Tram [No.253 ('Streamliner')]

Maker and role
Auckland Transport Board, Manufacturer
Production date
1940

Object detail

Accession number

1964.157

Maker

Auckland Transport Board

Production period

1940s

Description

Bodywork: Auckland Transport Board's Royal Oak Workshops.
1937 Streamliner Class
Colour: Dark red with grey roof.
Length: 44' 5", width: 8' 0",
Seating capacity: 52
Trucks: EMB L5 of English manufacture,
4' 8½" (1435 mm) gauge
Motors: 4 x Metropolitan Vickers MV109DY @ 35 HP - shunt windings for regenerative control. Metro-Vickers master controllers. Regenerative braking. Last day running before motors changed - 05/01/1950.
No.253 was laid-up at the workshops for 18 months pending conversion – regular maintenance of other trams being looked upon as the priority. MV 109B.W. motors fitted – 13/06/1952 Controllers: General Electric GEK6 with Line Breaker Controller handle switch.

Brief History

Tram No. 253 is a '1937 - Streamliner Class' and was one of six of these trams constructed in the Auckland Transport Board Workshops in Royal Oak. The 1937 Streamliner class were the last trams built for Auckland and were recognisable by the rather bulbous sides and rounded ends, although the class still retained wooden slatted seats and ratchet half-drop windows.

No. 253 was the last of this class to enter service in 1940. As with the other five trams in this class, it featured modern braking systems and was fitted with 27-inch diameter wheels, on what was considered at the time, very modern 4 motor roller-bearing EMB (Electro Mechanical Brake Company of England) bogie trucks. This allowed the body to sit lower to the ground than the older trams with their 33-inch wheels. No. 253 had been chosen as a testbed for a possible modernisation of the Auckland tram fleet. The tram was fitted with four quite powerful electric traction motors which enabled it to achieve some remarkable speeds around Auckland streets. Added to this was a new type of control system that included Regenerative Braking. Very soon after entering service, the tram earned the nick-name of the “Queen Mary” after the ocean liner of the same name, that was braking speed records across the Atlantic at that time.

No. 253 seemed to run mostly on the Herne Bay to Three Kings route, with Victoria Street, College Hill and the ups and downs of Mt Eden Road, perfect to showcase the regenerative braking qualities on the tram. This worked well during the busy peak periods when there were many trams in that section of line to soak up the power being fed into the overhead by 253 when braking. However, it was found that on weekends, with not many trams in service, the back-feed of power went all the way back to the substations, where the mercury-arc rectifiers were not designed to receive power back and it blew out the mercury arcs and caused a power failure.

Tram 253’s last day in service before having it's wings clipped was January 5, 1950. Returning to service after conversion to standard control on June 13, 1952, the Queen Mary now worked just about all the remaining tram routes until each one was converted to trolley bus operation. Like other trams in the MOTAT Collection, this is one that was preserved in Matakohe by the Old Time Transport Preservation League before MOTAT was established at Western Springs. When a working tramline was at MOTAT by 1967, this tram was the Museum’s main workhorse. It has been calculated that 253 had carried more passengers at MOTAT than it did in Auckland streets.

Marks

ATB Logo

Media/Materials

Organic/Vegetal/Wood
Processed Material/Glass
Processed Material/Metal

Other name

Streamliner
Queen Mary

Credit Line

Auckland Transport Board. 1940. Tram [No.253 ('Streamliner')], 1964.157. The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT).

Related resources

https://medium.com/motat/motats-queen-of-the-rails-4a26e8154a42

Related topics

MOTAT’s Queen of the Rails