Memories Of The Sydney Tram

This fabulous road transport vehicle had it's humble beginnings
in the 1880s, were horses pulled the double-decker trams along
the various streets of Sydney, they moved pretty slow and the
people wanted to move at a much faster pace.
Soon to follow was the steam tram, although a faster alternative
it would cause all sorts of problems, especially the black soot
which came from the smokestack, this would never do.

It was approaching the turn of the century, in the 1900's
along came the cable tram, were the cable ran through a slot in the middle of the lines giving the tram it's available traction, although
a lot faster than the horse and more than a match to a steam tram
in clean street running, it was not until the first of the electric trams came into service, that people were satisfied.

Trams had a marvelous ability to move large numbers of people
from the racetracks and the showgrounds where they had the Royal Easter Show, they were environmentally friendly and the people
loved them, all except the Government and the Oil Companies of the time, they invisioned the future of transportation to be made up of fossil fuel burning cars and buses, yes it would seem there was no
room on the streets for the people's friend, the humble tramcar.

Trams came and went until the 1950's, when plans were made to scrap
Sydney's greatest asset, the trams, when 1960 approached there was
hardly anything left of our great tramway system, and in 1961, Sydneys last two trams made their final run into history, it would appear the Government and Oil Companies had won the battle or so it
seemed until the late 1990's when a move to bring trams back was
acheived and they now run from Central station like their early predecessors, running around Darling Harbor almost like a parody of what they once were, still who knows what role the tram
may have for Sydney's future.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Posted: Dec 2012
About this poem:
A very interesting narrative-poem that reflects Sydney-Australia's history, the Government in later years regretted their mistake as the Middle East fuel embargo appeared in the early 1970s, forcing cars and buses almost off the roads through lack of available fuel, had they had the trams it would have helped emensely as they ran on electricity, had it happened 12 years early the trams may have survived and buses may have been scrapped, their Melbourne counterparts have always had trams, Sydney's last tram ran to La Perouse and souveneir hunters kept parts of the last tram which came back without lights, yes it happened that way as it is now all a part of history. The poems colours are the same as the Sydney Trams colours.

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