Hong Kong’s Peak Tram and the abandoned station

On the way up to Victoria Peak on the Peak Tram there are four intermediate stations that trains seldom stop at, due to a lack of passengers. But there is also a fifth station that no longer exists – Bowen Road.

MacDonnell Road station looking downhill

The four intermediate stops are Barker Road, May Road, MacDonnell Road and Kennedy Road.

'Requested stop' sign onboard a Peak Tram

But not much has been written about the fifth station, with Chinese-language Wikipedia being where I first learnt about it.

Bowen Road Station (寶雲道站) is a closed station on the Peak Tram. It was opened on May 30, 1888 along with the rest of the line and was located just below the stone arch bridge at Magazine Gap Road.

It was closed on January 1, 1985 and was merged with nearby MacDonnell Road Station, located less than a hundred meters downhill. The station facilities have been demolished, leaving the remains of the waiting platforms and steps.

The platform and steps are easy to see from MacDonnell Road Station.

Ascending at Magazine Gap Road

And so can the distance between the two stations – or lack thereof!

MacDonnell road tram station, by Cypp0847 via Wikimedia Commons
Photo by Cypp0847 via Wikimedia Commons

Footnote

The downhill end of Kennedy Road station also has a section of unused platform.

Downhill end of Kennedy Road station

From what I can tell this was never a separate station.

Further reading

Another photo of the abandoned Bowen Road Station via HKRail.NET.

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3 Responses to Hong Kong’s Peak Tram and the abandoned station

  1. Matthieu says:

    The extra platform length was due to the fact that it was harder to stop the tram in the olden days.

  2. Sandra says:

    I have some old photos of this tram stop from 1950s. My dad was a civil engineer in HK for his whole career. The photos relate to a 30″ water main that was built across the the outer side of the Bowen Rd tram stop… lots of engineering pics from that time, if you are interested

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