The Peak Tramway (mid-1890s)

Klaus
Sun, 12/29/2024 - 02:50
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The Peak Tramway (mid-1890s)

Source [Views of Ceylon, China, Hong Kong, the Malay Peninsula, Singapore, & Bombay, India plus execution scenes at Canton, China] (Getty Museum), photo on page 14. Photographer unknown.

Date estimated to 1893, but could be from 1894 (see comment below).

At the Plantation Road/Barker Road Station, Plantation Road can be seen running uphill. Shortly to the left a path runs to the east - this will be Barker Road later. At the junction of the two roads a retention wall was constructed in 1897, on the photo there is  no sign of it. Possibly a better date can be derived from buildings further uphill.

Date picture taken
1893 (year is approximate)
Tags
Peak Tram
Author(s)
Getty Museum
Gallery
1890s Hong Kong
Shows place(s)
Plantation Road / Barker Road Station, Peak Tram [????- ]
The Peak Tram, upper terminus [1888- ]
Peak Tram [1888- ]
Tramway Managers House or Tramway Station House [1893-????]
The Peak Hotel (2nd generation) [1890-1938]

Comments

Hi Klaus. Thanks for posting this pic. You wondered if the buildings further uphill could help to date the photo? Here are my thoughts.

  1. Tramway Managers House. Its completion date was discussed at https://gwulo.com/node/55428 and concluded to be in late 1893. The building looks complete in the photo, suggesting it was taken in late 1893 or later. There’s a small hut at the buildings base on the side facing the camera that doesn’t appear in later photos. As it was only temporary, perhaps it was used by workers during the construction project, then removed shortly after completion. If so, the photo was taken before its removal in early 1894 at the latest.
  2. Peak Hotel. The image is too vague to be sure of much, except that the two blocks of the Hotel are still separate. I think, but am not certain, that the two blocks were joined in early 1894 with the completion of the “new wing” (HK Telegraph, 20 April 1894). If so, the photo was taken in early 1894 at the latest.
  3. Sites of the two Peak Chair Coolie Quarters. These are lower and to the right of the Peak Tram Upper Terminal. The area where the steep slope has been levelled and supporting buttresses added is RBL 83, where the first Peak Chair Coolie Quarters would appear. Construction of the building had not started or was in its earliest stages when the photo was taken. To its left, a hut sits on the site where the second Peak Chair Coolie Quarters would be built in 1902-3. The hut is not seen in later photos, suggesting that it was for the workers who levelled RBL 83, or those who would build the first Quarters or both. RBL 83 was put up for auction on 22 August 1892, but unfortunately I don’t know when the first Quarters was built. Anyway, it’s logical to assume that RBL 83 was levelled around the date of the auction. If so, the photo was taken in 1892 or later.  

Although the above points are frustratingly vague, considered together they suggest the photo was taken at sometime in late 1893 or early 1894. Corrections more than welcome.

Thank you gw for providing so many details about buildings uphill.  It is sometimes difficult to give exact dates when the photos are in an album that was published long time ago. The description of the album gives the names of photographers, amongst these are Felice Beato and John Thomson. Beato took photos around 1860, Thomson around 1870. Charles T. Scowen took photos in Ceylon and likely not in Hong Kong. Left are "unknown [photographers]" which doesn't really help. My guess would be the Afong Studios, a couple of their Peak Tram photos are still available, unfortunately these photo were taken over a wide time span. 

For the time being I will set the date to 1893.

P.S. I've uploaded a new photo with a higher resolution.