MTT general manager William Goodman sees Adelaide tram network grow but struggling with lack of resources
Long-time Adelaide Municipal Tramways Trust general manager William ("W.T.G") Goodman.
Image courtesy State Library of South Australia
William George Toop (“W.T.G.”) Goodman was appointed as Adelaide's new Municipal Tramways Trust first engineer and soon after its general manager where he remained until he retired in 1950. Goodman had previously supervised New Zealand's first electric tramway being installed.
The Municipal Tramways Trust (MTT) was created as a tax-exempt body with eight members, mostly by appointed local councils but with some state government appointees.
It established a nine acres (3.6 ha) tram depot site near the corner of Hackney and Botanic roads with a depot building, 24 incoming tracks and a large administration office.
At the MTT’s 1909 opening, 35 miles (56 kilometres) of track had been completed with electricity supplied by the Electric Lighting and Supply Co. The electric tram system ran on 600 Volts DC supplied at first from two converter stations. No.1 converter station on East Terrace had 2,500 kW to DC capacity and No.2 station at Thebarton had 900 kW. To cope with the system’s variable loads, large lead-acid batteries were installed, one on East Terrace with 293 cells and 50-ton talk of sulphuric acid.
Competition from private buses, the MTT’s own bus fleet and the growth of private car ownership all took patrons from the tram network that restrictions caused at a global level of wars and Depression.
A planned purchase of large trams was delayed by World War I. Type C trams were small combination cars, built in 1918–1919, as an interim measure.
After the 1920s/30s Depression, maintaining the tramway system and buying new trams was restricted.
The early use of trams had been for recreation by families and tourists, as well as daily travel. The MTT tried to encourage family outings on trams to the extent of creating gardens in the suburb of Kensington Gardens and extending the Kensington line to attract customers.
