The Ballarat Vintage Tramway
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The Ballarat Vintage Tramway
The Ballarat Vintage Tramway is operated by the Ballarat Tramway Museum Inc., formed to keep alive the tramway experience that has otherwise disappeared from the streets of Ballarat.
The Museum's members are volunteers from all walks of life. They spend their own time operating and maintaining the tramway. The 1.3 kilometre track is located in the Botanical Gardens, on the western shore of Lake Wendouree. It was part of the former tramway system which commenced running in 1887 as a horse tramway. The horse tramway was taken over by another company which extended and electrified the routes in 1905. The lines were closed during 1970 and 1971.
The Museum is one of a couple of purely volunteer group in the world operating tramcars in a public road and over a section of original track.
At the depot there is a museum display of photographs and tramway memorabilia for visitors. The tramcar fleet and workshops area can also be inspected.
The rolling stock includes Ballarat Horse Tram No. 1 and ten tramcars which initially ran in Melbourne between 1913 and 1951, plus two acquired directly from Melbourne by the Museum in 1975.
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