Areca Books: books 08

Penang Trams, Trolleybuses & Railways: Municipal Transport History 1880s-1963
Ric Francis & Colin Ganley

Introduction

• Which city once had the smallest service trolley-bus in the world?
• Where do you find the first funicular railway in Southeast Asia ?
• How do you recognize a trolley-bus pole?
• Where is Tramway Road?

With over 100 old photographs, maps and illustrations, this book gives an overview of the various forms of public transport used in George Town from 1880s to 1963, and the role this transport played in the development of the growth of George Town and Penang.

Penang was one of the first urban centres in Southeast Asia to operate steam trams, horse trams, electric trams and trolleybuses. When the Municipal Commission established its own electrical supply, it took over the tram service and started the electric trams in George Town in 1906. This gave the local population excellent public transport around George Town, with one line going up to Ayer Itam. In the late 1920s, the Municipality replaced trams with trolley-buses, experimenting for a while with re-conditioned double-deckers from London Transport!

The Municipality also operated two railways - firstly, the Penang Hill Railway which was considered an engineering marvel when it was first built, and secondly, the electric railway which transported supplies and tin ingots for Penang's foremost smelting works.

Contents
Foreword by Dato' Anwar Fazal 6
Acknowledgements 8

The Tram 9
Steam & Horse Trams 10
Enter the Electric Tram 16
The Thornycroft Motorbus 22

The Trolleybus 25
The Early Trolleybuses 26
More Trolleybuses 32
The Last Trams & The Trolleybus Expansion 35
The Smallest Service Trolleybuses in the World 40
World War II 43
Post-War Recovery & New Trolleybuses 45
Motorbuses & Expansion 49
Destinations & Tickets 51
The Ex-London Transport Double-Decker Trolleybuses 57
City Status & The 'Golden Summer' 62
Switch to Diesel Fleet 66
The End of the Trolleybus 69
The Private Bus Companies 74

Funicular Railway 77
The First Hill Railway Project 79
The Present Funicular Railway 80
Two Independent Sections 85
Precautions in the Winding House 86
Locked Coil Haulage Ropes 87
The Hill Railway During WW II 88
The Railway Service 89

Electric Railway 91
Tin Transport By Electric Railway 92
Aerial Tramway & Switchback Railway 95

Appendixes 97

Penang Hill Schedule, Daily Time Table & Fares, 1963 98

George Town Municipal Tramways Electrical Undertakings
Statistics for the Period 1921 to 1926 99

George Town Trolleybus Fleet List 1925-1961
Vehicles shown in approximate order of delivery/
Date in Service/Fleet No./Chassis and Chassis No./
Body/Date Withdrawn 100

Total number of trolleybuses in service (year end) 1925-1961
Year End (No. in stock)/Clough-Smith/Thornycroft/
RS&J C-type/RS&J C-type rebodied rebuilt/
GTMT Thornycroft/ RS&J SLT/ RS&J SLT rebodied/
GTMT RS&J/Morris 9-seater/
Sunbeam F4/Sunbeam MF2B/Ex-LT AEC 664T D/D 103

George Town Motorbus Fleet, June 1963
Fleet Summary/ Known Fleet Details/
Fleet No. & Reg. No./ Chassis and Chassis No./
Date in Service/ Body 104

Bibliography 107
Index 108
About the Authors 110

List of Maps

Map of 1893 Showing Tramway Carriage Shed 15
Map of George Town Tramways 1888-1957 24
Map of GTMT Trolleybus Overhead Network 1924-1961 53
Map of 1925 showing the Penang Hill Railway 78
Map of 1965 showing the Penang Hill Railway,
the Ayer Itam Tram & Trolleybus Routes,
and the Hill Railway Shuttle Route 82
Map of 1893 showing Penang Harbour Board's Railway
at Swettenham Pier 93
Map of 1893 showing Switchback Railway on Industrial Site 96