Tram Topics

Welcome to the second in an occasional series about trams – the last such posting was on the subject of Milan. There was a time in the early decades of the last century when the tram was the pre-eminent means of urban transport. In Britain it declined rapidly as the motor bus became the favoured choice. This did not happen to the same extent in mainland Europe where trams survive in numbers to the present day. These colour photographs, bought in a local antique market, come from the late 1960’s or 1970’s, a time when trams had long been banished from British streets where planners were hopelessly fixated on the dubious charm of the internal combustion engine.


The olive green vehicle in the uppermost image has a note on the back, Malmo, Sweden, Oct 1969, but none of the others have any information about where they were taken. The cream coloured tram appears to be in a French speaking city (Belgium?, Switzerland?) and the red and cream tram seems to be in a German speaking district. Any further information from someone more expert than myself in matters of identification would be very welcome.