page_title: Tram types in Adelaide
section_title: Type F and its variant F1
hierarchical_section_title: Tram types in Adelaide / Trams of the 20th century / Type F and its variant F1
caption_attribution_description: English: Preserved F1 type tram 282 at the St Kilda Tramway Museum, May 2008.
context_section_description: At last released from the severe constraints of the First World War, the MTT's chief engineer and general manager W.G.T. Goodman designed a new "dropcentre" tram that could be loaded and unloaded very quickly by six lines of passengers. They entered or left the tram's open section, which had a lower floor than the enclosed saloons on either side, made possible by more modern running gear that took up less space.  
  These Type F trams and their variant Type F1 seated 60 and had standing room for a further 110, totalling a crush load of 170 passengers, two-thirds more than all but one of their predecessor types. They were a highly popular design, providing much more space and comfort than previous MTT trams. Their acceleration and braking was significantly better than their predecessors' on account of a 40-hp traction motor on each of the four axles (on which all wheels were the same 673 mm (26.5 inch) diameter), and air brakes (the first to be fitted from inception).
  A total of 84 were built, making them the most common trams used in Adelaide.  Local coach builders A. Pengelly & Co. built the initial 50 cars in 1921–22, a further 11 of almost identical design (designated Type F1) in 1925, and 20 more F1 cars in 1928. The MTT built one Type F1 in 1927 and two more in 1929. The main difference between the two types lay in the construction of the underframe: the Type F cars combined steel and timber frame construction whereas the Type F1 cars had an all-steel underframe. With so many trams of these types in service, many detail variations occurred in the fleet.
  In 1929, two cars were fitted with additional air brake pipes to haul an unusual type of trailer –  horse transport cars – on the Glenelg line between Adelaide and Morphettville Racecourse.
  From October 1953, about half the trams in the Type F and F1 fleet were repainted from their tuscan-red and cream livery into silver and carnation red. Most of the repainted cars – and a few that were not repainted – had an emergency exit door fitted behind the motorman's compartment, reducing the seating capacity in these trams from 60 to 56.
  
  Whether a passenger sat "inside" or not was governed by a strict custom. As John Radcliffe and Christopher Steele observed:
  
  These cars were important in the development of an unusual custom by passengers of practising the de facto segregation of the sexes. The habit was quite without legal foundation, yet it was a custom firmly entrenched until the trams were replaced by buses. Passengers who sat in the wrong compartments were regarded as something in the nature of "social outcasts" by their fellow passengers. Men always occupied the centre (smoking) section of "dropcentre" cars, while women and children occupied the end saloons. Even married couples invariably split up after boarding the car. Father always purchased the tickets from the conductor as he passed through the centre of the car. When the conductor reached the end saloon, Mother would point out, amid much arm waving, which of the male passengers outside was her husband. Inspectors who periodically boarded the cars to check that everyone had tickets consequently had a difficult time. 
  The dropcentre cars had the leading role over the entire Adelaide street tram network for 37 years until the system, with the exception of the Glenelg line,  was shut down on 22 November 1958. They were especially well suited to carry the crowds associated with race meetings, football matches and the agricultural show at the Wayville Showground.
  The fate of the street trams was the final consequence of many factors at work, including the fact that the number of cars registered in South Australia increased from 100,000 in 1946 to 240,000 in 1956, while during the same time the number of riders carried by all forms of public road passenger transport in Adelaide dropped from 100 million to 60 million.
  More information about the closure of the street network is in the article Municipal Tramways Trust.
caption: Type F1 tram 282, restored and operational at the Tramway Museum, St Kilda
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