paddington.
	Looking west near Paddington markets. In truth, the best examples of shopping centres following tram routes are in Melbourne, where huge emporium style buildings still stand next to working tram routes. In Sydney, continual redevelopment and road widening have obliterated much of the old strip-shopping streets.
	However Oxford Street, Paddington and King Street, Newtown and Glebe Point Road all remain as vibrant examples of a strip shopping centre. All along Oxford Street you can spot cases where terrace houses were turned into shops as the "shopping strip" expanded. This example is near Jersey Road.

Overhead Wiring

All the overhead wiring and power cabling is long gone. All the signal boxes, which looked out above the street at major tram junctions (for example Taylor Square and Bondi Junction), were quickly removed.

However the support wires for the live overhead wiring above the tracks were attached directly to buildings with a large anchor point, and sometimes with a decorative rosette. These are now fairly rare along the Bondi tram lines, but occasionally you will spot one. This example is on a block of flats.

Another anchor point with a decorative rosette. This example is on a shop.

What's this then?

Tram Depots

Previously, this was Waverley Tram Depot.

Trams entered and left the depot by a pair of tracks which were close against the York Road fence.

The office building and the Tramways Institute building (meal rooms, staff amenities etc), both near Oxford Street, have been demolished.

It's not easy to picture how the bus depot might have operated as a tram depot. However there are plenty of old photographs to help.

The trams were stored in a large building at the back which now houses buses. There were 17 tracks of trams in the shed, there are now 14 lines of buses in the yard.

There was a large substation at Waverley depot to supply power out to working trams, and this building was roughly in the middle of the site.

Last Updated: Monday 14th December, 2009
All photos taken from October 2009 onwards.
URL: http://www.bondivillage.com/tramrems.htm