page_title: Timeline of trams in Melbourne
section_title: 1880s
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of trams in Melbourne / 1880s
caption_attribution_description: English: Melbourne’s first cable tram service; between Bridge Road, Richmond, and Spencer Street via Flinders Street, 11 November 1885.
context_page_description: The Melbourne tram network began in 1884 with the construction of the Fairfield Horse Tramway. However, the purpose of the line was to increase land prices in the area, and it soon closed during the depression in 1890. The first genuine attempt to construct a tramway network was the construction of the Richmond cable tram line by the Melbourne Tramway & Omnibus Company in 1885. Over the next few years, 16 more cable tram lines were constructed, as well as numerous other horse tramways. The depression of the early 1890s slowed further expansion of the cable network. The first electric tram line was the Box Hill and Doncaster tramway which opened in 1889. This was a pioneering line in what was then the countryside and thus didn't receive much patronage. It closed in 1896. The next attempt at an electric tramway was Victorian Railways' St Kilda to Brighton line, which opened in 1906. Later that year, the North Melbourne Electric Tramway and Lighting Company opened lines to Essendon and Maribyrnong. Many local councils formed their own tramway trusts and built tramways within their own constituency. The most successful of these was the Prahran and Malvern Tramway Trust.
context_section_description: 1884
  20 December: Fairfield Horse tramway opens between Fairfield Park and Fairfield railway station.
  1885
  11 November: The Melbourne Tramway & Omnibus Company (MTOC) opens the Richmond cable tram line between Hawthorn Bridge and Spencer Street (Bourke Street).
  1886
  2 October: North Fitzroy cable tram line opens between Barkly Street, North Fitzroy and Collins Street via Brunswick Street.
  22 November: Victoria Street cable tram line opens as a branch of the North Fitzroy line from Victoria Parade to Victoria Bridge. Services run from Collins Street.
  1887
  10 August: Clifton Hill cable tram line opens between Clifton Hill and Bourke Street via Smith Street.
  30 August: Nicholson Street cable tram line opens as a branch of the Clifton Hill line from Gertrude Street to Park Street, North Fitzroy.
  1 October: Brunswick cable tram line opens between Moreland Road and Elizabeth Street via Royal Parade.
  21 December: Collingwood cable tram line opens between the Johnston Street Bridge and Swanston Street via Russell and Lygon Streets.
  28 December: MTOC opens the Kew horse tramway between the cable terminus of Victoria Bridge and Kew Cemetery.
  1888
  17 May: The Beaumaris Tramway Company opens the Beaumaris horse tramway opens between Sandringham railway station and Cheltenham railway station.
  11 October: Brighton Road cable tram line opens between Flinders Street Station and Brighton Road at Milton Street, Balaclava.
  26 October: Prahran cable tram line opens as a branch of the Brighton Road line from Domain Road to Carlisle Street via Chapel Street. Services run from Flinders Street Station.
  1889
  20 January: The extension of the Brighton Road and Prahran cable tram lines between Flinders Street Station and Queensberry Street opens.
  9 February: North Carlton cable tram line opens between Rathdowne Street and Park Street, North Carlton. Services run from Swanston Street.
  14 February: The Northern Tramway Company opens the Coburg horse tramway between Moreland Road and Gaffney Street along Sydney Road.
  15 February: Toorak cable tram line opens as a branch of the Prahran cable tram line from Chapel Street to Irving Street along Toorak Road.
  April: The Caulfield Tramway Company opens two horse tramways: from Elsternwick railway station to Caulfield railway station, and from Elsternwick railway station to Glenhuntly railway station.
  14 October: The Box Hill & Doncaster Tramway Company opens an electric tramway between Box Hill and Doncaster. It was the first electric tramway in Australia.
  late 1889: Elsternwick railway station to Caulfield railway station horse tramway closes.
caption: The opening of the Richmond cable line on 11 November 1885
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