Re: 80th anniversary of suburban electrification

[David Langley <del@ancc.com.au>]

Phil C wrote:

> The First Electric  Tramway  was October 14 1889 Box Hill Melbourne.
> Launceston Tas Followed some time later
> David Bromage <dbromage@omni.com.au> wrote in message
> 3749F4CE.28904E91@omni.com.au">news:3749F4CE.28904E91@omni.com.au...
> John Dennis wrote:
> >
> > On 24 May 1999 08:28:36 GMT, "Roderick Smith" <rodsmith@werple.net.au>
> > wrote:
> >
> > >On Sat.29.5 Melbourne (Victoria, Australia) is celebrating the 80th
> > >anniversary of the introduction of suburban electric services.
> >
> > Not according to all of us.  David Bromage insists that the tram from
> > St Kilda to Brighton was a railway, and hence electric railways in the
> > suburbs existed way before 1919.   :-)
>
> That's not quite what I insisted. There was a private railway from St
> Kilda to Brighton before it was a tramway, owned by one incarnation of
> the Mebourne & Hobson's Bay (United?) Railway Company. If you go to the
> Latrobe Library you can find copies of the timetables in Bradshaw's.

Don't need to go to Bradshaw's. Just look at an earlier posting. The private
railway was the St. Kilda - Windsor - Brighton Railway later being joined to
the main system when the Cremorne - Windsor link opened. It's all been said
before. There was (in case you are inferring same) and steam railway along
the alignment of the later electric tramway.


> However, VR did count its tramways as electric railways.

Probably because the railways were only able to operate railways by law.

David Langley.