Cable Tram Tracks

A 200 metre stretch of late 19th century cable tram infrastructure was unearthed along Abbotsford Street, North Melbourne, during Melbourne City Council median strip works in May 2007. The intact tracks run in a southerly direction from the junction of Abbotsford and Queensberry Streets. The discovery sparked a great deal of public interest with enthusiasts and locals regularly visiting and taking photographs of the exposed infrastructure.

History of cable trams in Melbourne

The first cable operated tramways were constructed in Melbourne during the 1880s by the Melbourne Tramways Trust. The Melbourne tram network was considered to be the world’s largest and most advanced cable tram system under a single ownership and operated for 55 years. The section of track uncovered along Abbotsford Street is a remnant of the West Melbourne line (opened 18 April 1890) which serviced the municipality of Hotham (North Melbourne). The West Melbourne route travelled along Lonsdale, Spencer and Abbotsford Streets to connect with the main North Melbourne line, at the intersection of Abbotsford Street and Queensberry Street.

The cable winding engine house (built 1890), which is included in the Victorian Heritage Register (H0988), is located at the corner of Abbotsford and Queensberry Streets. It powered the North and West Melbourne cables into the city, and a third, which ran north to Flemington Bridge. Both the North and West Melbourne lines became redundant after the introduction of buses along the West Melbourne route and electrification of the North Melbourne line in 1935.

Abbotsford cable tram tracks

The dig

A team of archaeologists from Matrix Archaeology and Heritage Victoria worked over a weekend in May 2007 to record and map the site’s extent and key features of the exposed track. The site has been covered with asphalt to seal it for protection from weathering and potential disturbance. It is hoped that in the future a management plan and interpretation strategy can be developed for this historically and archaeologically important place, which may enable the site to be conserved, exposed and interpreted.

The Abbotsford Street Cable Tram Track site is of high archaeological and historical significance. It is possibly the last surviving cable tram infrastructure in Australia and remains intact and in its original location.

The site, which includes the tram tracksand engine house is included in the Victoria Heritage Register (H0988)