Remuera trams

Remuera Tram 44 at MOTAT 2017

By the 1870s Crowther’s horse-bus service was making two trips from Auckland to Remuera daily, starting at the corner of Remuera and Orakei Roads. Then in February 1886, horse-drawn trams were operating between Auckland and Temperance Terrace (now St Vincent Avenue) off Remuera Road, running from Queen Street via Wellesley Street East, Symonds Street, Khyber Pass Road, and Manukau Road to Newmarket.

Tram terminus corner of Greenlane East and Remuera Road with horse and carriage near Somervell Church 1902

Horse drawn tram from Symonds St,Newmarket, Victoria Ave Remuera 1900s

Remuera and tram 1910 outside L J Keys Remuera Rd and corner of Clonbern Rd.

Remuera tram going up Gittos St Parnell Rise 1910s J Richardson

Remuera panorama with tram on Remuera Rd

Remuera and Mt Victoria from Mt Eden with tram in Remuera Rd 1910s

AK 245 To Meadowbank Graham Stewart Collection

Trams in Remuera Graham Stewart 1952

Remuera Tram Way Extension to Meadowbank 1930

Tram 204 in Victoria Ave 1950s

Tram 159 Victoria Ave Driver Walter Heston Conductor 1910s

Remuera tram outside Thames Hotel in Custom St East

Trams and Howick bus in Victoria Ave 1950s

Tram 212 Remuera Rd 1950s Graham Stewart MOTAT

234 Remuera Rd tram Graham Stewart Collection

Trams on Victoria Ave Remuera 1950s Graham Stewart MOTAT

Trams and buses on Victoria Ave 1952 Graham Stewart MOTAT

Tram Cars in collision near Kelvin Road NZ Herald 14 Dec 1939

Tram 253 turning from Victoria Ave into Remuera Road, Graham Stewart MOTAT

Tram 237 in Victoria Ave Graham Stewart 1950s MOTAT

Tram 224 on Remuera Rd 1950s Graham Stewart MOTAT

Tram 44 at MOTAT 2017

Remuera Tram 44 at MOTAT 2017

Remuera tram looking towards harbour postcard Transpress NZ

Royal Remuera Daddy. ROYAL REMUERA'S RUIN. Daddy Partyridge: Well, and how does the fast tram service affect Remwra? Old Remueraite: Waal, really it's got so beastly democratic, not to say socialistic or communistic, that one is in danger of having his butcher, or baker, living in quite close proximity to one's residence,and rubbing shoulders with one in the ca-ars. (Observer, 06 April 1912)

The service was provided by a private firm, the St Heliers Bay and Northcote Land Company. Horse trams could be hailed by the wave of a hand, walking stick or umbrella, and the conductor would wait for regular clientele.

In 1902 electric tram services started in Auckland. Two years later in 1904, an electric tram service was introduced along Remuera Road to Victoria Avenue. It was so popular, it was extended to Green Lane in 1906 and Upland Road in 1913. Trams cost one penny a section and ran to a regular timetable. From 1913, another tram line ran down Victoria Avenue.

A spate of commercial development around the intersection of Remuera and Upland Roads in the mid-1920s preceded extension of the final leg of the tramline to Meadowbank Road in 1930. Trams were withdrawn in 1956.

Graham Stewart’s photos of trams are in his books at Auckland Libraries:

When trams were trumps in New Zealand: an illustrated history.

Stewart, Graham, 1932-

Published : 1985 | English

The book is divided into three sections. The first illustrates the inception and growth of private enterprise horse, steam, cable, electric and battery tramways. The second brings back some of that past era when trams were part of everyday life and gave people mobility in the days before the ascendancy of the automobile. The third commemorates the nostalgic farewells to vehicles that had endeared themselves to generations.

Remuera trams

When trams were trumps in New Zealand: an illustrated history.

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