The tramway network, which opened on 13 July 1898, was the second form of public transport in Winterthur, after a horse bus service, which had run between 1895 and 1897.

The network's first tramway was a 1.77 km (1.10 mi) long radial route from Bahnhof (Winterthur railway station) to Töss.

In addition, the company was responsible for supplying electric current to the catenary until 1904, when the Winterthur municipal power station took over that task.

After the turn of the century, the network was extended as follows: Additionally, on 31 October 1914, the StStW opened a tram deport of its own in Tösstalstrasse in the present-day Mattenbach quarter.

[2] Any further expansion of tram routes – for example, a proposed extension to the central cemetery in Rosenberg – remained unrealised, as a consequence of either the introduction of motor bus services in 1931, or the forced conversion to trolleybuses from 1938.