No 26 on a test run, carrying society volunteers.

 
Roger Hamlin joined the celebrations on 23 January at Ferrymead Tramway in Christchurch, New Zealand, when the Tramway Historical Society returned one of the city’s original and rare double-deck survivors into service after a much-protracted and very thorough restoration.

It was in 1905 that the Christchurch Tramways Board took delivery of a double-deck tramcar, one of the very few double-deck trams built for the Antipodes and constructed by John Stevenson & Co of New York. Its arrival, along with two others (Nos 24 and 25) that were delivered at the same time ready for the opening of the Christchurch Electric Tramway in June of that year, came because the Tramways Board had implemented an electric tramway, replacing the horse-drawn examples that had been utilised on the system since its inception.

This tram, which became No 26 in the fleet, continued as a double-deck although within two years of entering service, all three double-deckers had been fitted with ‘windscreens’ to make them somewhat more pleasant to drive in Christchurch winters.

In 1918, the top deck was removed from all three sister cars, due to the staircases being narrow, spiral and steep (even back then they were considered a possible hazard with the risk of passengers falling) and because of the staircases they were also ‘slow loading’. As with the other double-deck electric cars, No 26 was originally used on the run out to Sumner where it typically would tow a couple of double-deck trailers.

No 26 then ran as a single deck for a couple of years, but this too proved not very suitable. Then in 1921 the running gear was removed and placed in some new trams that were being built at that time by the Tramways Board. The body then had single trailer running gear placed underneath in the shape of new four-wheel Brill radiax trucks and she was just used as a trailer car (renumbered as No 145) behind one of the later trams until the closure of the system in 1954.

When the tramways ceased operation, all the tram bodies were stripped of their useful parts and then sold off as ‘shells’ to different buyers who found a variety of uses for them.

No 26 was sold to Ivan and Sylvia Taylor of Hakatere, Ashburton, situated just south of Christchurch, where it saw a new period of life as a holiday ‘bach’ (home) on the mouth of the Rakia River. From a basic tram body, more extensions were added to the tram and a house was built around it to give extra space for a growing family. Forwards to 1985 and some members of Ferrymead’s Tramway Historical Society were told about the tram at Hakatere and what it was now being used for, and in 1986 the members negotiated with the family for the return of the remains of the body of No 26...

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