Trams have had a rollercoaster history over the last 150 years. First introduced to the UK in the 1860s by a colourful American businessman, they became increasingly popular and successful in British towns and cities because they were so cheap to use. For the first time the working classes could afford to ride to work instead of walking. By the Edwardian period there were electric trams in almost every town in Britain, yet by the 1930s trams were in decline, overtaken by motor buses and then private motor cars. As traffic congestion and air pollution have got worse in recent years, these clean and convenient vehicles have made an almost silent comeback in cities from Manchester and Leeds to London and Edinburgh.
Using beautiful contemporary photographs, this is the fascinating story of the rise, decline and revival of an everyday mode of urban transport that has always been surprisingly controversial.
