Launceston Tramway Museum

01/10/2026

The advent of trams in Launceston led to contributions to the lawn bowling scene. An article from the Examiner (21/4/1910) would celebrate the trams positive impact for the sport:
“Next season trams will be running past all the greens in Launceston, and no player will be inconvenienced by distance”.

Even during planning for the tramway, access to bowling greens was one of the considerations taken into direct account when designing routes and directly promoted by the municipal government during the Tramway plebesite.

Launceston’s tramway had good coverage of the city’s bowl greens which allowed more people than ever to enjoy the sport and it supported competition with players from across the country. At times special trams for visiting teams would be arranged.

One of the most popular tickets at Launceston's tramway were its all-day tickets, extensively used by tourists to the city. It was promoted by the Launceston Municipal Tramways not just for sightseers but unusually as the ticket for visiting bowlers.

Photo from the LTMS Collection, note the tram crossing the Kings Bridge.

29/09/2026

The Launceston Tramway Museum has a large collection of movie advertisements which were once displayed on Launceston’s trams.

An example of an interesting advertisement from this collection is for the 1939 film ‘Gone to the Dogs’.

The Examiner (in its 9/5/1939 issue) interviewed Great Union Theatres board member Mr. E. F. Lane who said that “the Majestic shortly… will have the honor of giving the latest Cinesound film, ‘Gone with the Dogs,’ its world premiere”, a special occasion for the city.

21/09/2026

Former train driver, Bob Carroll, recalls the busy years at Black Bridge in Launceston when it was the freight hub for Northern Tasmania.

Former train driver, Bob Carroll, recalls the busy years at Black ...

16/09/2026

The Launceston Tramway Museum would like to extend an open invitation to prospective Councillors during this Council election to come down to our museum to hear about our exciting museum and tramway expansion.

Our planned projects will be a prominent topic in the future council, directly involving council land/assets, our collection being based around municipal operations and the project being an important part of Launceston’s community/tourist infrastructure.

We would love to hear the position of candidates on the Glebe rail extension as well as the museum/workshop building expansion.

For anyone interested please get in contact with us through our email, Facebook or phone (during our business hours) to set up a time to visit our museum to look through our business case, explore project specifics and have a ride on LMT tram no.29.

14/09/2026

Launceston’s Trolley Bus service came to a somewhat abrupt end on 26 July 1968. In 1963 the Metropolitan Transport Trust assessed the expected lifespan of the trolley bus system in Launceston to operate for another 15 to 20 more years.

What went wrong? A number of issues were cited, such as a lack of flexibility among modern traffic conditions, but major economic causes underpinned the decision including increasing cost of electricity, declining passengers and increasing maintenance costs.

The weather in 1966-1967 was abnormal (culminating in the catastrophic 1967 bushfires) and electricity restrictions curtailed operations.

The way that the Metropolitan Transport Trust was charged for electricity changed for the worse and saw electricity costs soar beyond consumption. Trolley busses had seen a reduction in service owing to these conditions, with lower peak usage and discontinuance on weekends.

The launch of Northern TV ltd and its TNT9 Channel in 1962 also caused a significant reduction in passengers, particularly in the night service.

Pictures is Bob Rodman, Len Lucas, Jim Blewett, Ray Badcock, Len Mathews and Bob Boon.

08/09/2026

Poppy is one of the volunteers at the Launceston Tramway Museum. She's currently studying at university but, as a sidequest, is learning to drive a tram. Join Poppy and Motorman Terry as they go on a training run.

20/08/2026

At today’s Council meeting the Launceston Tramway Museum expansion was discussed. This has been a long and at times frustrating process — first submitted to Council in 2012 only to have those plans invalidated by subsequent Council decisions. Despite setbacks, barriers and other difficulties a motion has finally been pushed.

While the motions content was disappointing, as it does not position the project where we had hoped, it still represents an important step. An amendment pushed by Councillor Tim Walker puts a firm 6-month timeframe on the Council to deliver results. All of the Councillors present today have expressed support for the project which is appreciated.

It is time to get on with the project and get it done. This is the sort of project that will reinvigorate the city, encourage tourism, preserve Launceston’s heritage, upscale our operations and foster a stronger community.

In 1912 the then City Engineer drove pilings into the very ground we seek to develop in anticipation of a future tramway expansion. Triumphantly the City Engineer would declare that: “This will, I think, fill requirements for all time…”. 114 years later, on the groundwork laid out by the then Council, we will achieve what was envisioned for site.

The museum/workshop expansion is part of the start of our exciting 5-year plan including the expansion of the rail network towards Glebe Gardens, electrification and operation of tram no.1 (hopefully some very exciting news on this in coming weeks). Further to this are 30 semi-permanent exhibitions, a temporary exhibit gallery for rotating displays or visiting exhibitions from across Tasmania, a learning hub, display of a larger variety of objects and vehicles including a trolley bus, half cab Leyland and tower truck.

This transformation will not infringe on us delivering the most affordable volunteer heritage tramway of its kind in Australia so it is accessible to all the community and the economic benefit can be absorbed by local business (hotels, restaurants/cafes, conference centres, and other tourist attractions).

As we move forward, we would encourage anyone interested in providing tangible support for the projects realization to get in contact.

16/08/2026

Launceston Tramway Museum Workshop Manager Butch explains the track specifications and details you may have wanted to know about the tramway in Inveresk.

You know about rails and sleepers, but what about nibnecks, fishpla...

15/08/2026

Throughout the lifetime of the Launceston Municipal Tramways the service supported a tremendous number of passengers.

206,985,208 passengers were recorded, although the total number was likely higher.

When Launceston’s trams began running in 1911, the city had a population of around 20,000, yet almost 2 million passengers rode within the first 12 months of the service.

The Launceston Municipal Tramways peak was in 1947 with 9,250,114 passengers. This peak occurs not long after the decision was made in 1946 to replace the trams with Trolley Busses. 1946 in its own right was also a successful year with 8,751,881 passengers.

27/06/2026

Michael Leslie worked on the buses and trolleybuses for exactly 40 years from September 2 1964 until September 2 2004. Michael revists the Howick Street depot of Metro Tasmania in Launceston to recount just a few of his many adventures.

Michael Leslie worked on the buses and trolleybuses for exactly 40 ...