Events > Tram Accidents
Pigs Block Tram
EXCITEMENT AT PYRMONT.
Evening News, 10 January 1914
Passengers on a tram bound from Ryde to Fort Macquarie last night were provided with some excitement in Abattoir-road. The tram had left the stop at the Pyrmont side of the Glebe Island bridge, when in the shadow of the cliffs at the quarries, a number of pigs were encountered, being driven to the abattoirs. When the tram came on the scene they scattered. The driver applied the brakes, but one was struck and knocked down and the tram ran over it. A couple or passengers assisted the driver and conductor in getting the animal from under the car. Its squeals could be heard a considerable distance away. After considerable difficulty the injured pig was got clear and taken to Glebe Island.
Tram Accident
As told to Robin Davies, 2017
Before Irene was born in 1928 her grandmother had her legs taken off by a tram. The Lord Mayor’s brother (from the Armstrong family) was a doctor and saved her life, wrapped her legs up. They owned the Dunkirk Hotel; it happened across the road. Their grandmother was lovely. She lived in 242 Harris Street. She used to go around on her bottom (one leg was above the knee, the other down the shin). She would go up the steps and make the boys’ beds. She had a wheelchair for outside. She had an artificial leg but fell over when she put it on so she wouldn't wear it.
