Melbourne tram route 59 is a tram route on the Melbourne tramway network serving the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. Operated by Yarra Trams, the route is coloured dark green and extends from Airport West to Flinders Street station over 14.7 kilometre of double track via Niddrie, Essendon, Moonee Ponds Junction, Ascot Vale, Flemington, North Melbourne and Elizabeth Street. It is serviced out of Essendon depot by B class trams. Z class trams also occasionally operate on route 59 during peak hour.
History
Route 59 was first allocated to the line between Essendon Aerodrome and the Elizabeth Street terminus on 16 May 1943, when the Essendon line was extended to the Essendon Airport. Prior to that, route 59 had been allocated to the Williamstown Road line on the Footscray system, but numbers were never really used since the single-truck trams that ran the line didn't have route number boxes. Trams from Essendon had always terminated at Elizabeth Street, though before the Brunswick cable tram line was converted in 1936, they instead terminated on William Street. On 22 December 1992, the line was extended by 1.2 kilometres to Airport West Shopping Centre.
The origins of Route 59 lie in separate lines. The oldest section of the line is between Flinders Street station (Stop 1) and Haymarket (Stop 9) was originally constructed as part of the Brunswick cable tram line, which opened on 1 October 1887.
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|+Melbourne tram route 59 evolution
!Dates
!Route
!Notes
|-
|- 21 December 1940
|Williamstown Road to Footscray
|Never used as single-truck trams on the <br>line had no number plates
|-
|22 December 1940 - 15 May 1943
|Unallocated
|
|-
|16 May 1943 - 6 October 1976
|Essendon Aerodrome to Flinders Street station
|
|-
|7 October 1976 - 21 December 1992
|Airport West (Hawker Street) to Flinders Street station
|
|-
|22 December 1992 - present
|Airport West to Flinders Street station
|
|-
|}
Route
The route starts at the corner of Matthews Avenue and Rodd Road, Airport West and operates via Niddrie, Essendon, Moonee Ponds Junction, Ascot Vale, Flemington, North Melbourne and Elizabeth Street to terminate at Flinders Street station.
Operation
Route 59 is operated out of Essendon depot with B class trams. Occasionally, Z class trams are also used.