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Story: Public transport

Steam trams

Steam trams

Steam trams arrived in New Zealand cities in the late 1870s, but they did not last long because they were costly to run, polluted the air and scared horses. These locomotives – named ‘Florence’ and ‘Hibernia’ – attached to their passenger trailers, are at the Merryweather steam-tram depot on the corner of Adelaide Road and King Street in Newtown. The photograph was taken on the opening day of the operation of steam trams in Wellington, 24 August 1878.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: PAColl-D-0523

by James Bragge

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Adrian Humphris, Public transport – Horse and steam trams, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/22510/steam-trams (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Adrian Humphris, published 12 April 2010.

Comments

David Welch
12 January 2012
Your comment "Steam trams arrived in New Zealand cities in the late 1870s, but they did not last long" is quite inaccurate. Steam trams had a short life in Dunedin and Wellington but were a major part of Christchurch tramways from 1878 to 1910, continuing in use (mainly for track repair gangs well into the 1930s). There are also many well known photos of steam trams pulling excursion "trains" to Sumner and New Brighton and on charters (Bible cLass groups etc) and to big events, the steam motors towing as many as 8 or 9 fully laden double deck trailers. As with Sydney (one of the few other places to retain steam trams) Christchurch public transport relied heavily on the "excursion" day trip trade to beaches some distance from the main residential areas.