The first passenger horse tram ran on the Victor Harbour-Granite Island service in Dec 1894. The South Australian Railways used it’s No7 from the Wallaroo mines to run on the existing broad gauge track of 1.4km to Granite Is, where the tracks on the Causeway were used by the railways to move goods onto the jetties for shipping.

   The second tram, No25, came from the old Adelaide horse tram services, thought to be the Adelaide & Suburban Tramway Co & was regauged from standard (4’8.5”/1435mm) to broad gauge (5’3”/1600mm), No25 joined No7 in 1910 & ran until 1929 when No25 was retired.

   With the closure of the Moonta mines in 1931, the two best trams, 5 & 6 were hauled to Victor Harbor behind a tourer type inspection car in time for the 1931-32 summer season, car No7 was then withdrawn. No5 had a varied career, operating on various lines in SA, whilst not a lot is known about No6.

   Prior to 1915, horse trams operated over the existing railway line to Hindmarsh River, a distance of 1.3km, special instructions were in force to ensure that there was no conflict between the trams & steam trains.

   The trams were brought back to Islington about every 2 years for servicing, they were usually towed back behind a railcar.

   With major repair work required on the Causeway & jetties, the tram service ceased in 1954 after it was decided that it was too expensive to upgrade the Causeway to take the tram, so the jetties & tracks were removed.

   No5 was kept on Granite island by the kiosk operator for a while, but soon fell into disrepair & was finally pushed into the sea from the jetty. No6 was put on static display in Auburn, where it stayed until it was purchased by a private museum in Connecticut, USA & was shipped there in 1971.

   Various tractor train services ran from 1956 until 1986 when the new horse trams started running again as part of the SA 150 Jubilee year celebrations. 4 trams were constructed over a period of time, with No’s 1 & 2 ready for the official reopening, No3 was soon completed, but No4 took a while.

   The horses are specially bred Clydesdales to work with the public & as the trams are free running on roller bearings, the horses are not required to work hard at all & are continually rested. The trams are still running every day & are very popular with the public.

   I believe this & one other ( UK I think ) are the only regular horse tram services running.

   Ref:- The Victor Harbor Horse Tram,
   Compiled by K. Bird, T. Wilson, D. Bunker

  Victor Harbor Horse Tram  http://www.horsedrawntram.com.au/