MMTB W4 Class Tram No. 670
Only five W4-class trams were ever built, numbered 670 to 674, and No. 670 — first of them into service, in November 1933 — is the class leader in preservation. The W4 was the next step in the dropcentre design and the first of Melbourne’s ‘wide body’ trams, direct ancestor of the sliding-door W-series cars that followed. Like the W3s they rode on 33-inch wheels chasing a smoother ride.
Crews never much liked them. The stylish curved sides of the dropcentre made the running board hard to see in the step mirrors, and the truck-mounted brake cylinders gave slightly inconsistent braking compared with later cars — so the W4s tended to get the blame for accidents. The class was stored in 1968, and the truck defect discovered on the W3s’ shared No. 9 trucks ensured they never returned. No. 670 was formally withdrawn in April 1976 with 1,508,696 miles recorded, and arrived at Haddon that same month — one of the two founding trams of the collection.
670 became the Association’s first complete restoration, finished in April 1992 and presented in its 1950s condition. The project required substantial fabrication: among other things, new side destination boxes had to be made from scratch, the originals having been removed in the late 1950s.
As the only W4 preserved in operating condition anywhere, 670 is arguably the rarest tram at Haddon, and a key link in the design lineage from the open dropcentre cars of the 1920s to the enclosed trams that defined Melbourne into the 1980s.
Technical Details
| Builder | MMTB |
|---|---|
| Entered service | 13 November 1933 |
| Length | 14.02 m (46 ft 0 in) |
| Width | 2.74 m (9 ft 0 in) |
| Weight | 16.72 tonnes |
| Seated passengers | 48 |
| Trucks | MMTB No. 9, 33 in tyred wheels |
| Traction motors | 4 × Metropolitan Vickers MV101 AZ |
| Compressor | Westinghouse DH16 |
| Mileage in service | 1,508,696 miles |
| Withdrawn | 23 April 1976 |
| Arrived at Haddon | 23 April 1976 |
| Restoration completed | April 1992 |