City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

DAREBIN HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 2Figure 15Electric tram at PrestonDepot (image date unknown)[DHE, ID 779]Like the electrification of the railway network, the new electric tramways encouraged suburbandevelopment along their routes. New shopping strips emerged in Plenty Road and GilbertRoad and at the northern end of High Street in Thornbury and housing spread out along thecross streets leading to them. As Carrolll & Rule (1985:141) note:Even today we can .. see how the coming of the trams cause a further stage of settlement. InPreston’s earliest days, most settlement had been near High Street, and this shos in those housesthat have survived from earliest times. The next phase came with the railways and most houseswithin walking distance of the station show an 1890-1920 style. Then spreading out furtherwest from of Gilbert Road and east of Plenty Road, for walking distances from the tramlines are1920-1950 houses. Further afield, most of the houses are post-1950, when most Preston peoplecould hope to have a car.Tram depots and workshopEach of the three enterprises that provided trams to Darebin had its own workshop. TheClifton Hill to Northcote and Preston Tram Co. had its depot and engine house on the cornerof High and Martin Streets, as noted above, and the building is still in existence. In 1919, theFitzroy-Northcote-Preston Tramway Trust built its depot on the corner of St Georges Roadand Miller Street. In 1924, the MMTB opened its Tramway Workshops opposite, on thecorner of Dundas Street. This was to be the workshop for the repair and construction of theMMTB’s entire tram fleet. Clive Boxer, who worked at the workshops from 1925 to 1974,remembered that all accident damage was repaired at Preston:You could have some bad smashes. … It was said that autumn leaves on tram lines could causeclose following trams to skid into one another. You would get some rear end sometimes. … If atram was over a certain age - five or six years, then they brought them in for a general overhaul.They were overhauled in the bodyshop taken to the paintshop to be repainted, came back to thebodyshop to be fitted up, or sometimes we would fit them up in the paintshop. The air for thebrakes and electrical gear was all checked, wheels fixed up, so it was a general repair overall.(Jones, 1994:26)In the 1930s the Preston Workshop commenced building the W Class trams, which have sincebecome a Melbourne icon. In 1955, the MMTB opened a new depot in Plenty Road, whichtook over the role of the Miller Street depot (Summerton, 1997:67).BusesThe lack or inadequacies of rail and tram services in some parts of Darebin was partlycompensated for by buses. In the 1880s the Melbourne Omnibus Company ran a horse busfrom Melbourne as far as Clifton Hill, but only after Northcote residents agreed to subsidisethe Company. The Company also provided a horse-drawn bus as far as Separation Streetbefore it opened its Clifton Hill cable tram service. In the 1920s, a few private companiescommenced motor bus services to transport people across Darebin, as most of the rail and tramservices were on a north south-axis. Buses were particularly important for bringing people tothe High Street shopping centre. Smith’s buses ran between Fairfield station and High Street.Another bus route connected Ivanhoe with High Street Northcote along Darebin Road. After38