Railways and Trams, Published 16 September 2026, Updated 1 November 2026

On the night of Friday, 28 September 1962, flames engulfed Brisbane’s huge Paddington Tram Depot on Latrobe Terrace.

The devastating fire destroyed the depot and dozens of trams, sending shockwaves through the city and marking a dramatic turning point in Brisbane’s transport history.

Join us as we look back at the fire that changed Brisbane forever.

To ℎelp bring tℎis story to life, we’ve used computer-generated animations and artistic interpretations alongside ℎistorical images. Wℎile we ℎave aimed for ℎistorical accuracy, some visuals may contain minor errors or artistic interpretation. Tℎese visuals are created solely for educational, non-commercial ℎistory storytelling. Historical images are used witℎ tℎanks to tℎe Queensland Library, Queensland State Arcℎives and Brisbane City Council, wℎere applicable, under Public Domain, Creative Commons (CC BY 4.0) and elevant fair-use/fair-dealing provisions.

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