Wellington Tramway Museum, Transport museum in Kāpiti Coast District, New Zealand.
The Wellington Tramway Museum is a transport museum in Queen Elizabeth Park near McKay's Crossing, between Paekākāriki and Paraparaumu, 45 km from Wellington. It keeps nearly 2 km of 4-foot (1219 mm) gauge track and a fleet of trams built in the 1920s and 1930s for the Wellington system, several operational, others stored or under restoration.
Trams have run through Queen Elizabeth Park since 1965, when the museum's line was established near McKay's Crossing. The fleet dates from the 1920s and 1930s and served Wellington's tramway system between 1878 and 1964. Saul Goldsmith was president of the Tramway Museum from 1969 to 1974. The museum also holds an ex-Brisbane tram, No. 236, leased to the Tramway Historical Society of Christchurch.
The museum occupies part of the site of US Marines' camps Russell and Mackay, used between 1942 and 1944. On Memorial Day 2012 a ceremony was held among the trams, which were familiar to Marines who visited Wellington during the war.
The museum opens Saturdays and Sundays from 11am to 4.30pm, with the last tram at 4pm, and on public holidays except Christmas Day. From Boxing Day to Wellington Anniversary Day in late January it opens daily, and some school holidays bring restricted hours advertised on its website. The site lies near the McKay's Crossing overbridge between Paekākāriki and Paraparaumu, 45 km from Wellington.
The collection extends beyond trams to include diesel and trolley buses, showing how different technologies served urban transport needs over time. One vehicle, a tram from Brisbane, is currently on loan to another heritage organization, illustrating how these museums share and preserve transport artifacts across the country.
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