Brisbane once was Southern Hemisphere rival to San Francisco in its elaborate system of trams shuttling around. To transport the growing population of Brisbane, Australia around the city and to the suburbs, the Brisbane Tramways Company built a train depot in Latrobe Terrace, Paddington in 1915, and expanded it considerably in the years afterward. But while San Francisco continues, Brisbane no longer has any of its former tramways. They were lost, in one fell swoop, one unfortunate night.

On this day, September 28, in 1962, a fire that broke out at the depot overnight destroyed 65 trams, a quarter of the fleet, crippling Brisbane’s public transport system. Three trams were saved and the rest burned to the ground.

As a stopgap measure, Brisbane activated old decommissioned trains to serve in place of the ones destroyed, and cobbled together new ones from what parts could be scavenged from the rubble — these so-called “Phoenix” trams came with their own logo. The larger debate whether to rebuild the tramway system or let it be replaced by buses, and Brisbane city leaders decided in favor of the latter. Many former tram conductors became bus drivers instead.