Prison tram 948 is the most unusual exhibit at the Sydney Tramway Museum at Loftus, an outer suburb of Sydney. No. 948 carried prisoners between Sydney’s Darlinghurst Police Station, Darlinghurst Courthouse and Long Bay Gaol. The one-of-a-kind tram was built at the tramway workshops at Randwick and entered service on 4 September 1909. It has a side corridor leading to six compartments, each with a capacity for six prisoners. The compartments have a sliding door, with windows on the corridor side only. Two of the compartments were typically set aside for women. Folding seats were provided for police and warders at each end.
When, in the 1860s, it was decided to construct a new gaol in a remote part of Sydney, some distance from the courthouse (and adjacent prison) at Darlinghurst, early consideration was given to employing a tramway to convey prisoners to and from the court. When approval was given for the construction of a to replace the one on Cockatoo Island, the area now known as Randwick was chosen as a suitable site as it was at that time was quite remote from the rest of Sydney. Approval to build the new gaol at Long Bay was given, the first completed section was opened in 1902 as the State Reformatory For Women.
As well as the gaol, a tramway was planned that would run through Kensington and along Bunnerong Road (now Anzac Parade) and thence along Rainbow and Botany Streets, terminating the new gaol site. The tram line would also serve Kensington racecouse and the Long Bay rifle range. The first section of the line, from Oxford Street at Taylor Square in Darlinghurst to Alison Road, Randwick, was opened in 1880. The line was completed to as far as Long Bay Gaol in 1902, the year in which the gaol was opened.
In 1867 or thereabouts a railway brake van (No. 6) was converted to become prison van No. 1. The Department of Railways’ annual reports show that six further four-wheel prison vans, later coded KD, were manufactured to convey prisoners. They were 5.5 cm in length with an average tare of just over 7 tonnes. In 1915 they were replaced by four BKD bogie vans manufactured at the Railway Workshops, Eveleigh. These were 10 metres in length, and could accommodate 22 prisoners and five warders. Two were condemned in 1952 while the other two remained in use until some unknown time in the 1960s.
Once the gaol was opened, theGovernment decided to build a series of specally designed tramcars for the transfer of prisoners from Darlinghurst courthouse to Long Bay gaol that would run alomng the tramway built for that purpose over 20 years earlier. Reference was also made "... for the returming prisoners due forrelease by the car, in order that loitering of undesirables on their way to Sydney may be avoided."
An order was placed with the Tramway Worshop in King Street, Randwick, for the construction of a 'prisoners van' of the non-coupling direct control type. It was completed at a cost of £1,246. Designated as Tram No. 948, the car had two GE67 48 horse-power motors and a K10 General Electric controller at either end, and a General Electric CP27 compressor. It was identified as PV in the Electrical Branch's return while for statistical purposes it was included in the passenger fleet. Tram No. 948 was attached to Waverley Depot. Wilst undergoing repair it would be replaced by an 80-seat crossbench car of the O class whose enclosed fourcentre compartments could be suitably protected.
Darcy Dugan
On 4 March 1946, the notorious criminal Darcy Dugan escaped from this prison tram 964 which was transporting him between Darlinghurst Courthouse and Long Bay jail. As the tram passed the Sydney Cricket Ground, Dugan and another prisoner in transit used a kitchen knife to saw a hole through the roof, through which they escaped. The men fled for the cover of Centennial Park but were recaptured as Hunters Hill and Gladesville the following evening.
Dugan grew up in the inner suburb of Annandale in Sydney. During his criminal career, he committed numerous armed holdups, robbing banks and even a hospital. However he became more famous for his daring escapes than for his initial crimes. Darcy Dugan served a total of 35 years in prison, he served his final sentence at Long Bay and was released on parole in 1984. He passed away 22 August, 1991.
According to the Departmental log book for Tram No. 948, it made 281 round trips between 12 July and 31 December 1946, 796 round trips in 1947, 779 round trips in 1948, 736 round trips in 1949 and 24 round trips from 1 January to 19 January 1950. It usually ran 3 round trips a day and did a single run on Sundays. The maximum number of passengers carried in one day was 51 on 1 February 1947 from Darlinghurst to the Gaol and 60 on 11 February 1949 from the Gaol to Darlinghurst.
In 1949, the NSW Police Department advised the Department of Road Transport & Tramways that they would not be funding any further maintenance or repairs to the prison tram and were no longer prepared to pay for the costs of the crew required to operate the tramcar from Darlinghurst to Long Bay Gaol. It appears that consequent upon this advice, No. 948 was withdrawn from service as major maintenance work was required to the underframe and body of the tram.
Journey entries in the Departmental log book for the tram indicate it made its last journey as a Prison Van on 19 January 1950 when it caried four police officers and three prisoners to Long Bay from Darlinghurst and returned with only the four police on board. There is no record of it ever having been used again. The car was transferred to Randwick for scrapping on 11 December, 1950.
No. 948 would have been scrapped were it not for the intervention of the founding members of what was later to becomethe Sydney Tramway Museum. Their action saved this unique vehicle from destruction. The car was donated by the Department of Road Transport and Tramways to the Australian Electric Traction Association on 17 January 1951 and written off on 12 March 1951. In 1953, the Prisons Department took over the land occupied by the disused track of the Penitentiary Siding.
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