My Adelaide Light Rail Vision

[Splashmo]

Trams used to go along both The Parade as well as Magill road. But those were the days when such wide roads were not needed.
For inspiration, here's a map of how things were before the evil car became king...
(Linked because it's large)
http://users.on.net/~c0pkf48/AETM_map-all.jpg

I is want my trams back.

[olliepee]

can someone with more knowledge than me educate me why and who they were all ripped up in the first place?

i wants thems back too.

[monotonehell]

can someone with more knowledge than me educate me why and who they were all ripped up in the first place?

i wants thems back too.

Because cars is better for personal freedom. *cough*

[Nathan]

Wasn't it because buses were the way of the future for public transport?

[Will]

can someone with more knowledge than me educate me why and who they were all ripped up in the first place?

i wants thems back too.

The tram lines were ripped up because due to wartime shortages, the actual tramlines were not maintained, and thus by the 50's the tram network was in a derelict stage and it was decided that it would be cheaper to rip up the tramlines and replace them with buses. Also, back then, trams represented the past, whereas buses were a symbol of the motor age.

[Omicron]

can someone with more knowledge than me educate me why and who they were all ripped up in the first place?

i wants thems back too.

Because cars is better for personal freedom. *cough*

Some sweaty chap sneezing all over you on the tram is fairly personal, I've found.

[Straze]

I just had a look at the old Glenelg train line corridor (the one via Richmond), even the James Congdon Drive section looks wide enough with 2 lanes in each direction and a nice median strip so i am excited and keen on proposing a new tramline that i know you will find interesting and create a bit of debate so here goes. The new Plympton Tramline will run along the former rail corridor which has been almost untouched since the train line was replaced with a bike path, with a bit of work it should be quite easy to construct the tramline.

The Plympton tramline will start outside the Royal Adelaide Hospital and then travel east along North Terrace, south along Pulteney Street then east via Wakefield Street, Grote Street, Sir Donald Bradman Drive then will travel along the median strip of James Congdon Drive when it hits South Road it will then cross to the former railway corridor alignment continuing along the old corridor until where it will terminate at former Plympton Station which will be reconstructed for the new island tram terminus stop.

Tram Stops will be located at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, Rundle Mall East, Hindmarsh Square (south side of Grenfell Street), Wakefield Street outside the Adelaide MFS, Victoria Square, Chinatown, Grote Street (West), Mile End, Mile End South, Richmond (Richmond Road), Marleston (Galway Ave) and Plympton (former train station site).

The new tramline will provide residents and workers near the corridor with fast, frequent, attractive and reliable tram service to and from the City. I recommend the frequency be 15 minutes max wait during the day on weekdays, weekends & public holidays and 30 minutes max wait at night.

Although i have terminated the tramline at Plympton at this stage i will look in to future extension i.e. connecting with the Glenelg tramline or down Marion Road to Flinders University or Marion Shopping Centre.

If you have any questions, suggestions or comments please feel free to post here.

[russo92]

That map is painful to look at. We had it all, we had it!!! Adelaide would be the '10 minute city' if we still had all of it. Almost brings a tear to my eye at how truly great this city COULD have been by now but future future vision and planning and the State Bank crash has really set us back.

Imagine the costs in re-instating every one of those lines on the map which by the way is really interesting, got to get to the museum one day and check it out. Interesting to see the now completely defunct Hendon railway line spur off the grange line. I was thinking for a second, they had an abundance of tram lines everywhere in the city except really the west side, but, that was handled by the grange line so it all worked alright.

[Will409]

That map is painful to look at. We had it all, we had it!!! Adelaide would be the '10 minute city' if we still had all of it.

Just found some footage on youtube put up by the tramway museum which has some footage of the Adelaide system in the 1950s.

[monotonehell]

SPAM!!! (lol)

Adelaide was a different place with all the street cars scraping about, be nice if the car revolution happened in a more PT friendly manner.

[jk1237]

is there anymore footage around will409? Like to see more of what it was like back then

[Will409]

I havn't seen any other Adelaide footage from when the whole system was operational online but I do have the DVD that is being promoted by the tramway museum and I have to say, it is well worth a look. I was actually quite amazed to see how empty the streets were of road traffic, even in peak hour. The DVD cost me $17:00 and is around 22 minutes in length of all colour footage. On the back of the DVD, it lists the lines that are included:

1 - Cheltenham
2 - Prospect
3 - St Peters
4 - Paradise
5 - Magill
6 - Kensington Gardens
7 - Fullarton/Springfield
8 - Mitcham
9 - Col Light Gardens
10 - Wayville West
11 - Henley North
12 - Glenelg

[jk1237]

dvd sounds interesting

ah I was about to write - what are the Hyde Park, Findon, Glen Osmond, North Walkerville, Linden Park, and the other eastern suburbs lines, but do ya mean those are the lines that have footage

[Will409]

If you go to page one, there is a map of the full system posted by Monotonehell showing where they all went. The 12 lines I have listed are all on the DVD.

[Straze]

CITY LOOP TRAMLINE

- The City Loop Tramline route will use the existing track along North Terrace between the West End and King William Street/King William Road intersection, then head east to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, south along East Terrace & Hutt Street, west along South Terrace and back up north along West Terrace to the West End tram stop on North Terrace, Hutt Street and West Terrace the tram will run down the centre of the road along a modified median strip. On South Terrace and East Terrace they will use a shared lane.

- The City Loop tram will use the existing tram stops on North Terrace between West Terrace and the King William Street intersection then the new tram stops will be located close to these intersections - Gawler Place, Frome Street, Grenfell Street, Wakefield Street, Halifax Street, Hutt Road/South Terrace, Pulteney Street, King William Road/Peacock Road, Morphett Street, Sturt Street, Grote Street and Currie Street.

- The City Loop tram service will run at a maximum frequency of around 7 and half minutes during the day and 15 minutes at night. Most of all the service will be free.