A lift for the city

Dunedin’s cable cars have had their ups and down, but they are back on the rise, writes Lois Galer.

What’s clean, green, carries passengers, could again be one of only two such transport systems in the world and as such, another major attraction for visitors to Dunedin?

The answer: a cable car, which could be running up and down Dunedin’s High St with a load of visitors taking in spectacular views of the city, harbour and some of the city’s grander early homes.

If it is only half as popular as its counterpart in San Francisco, on which the Dunedin system was modelled, it could well become the attraction the Princes St end of the city desperately needs. It is also within easy walking distance from the Dunedin Chinese Garden, Toitu Otago Settlers Museum, railway station and the harbour basin area.

For those old enough to remember, travelling up and down Dunedin’s steep hill slopes to the suburbs by cable car was the only public transport option to get to work, school or just to town shopping. There was rarely any waiting time. You hopped aboard one of these little cars and were well on your way before the conductor came around to nick your ticket. At busy times, as one car left the Exchange another was pulling in. Few families had their own transport in those times. And if it is now necessary to reduce the number of cars in the city, the cable car could be the answer — from the Exchange area, at least.

Sadly, the Dunedin City Council in the 1950s could no longer see the advantages of retaining the system. It could see only the cost of repairing the worn out tracks and cable cars, which had plied Dunedin’s hills since the 1880s with little maintenance, and declared the whole system obsolete. From four main routes — Roslyn, Kaikorai, Mornington and its link cars to Maryhill — the cable cars were replaced with trolley buses, which brought about previously unheard of inconveniences such as "queues". They were certainly cleaner than the jerky, belching diesel buses that still plied many hill routes, but no match for the much-mourned cable cars.

The last cable car scrapped was the Mornington cable car line in 1957. But not without a fight to reverse the council’s decision. While that was 63 years ago, the will to have the little cars back on track is still as strong as it ever was.

Leading the charge is Dunedin Light Rail Heritage Trust chairman Neville Jemmett, supported by the Cable Car Society, which, on a volunteer basis, runs the temporary cable car museum on the reserve at the top of Eglinton Road, leaving the trust to the nuts and bolts of raising funds and planning the next move in the effort to eventually get them back running down High St to the Exchange.

At present, the small temporary museum houses a faithfully restored original tram and trailer, leased at a peppercorn rental by a team of volunteers at the Tramway Historical Society workshop in Christchurch. Led by Don McAra, formerly of Dunedin and a member of the trust, they are now working on Mornington Cable Car No. 103. The team, which gained a top Australasian award for its restoration of trailer No. 111, hopes to have No. 103 back in Dunedin.

Also of interest at the museum are a number of items from the era, including books extolling the delights of riding the cars.

The question of where to house No. 103, and any other reasonably intact trams and trailers that may become available, has caused the trust and the society to look towards building a larger, more permanent building at the original terminus to become both museum and engine shed for when the long and eagerly awaited day comes to put the restored cable cars back on track. Consideration was given to acquiring the original cable car building opposite, but being across the now busy road through Mornington could prove problematic when trams were moved between shed and terminus. The building itself has also been considerably modified for other purposes.

A design approved by the trust of a new permanent engine shed that would also accommodate a restaurant on an upper level overlooking the park and providing spectacular views of the city, harbour and peninsula has recently been drawn by architect and trust member Michael Wyatt.

While a feasibility study was carried out some years ago on which of the four main cable car routes should be reinstated — Mornington chosen due largely to its unmodified route — another feasibility study that will look at the actual reinstating of the original High St line is being evaluated by Beca. This is expected to take about four months at the cost of about $100,000, largely raised by the community.

Further fundraising towards the project continues apace to build a new home for our clean, green potential money-spinners, their only match in the world being those in San Francisco.

To avoid any challenges to that claim: cable cars elsewhere, including those in Kelburn, Wellington, although similar, are on a funicular railway system, whereby the downward travelling car raises the upward travelling car. And here lies the difference. The system used by the San Francisco line and that formerly used in Dunedin operates on a continuously running endless rope, which cars can "grip" to move and "release" to stop, allowing each car to travel independently.

There is no doubt the system’s return to the Mornington route will not be cheap, but with it’s two-fold use as public transport to and from the city as well as a visitor attraction — the same way the San Francisco cars operate — the expense could pay dividends. Plus, its very existence is almost certain to boost business, both around the Exchange/Princes St south area and in Mornington.

Already there have been talks between the Light Rail Heritage Trust and business owners in the area, including accommodation owners along the High St route, all of which stand to benefit from having the little cars passing by and stopping near their premises.

Meanwhile, so much has to happen before the hopes and dreams of supporters of the system become a reality. Already, the vast majority of those who grew up hopping on and off these little cars have either died or are now well into their 70s.

Yet the enthusiasm for getting them back on track remains as popular with all age groups, especially the younger generations who today see only what is clean and green. Testimony to that is the return of trams in larger cities, more recently Sydney. In Melbourne, they have never left their tracks.

In Dunedin, both the Light Rail Heritage Trust and its associated Cable Car Society can only hope for favourable results from both the current feasibility study and support of local councils. And from there, hopefully the return of something unique to Dunedin that, in hindsight, should never have been lost.

Lois Galer is a former feature writer with the ODT, author and now a trustee on the Dunedin Light Rail Heritage Trust.