Melbourne's tram classification system is based on an alphanumeric combination of a primary letter for an individual vehicle type or class, with a system of prefixes and suffixes to indicate specific vehicle attributes, versions, or iterations.

History The current classification system was introduced in 1923 by Tom Percival Strickland, the Chief Engineer of the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board (M&MTB) based on his experience having previously worked on the original Sydney electric tramway network, which also used an alphanumeric tram classification schema.

With the recent unification of different council and privately-operated trams into the new M&MTB, Strickland assigned a letter-based classification to each distinct design of tram. The order of assignment was determined by the total fleet size of the original operator; and largely reflecting the sequence in which each different type of tramcar was introduced between 1906 and 1920.

While this broadly followed an alphabetical order and most letters between A and T were assigned, it was not a strict requirement; the letter 'I' was not used, possibly to avoid confusion with the numeral 1 in written records.

Simplification Following modifications to further standardise the fleet, and aid maintenance and spare parts inventory, the classification system was simplified in 1928 (or possibly earlier) to use fewer classes and recognise the common electrical traction and braking equipment being retrofitted to vehicles of similar outline. This included:

All the drop-end combination trams of the B, H, J, M, and S classes being added to A class; The straight sill combination classes F, K, Q, and R, being added to G class; Drop-end-and-centre Maximum traction bogie combination classes D, E, N, and P, were added to C class.

Modern era While Comeng had developed an iteration of the Z Class (with an internal designation of 'Z4 Class'), this was subsequently abandoned at the direction of the incoming Cain Labor government in 1982, who requested a contract variation to deliver twenty-eight single-unit trams of a revised design to be known as the A1 Class, and what would later become the two B1 Class articulated prototype trams. With the original A Class trams having long been retired, this reset the letter-based classifications which all subsequent modern trams have followed.

Prefixes and suffixes As the standard types were modified or iterated, variations on a design were given extra letters or incremental numerals before and after the main class letter, to indicate particular features, individual vehicle upgrades, or where a design had been improved.

Prefixes S - used to indicate trams of a particular class that had been upgraded from canvas blinds and drop bars to sliding doors - including the SW2, SW5, and SW6 classes.

C - when used as a prefix, this denoted trams fitted with recycled traction and braking equipment recovered from former C Class trams. Only used on the CW5 Class.

Suffixes

Numerical Numerical suffixes may be applied to a variant of a tram class in the following scenarios:

When a current design is improved or iterated, and new vehicles are constructed (e.g. W to W1 and W1 to W2; Y to Y1, X1 to X2 Class) When an individual tram, or several trams in a class are upgraded or rebuilt to an improved configuration (e.g. Z to Z1 Class; W6/SW6/W7 to W8 Class) When two variants of a type-common tram design are planned to be delivered in the same timeframe (e.g. A1/A2, D1/D2, and G1/G2 classes) If only one type of vehicle is planned to be introduced, a numerical suffix is not used for the initial vehicle design (e.g. Z Class and E Class) but may be added with later substantial upgrading or rebuild.

Alphabetical Alphabetical suffixes have not been frequently used for tramcars in Melbourne, with the exception of the 'C' suffix used for one former Z Class tram (No. 5) briefly reclassified as the ZC Class after it received chopper-control equipment in a trial.

Works trams used for maintenance, internal transportation, and other support tasks have been numbered individually, with individual vehicles receiving either of an:

'A' suffix - used for works trams between 1927 and 1934, until the equivalent lower-numbered trams from the passenger fleet were retired or cascaded to other tram networks removing this conflict and this suffix was removed; or

'W' suffix - used for works trams to denote their non-passenger status after 1975, to avoid conflicts with the re-starting of tramcar numbering at 1 for Z Class trams.

Multiple letters In the 1950s and 1970s, the two prototype vehicles constructed using imported PCC type traction and braking equipment in locally constructed bodies (No. 980 and No. 1041) were each identified as the PCC Class.

The three 'luxury car' trams purchased from the Victorian Railways on the closure of the St Kilda to Brighton Beach line were classified as the VR Class in M&MTB service.

Notation Format Individual classes were initially written with the designator encased in double primes (e.g. 'Class "W"'); later official references transposed this format to "W Class". A hyphen or dash is not used for either the proper noun or compound adjective form, consistent with longstanding practice and relevant government style guidance.

Vehicle numbering Individual tram fleets had been numbered (from 1 upwards) by each of the pre-M&MTB tramway operators, but by 1924 the M&MTB had consolidated the numbering across the combined fleet. With the introduction of Z class trams, the M&MTB started a new numbering system. Tramways in Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Sorrento and the Victorian Railways had their own tram numbering systems. Trams which were moved between the systems were renumbered.

There were also many non-passenger trams (such as rail grinders, breakdown cars, and freight cars) which were often derived from repurposed trams, but were not included in the classification or numbering system. Such vehicles were assigned a 'W' to denote their 'works' status.

Classes + MMTB Tram Classification and NumberImageClassDescriptionFleet numbers A classSingle truck, drop end, open California combination, built by Duncan & Fraser (1910–1911) for PMTT1–20 B classSingle truck, drop end, open California combination, built by James Moore & Sons (1917–1918) for PMTT21–24, 84–91C classMaximum traction, bogie, drop end and centre combination, built by Duncan & Fraser (1913) for PMTT25–35 D classMaximum traction, bogie, drop end and centre combination, built by Duncan & Fraser (1914) for PMTT 36E classMaximum traction, bogie, drop end and centre combination, built by Duncan & Fraser (1914) for PMTT36–45 F classSingle truck, straight sill, clerestory-roofed, single aisle summer car, built by Duncan & Fraser (1912) for PMTT46–47 G classSingle truck, straight sill, single aisle summer car, built by Duncan & Fraser (1913) for PMTT48–53H classSingle truck, drop end, open California combination, built by Duncan & Fraser (1913) for PMTT54–63 J classSingle truck, drop end, open California combination, built by Meadowbank Manufacturing Company (1915) for PMTT64–83 K classSingle truck, drop end, open California combination, built by Moore (1919–1920) for PMTT92–100 L classBogie combination, built by James Moore & Sons (1921) for PMTT101–106M classSingle truck, drop end, open California combination, built by Duncan & Fraser (1917) for HTT and FTT107–116, 183–189N classMaximum traction, bogie, drop end and centre combination, built by Duncan & Fraser (1916) for HTT117–126 O classMaximum traction, bogie, straight sill, combination with one drop end, built by Duncan & Fraser (1912) for PMTT127–130P classMaximum traction, bogie, drop end and centre combination, built by Duncan & Fraser (1917–18) for HTT131–138 Q classSingle truck, straight sill, closed combination, built by MMTB (1922–1923)139–150, 190–201 R classSingle truck, straight sill, closed combination, built by James Moore & Sons (1920) for FNPTT 151–153 R classSingle truck, straight sill, closed combination, built by MMTB (1920)172–176 S ClassSingle truck, drop end, open California combination built by Duncan & Fraser (1916–1922) for MBCTT and MMTB154–171 T ClassSingle truck, drop end, open combination with long saloon, built by Duncan & Fraser (1917) for MBCTT177–182 U ClassSingle truck, saloon, built by J.G. Brill and assembled by Duncan & Fraser (1906) for NMETL202–211 V ClassSingle truck, open cross bench, built by J.G. Brill and assembled by Duncan & Fraser (1906) for NMETL212–216 W ClassBogie drop centre combination, built 1923–1927 by Holden, James Moore & Sons and MMTB219–418 W1 ClassBogie drop centre combination, built by MMTB (1925–1928)419–438, 470–479W2 ClassBogie drop centre combination, built by MMTB and James Moore & Sons (1927–31)439–458, 480–609, 624–653 W3 ClassBogie drop centre combination, built MMTB (1930–1934) 654–669 W4 ClassBogie drop centre combination, built MMTB (1933–1935) 670–674 CW5 ClassMaximum traction, bogie, drop centre combination, built MMTB (1934–1935) 681–685W5 ClassBogie, drop centre combination, built by MMTB (1935–1939) 720–839 SW2 ClassBogie drop centre saloon, built by MMTB (1938, 1953, 1955) 275, 426, 432, 436, 478, 644SW5 ClassBogie, drop centre saloon, built by MMTB (1939–1940, 840–849), converted by Metropolitan Transit Authority (1983–1986, all the other tram cars)681–682, 721–734, 736–750, 752–755, 757–760, 764–765, 767–770, 773, 775–777, 780–781, 784–791, 793, 796–797, 800, 802, 805–812, 814–816, 818–819, 824, 828–830, 834, 836–838, 840–849SW6 ClassBogie drop centre saloon, built by MMTB (1939–1951)850–969 PCC class (1950)Two door bogie saloon, built by MMTB (1950)980W6 ClassBogie, drop centre saloon, built by MMTB (1951–1955)970–979, 981–1000W7 ClassTwo door bogie saloon, built by MMTB (1955–1956)1001–1040 W8 ClassBogie drop centre saloon, converted from SW6/W6/W7 trams 946, 959 (2013), 957 (2015), 1010 (2016), 983 (2017), 856, 928, 961 (2019), 888 (2020) 856, 888, 928, 946, 957, 959, 961, 981, 983, 1010 X classSingle truck saloon safety car, built by JG Brill Company & St Louis Car Company (1923)217–218 X1 ClassSingle truck saloon, built by MMTB (1926–1928)459–468 X2 ClassSingle truck saloon, built by MMTB (1930)674 (later 680), 675–679 Y ClassBogie saloon, built by MMTB (1927)469Y1 ClassBogie saloon, built by MMTB (1930)610–613PCC class (1973)Prototype two door bogie saloon, last ever tram built by MMTB (1973). Formed the basis of the Z1 class tram design 1041Z1 ClassTwo door bogie saloon, built by Comeng (1974–1978)1–100Z2 ClassTwo door bogie saloon, built by Comeng (1978–1979)101–115Z3 ClassThree door bogie saloon, built by Comeng (1979–1984)116–230A1 ClassThree door bogie saloon, built by Comeng (1983–1985)231–258A2 ClassThree door bogie saloon, built by Comeng (1985–1987)259–300B1 classArticulated saloon, built by Comeng (1984–1985)2001–2002B2 ClassArticulated saloon, built by Comeng (1987–1994)2003–2132C ClassThree-section articulated saloon, low floor Alstom Citadis 202 tram (2001–2002)3001–3036C2 ClassFive-section articulated saloon, low floor Alstom Citadis 302 trams (2008)5103, 5106, 5111, 5113, 5123D1 ClassThree section, low floor Combino trams, made by Siemens (2002–2003)3501–3538D2 ClassFive section, low floor Combino trams, made by Siemens (2003–2004)5001–5021E ClassThree-section, four-bogie articulated trams built by Bombardier Transportation based on the customised Flexity Swift product (2013–2021)6001–6100 G1 Class Three-section, low floor trams based on the customised Flexity 2 product, built by Alstom (2023–)7001–7100

References