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It is almost 100 years since the first tram was preserved in Britain, in the century since then a great variety of trams have been saved from tramway systems small and large. Some trams were purchased directly out of service and others were acquired after many years alternative usage, some being summer houses or homes, while others were used on farms or allotments where they served as sheds and out buildings, before being lovingly restored over many years. The story of tram preservation is not wholly positive, in the early days many trams suffered from being stored in the open at unsafe sites, where the historic vehicles were often subjected to acts of vandalism and suffered badly from the weather. This changed to a large extent in 1959, with the acquisition of the site of the future National Tramway Museum at Crich in Derbyshire,, where a comprehensive collection of trams from all over Britain and also foreign tram networks has been assembled, to secure a collection of tramcars for future generations. There is also today fine collections of trams in other museums in Britain and Ireland, which cover much of the rich history of this once common form of public transport. This book looks at almost 200 of these trams when they were in service, through historic photographs, prior to their withdrawal and eventual preservation.
There have been passenger tramways in Britain for 150 years, but it is a rollercoaster story of rise, decline and a steady return. Trams have come and gone, been loved and hated, popular and derided, considered both wildly futuristic and hopelessly outdated by politicians, planners and the public alike. Horse trams, introduced from the USA in the 1860s, were the first cheap form of public transport on city streets. Electric systems were developed in nearly every urban area from the 1890s and revolutionised town travel in the Edwardian era.A century ago, trams were at their peak, used by everyone all over the country and a mark of civic pride in towns and cities from Dover to Dublin. But by the 1930s they were in decline and giving way to cheaper and more flexible buses and trolleybuses. By the 1950s all the major systems were being replaced. Londons last tram ran in 1952 and ten years later Glasgow, the city most firmly linked with trams, closed its network down. Only Blackpool, famous for its decorated cars, kept a public service running and trams seemed destined only for scrapyards and museums.A gradual renaissance took place from the 1980s, with growing interest in what are now described as light rail systems in Europe and North America. In the UK and Ireland modern trams were on the streets of Manchester from 1992, followed successively by Sheffield, Croydon, the West Midlands, Nottingham, Dublin and Edinburgh (2014). Trams are now set to be a familiar and significant feature of twenty-first century urban life, with more development on the way.
David Gladwin's latest transport book, his 28th, concentrates on Britain's traditional tramways. They were the mainstay of urban travel from the end of the nineteenth century through to post world war II operations. Even today, they are still in everyday use in a few locations, including Blackpool and The Isle of Man. David's unashamedly nostalgic book looks at all aspects of tramways including track design and laying, vehicle design and development and staffing operations in war and peace. The story shows the sad decline and demise of a cheap and efficient method of transport and concludes with a glimpse of preserved trams and tramway museums. The text is heavily illustrated with many previously unpublished black and white and colour illustrations.
Marking 90 years of London Transport, this selection of images celebrates its buses, trams and trolleybuses in preservation.
The period of Britain’s Industrial Revolution was perhaps the most transformative era in the nation’s history. Between about 1750 and 1914, life and work, home and school, church and community changed irreversibly for Britain’s rapidly expanding population. Lives were transformed, some for the better, but many endured abysmal domestic and workplace conditions. Eventually improvements were made to Britain’s social fabric which led to the prospect of richer and more fulfilled lives for working men, women and even children. Focusing on 100 objects that either directly influenced, or arose from, these changes, John Broom offers a distinctive insight into this fascinating age. With plentiful illustrations and suggestions for visits to hundreds of places of historical interest, this book makes an ideal companion for a journey into Britain’s industrial past.
During the history of Britain’s electric tramcar fleets, many thousands were manufactured of which the vast majority saw out their operational life with a single owner. However, for several hundred there was to be a second – if not, in certain cases, a third – career with a new operator. Almost from the dawn of the electric era in the late 19th century tramcars were loaned or bought and sold between operators. The reasons for this were multifarious. Sometimes the aspirations of the original owners for traffic proved wildly optimistic and the fleet was downsized to reflect better the actual passenger levels. War was a further cause as operators sought to strengthen their fleets to cater for unexpectedly high level of demand or to replace trams destroyed by enemy action. For other operators, modernization represented an opportunity to sell older cars while, certainly from the 1930s, a number of operators – such as Aberdeen, Leeds and Sunderland – took advantage of the demise of tramways elsewhere to supplement their fleet with trams that were being withdrawn but which still had many years of useful operational life in them. The process was to continue right through to the mid-1950s when Glasgow took advantage of the demise of the once-extensive Liverpool system to purchase a number of the streamlined bogie bogie cars that were built in the late 1930s. In this book the author provides a pictorial history – with detailed captions – to the many electric trams that were to operate with more than one tramway during the period up to the closure of the closure of the Glasgow system in 1962.
A photographic overview of the little-known cars and engineers that kept British tramways running smoothly and safely. While generally unfamiliar to the passengers that used tramways, works trams were an essential facet of the efficient operation of any system—large or small—and this book presents an overview of the great variety of works trams that served the first generation of tramways in the British Isles. Although construction of most tramways was left to the contractor employed on the work, once this was completed the responsibility for the maintenance and safe operation of the system fell on the operator. The larger the operator, the greater and more varied the fleet of works cars employed; specialist vehicles were constructed for specific duties. Smaller operators, however, did not have this luxury, relying instead on one or two dedicated works cars or, more often, a passenger car temporarily assigned to that work. This book is a pictorial survey of the many weird and wonderful works cars that once graced Britain’s first generation tramways.
Although better known as a pioneer of trolleybus operation, Bradford played host to Britain's longest surviving trolleybus network (61 years) - the corporation operated a sizeable fleet of 4ft 0in gauge trams through to May 1950. As such, Bradford could lay claim to being the last 4ft 0in tram operator in Britain and - in the restoration of No 104 - the first to see a derelict tramcar restored to use. - The Lost Tramways of England series documents the tram networks which were at the heart of many of Britain's growing towns and cities from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century. - Transport expert Peter Waller, author of numerous works on the regional tram systems of the UK, guides the reader along the route of the network and discusses its key features stop by stop. - As well as rigorously detailed transport history, these volumes provide an intimate glimpse into life as it was lived during this period, and the recognisable streets which have been maintained or transformed through the decades. - An informative, accessible and portable resource for the tram enthusiast as well as the general reader, and a superb souvenir or gift for visitors past and present. - Photo illustrated throughout, including many archive images which are appearing in print for the first time.
This study of the development of railway preservation in the British Isles examines contributions from both the public and private sectors.