Trams are an iconic part of Melbourne, just as they used to be in Sydney. But you may not know they once played an important role in Brisbane's public transport system.

At a time when cars were less popular and milk still arrived in bottles at your front door, the Brisbane CBD and main roads to outlying suburbs lay under a web of tram cables.

The network took children to school and their parents to work.

It connected Chermside in the north to Moorooka in the south, and travelled west to Ashgrove, and east to Camp Hill.

The FM519 tram heads through the CBD. ( Supplied: Mike Quirk )

The first tram rolled along tracks from Logan Road at Woolloongabba to the southern end of the Victoria Bridge on June 21, 1897.

The Brisbane Tramways Company, which started the service, began with 20 trams and expanded to almost 200 more modern trams and trolley buses.

But with the rise of cars and a massive fire that gutted a major depot, patronage on trams declined and the network was cemented under roadways, and into the annals of Brisbane's history.

Curious Brisbane received so many questions about trams in Brisbane, we decided to tackle them all at once.

How long ago did Brisbane get rid of its trams?

The last tram ran from Balmoral to Ascot on April 13, 1969.

Initial moves to stop trams began years earlier under Lord Mayor Clem Jones, and was met with petitions, protests and outrage from Brisbane residents.

Peak hour on a Brisbane tram in 1937. ( Supplied: State Library of Queensland )

Cr Jones, inspired by a visit and accompanying report by American urban planner Wilbur Smith in 1963, oversaw the building of more roads, underground carparks to cater for increases in population.

'The Brisbane Transportation Study' recommended the replacement of all trams and trolley buses with 'diesel units'.

Tram expert Peter Hyde has worked at the Brisbane Tramway Museum since its inception 50 years ago and remembers the time well.

"There was a very big strike by the unions involved in 1968 when they closed the first line," Mr Hyde said.

A tram coming off Victoria Bridge in the 1960s. ( Supplied: State Library of Queensland )

"Right in the middle of Show Week, there were no trams or buses, which was a huge inconvenience to the city.

"BCC motormen, conductors and bus drivers returned to work on August 29, after a strike lasting 24 days", heralded a 1968 issue of the railway magazine Trolley Wire.

"I thought at the time the public reaction would have been so great that they would have changed the decision."

Trams began servicing Brisbane in 1897. ( Supplied: State Library of Queensland )

But Cr Jones was not deterred.

"The Lord Mayor had made it known he saw no place for trams in Brisbane in the future," Mr Hyde said.

Is it true arsonists were involved in the demise of the trams?

There are differing views on this.

On September 28, 1962, a massive fire at the Paddington tram depot destroyed a fifth of the tram fleet.

Layers of elevated wooden platforms soaked with grease and oil from years of tram work ignited, creating green flames visible from nearby suburbs.

About 30 firefighters struggled to control the blaze and eventually the depot was destroyed.

The Paddington Tram Depot fire destroyed more than 50 trams. ( Supplied: Brisbane City Council )

One of those men, on his first big job, was 22-year-old firefighter Brian Dutton.

"The fire was just uncontrollable with the amount of equipment we had available," Mr Dutton said.

"The flames were seen in the southern suburbs. The building itself burned for nearly a week."

Mr Dutton said as the higher wooden bays burned, trams crashed to the ground.

Mr Hyde said conspiracies ran rife in the Brisbane community, with residents concerned the fire was too conveniently timed and many pointed the finger at arsonists and Cr Jones.

Giant advertisements cover this tram in the 1930s. ( Supplied: Brisbane City Council )

"All sorts of intriguing theories went around, that he was seen around the corner holding a box of matches and you name it," he said.

"There was a huge investigation into it of course. But they couldn't determine the cause."

But Mr Dutton said he had taken an interest in the fire since retiring, and believed it was deliberately lit.

"It was an arson job but it was arson by an individual, which I don't think people are aware of," Mr Dutton said.

A tram takes the Wharf Street route. ( Supplied: State Library of Queensland )

According to the official finding, the cause of the fire is unknown.

Mr Hyde said he did not believe the fire was the reason the tram service ended.

"It was seven years before the trams stopped running and they even built some new trams after the fire.

"But it certainly didn't help the cause."

The council used the insurance payout from the depot fire to help pay for its new mode of public transport: buses.

How much of the original Brisbane Tram network track is still buried under today's roads?

Most of it is still there.

The Brisbane City Council said most tram tracks were covered in bitumen after they were taken out of service and during roadworks they are often uncovered temporarily.

Electric fitter Harry McCurley rewinding a tram motor in 1949. ( Supplied: State Library of Queensland )

You can still see the tracks today in two places.

A couple of hundred metres of track is visible on Old Cleveland Road at Carina and a short section remains beside the old Victoria Bridge archway, near the Cultural Centre at South Bank.

Where are the trams today?

If the sound of a tram bell takes you down a happy memory lane, you can visit the Tramway Museum on Sundays in Ferny Grove on Brisbane's northside.

The first trams to be decommissioned in 1969 were handed over to a community group that wanted to preserve them.

Tram expert Peter Hyde has been with the Brisbane Tramway Museum for 50 years. ( ABC News: Isobel Roe )

Now, 24 trams sit at the Ferny Grove museum where tram buffs such as Mr Hyde spend years restoring them to their former glory before putting them onto tracks and entertaining visitors.

You can even take a ride on them around the grounds.

"They take an awful lot of restoration. The last major work done on them was probably 60 years ago now," he said.

"Fully operational — we have six.

One of Tramway Museum's restored trams in action. ( ABC News: Isobel Roe )

"We have another two that are just on the verge of completion and then we will be looking at doing some major work on the ones that we restored 40 years ago."

On its busiest days, the museum can cater for hundreds of visitors.

Could trams play a role in Brisbane's public transport network in the future?

There are no plan for a tram comeback, but the concept of a 'metro' style transport network is in the works.

The Brisbane City Council is planning on connecting existing busways to create the "Brisbane Metro", which would see 60 new high capacity bus-like vehicles carry people on two metro lines into the CBD.

Concept art for the proposed Brisbane Metro system. ( Supplied: Brisbane City Council )

Deputy Mayor Adrian Schrinner said it was more effective than a return of the tram network.

"There are congestion points in that bus network that need to be dealt with so our plan for Brisbane metro deals with those bottle necks, builds new infrastructure and actually puts on much larger vehicles that can carry more people," he said.

"When cities go to refit tram lines that have previously been removed, and some cities are doing that, the cost is really high.

"We're seeing that in Sydney now."

The Brisbane Metro is planned for 2022.