There have been tramways in Britain for 150 years, but it is a story of rise, decline and slow renaissance. Trams have come and gone, been loved and hated, popular and derided, considered both old fashioned and futuristic. Horse trams, introduced 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 tramways were in decline and giving way to cheaper and more flexible motor buses and trolleybuses. By the 1950s the major systems were being replaced. London's last tram ran in 1952 and Glasgow, the city most firmly linked with trams, closed its system in 1962. Only Blackpool, famous for its decorated cars, kept a public service running, and trams seemed destined only for preservation in museums. A slow renaissance began in the 1980s, when new systems were introduced as modern 'light rail' networks, starting with the Tyne eWear Metro (1980) and London's DLR (1987).The latest city to reintroduce trams will be Edinburgh in 2014. Trams are now set to be a familiar and significant feature of urban life once again. AUTHOR: Oliver Green is former Head Curator of the London Transport Museum and has become its first Research Fellow. He has lectured widely and authored a range of publications on aspects of transport and design, ranging from the history of the London Underground to British Airways posters. His most recent book is Frank Pick's London: Art, Design and the Modern City, published by the Victoria Albert Museum, London. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and now acts as a consultant and mentor to a number of transport museums. SELLING POINTS: ? Over 200 compelling illustrations ? A look at the early horse and steam trams ? Charts the decline and fall of tramways and their slow renaissance in more recent years ? Outlines the operational public systems in the UK and Ireland. 200 illustrations
