MMTB SW5 Class Tram No. 849

SW5 849 belongs to the moment Melbourne’s tram design settled its future. When prototype SW6 850 entered service in 1939 with sliding doors and metal-framed windows, trams 840 to 849 — then under construction as conventional W5s — were upgraded on the production line to match. No. 849, in service from February 1940, was the last of that transitional batch.

Its Melbourne career was long and largely uneventful; the multiple head and tail lights fitted in 1971 were the visible change of note. In 1998 the car was set aside in the ‘ready reserve’ fleet at Preston Workshops, where it sat for a decade before VicTrack donated it to the Haddon group in July 2008.

There is a twist in how 849 came to be the preserved car at all. Sister tram SW5 843 had arrived at Haddon first, in 2007, with 849 originally intended as its parts donor. On inspection the roles were reversed — 849 proved the better car, and 843 was dismantled to supply the doors, windows and fittings that 849 was missing, many having been removed at Preston for the benefit of SW5s still in service.

The return to service was a methodical overhaul rather than a glamour restoration: door engine pistons re-sealed after years of idleness, a replacement end apron (re-rolled from SW5 809 stock) fitted, marker lights and conductor bells reinstated, panels stripped and re-primed after old paint failures, interior timber revarnished, and the electrical and pneumatic systems calibrated for commissioning. The refurbished car was subsequently returned to operating condition on the Haddon tramway — the youngest tram in the fleet and the closest cousin to the W-class cars Melburnians still recognise today. The work is chronicled on the 849 restoration page.

Technical Details

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