What is a Tram?

A tram (or tramway, trolley, streetcar) is a light-rail vehicle for public transport. Trams are distinguished from other forms of light rail in that they travel along tracks laid down in the right-of-way of city streets. Another distinguishing factor is the short length of the vehicle, which usually consists of a standalone car or three at most. The name "tram" is from Low German traam, meaning the "beam (of a wheelbarrow)".

 Early trams were pulled along by horses. Later trams, known as cable cars, attached to a moving cable underneath the road. Modern trams generally use overhead electric cables, from which they draw current through a pantograph or a trolley pole. (Wikipedia)

The arrival of the Trams at Summerlee

The first tram to be delivered was Brussels 9062 in 1988, operating over a 200-metre length of track. Operation at the time was complicated by the fact that the car was single-ended with doors on only one side (Brussels uses loops at the ends of their lines), and could reverse only at low speed driven from a shunting controller. Full Controls were subsequently added at the rear of this car. In 1989 it was joined by car 225 from Graz in Austria. Maintenance was at first somewhat difficult as the cars were stored in the open at the end of the main single track. The facilities were much-improved on the opening in 1991 of the depot, which accommodates up to 4 cars. Also that year, the extension to the running line opened, more than doubling it to its current length of approximately 475 metres.

The next tramway acquisition was from Oporto in Portugal, car 150, obtained only as a source of supply for truck & electrics (therefore subsequently dismantled) for Lanarkshire Tramways Car 53, the body of which had been rebuilt using the rotting timbers from the original 53 rescued from an Ayrshire field, as patterns. The restored 53 was launched on 1st April, 1995 with Helen Liddell MP (later Secretary of State for Scotland)  at the controls. Elaine Smith MSP also had a "turn at the handles" in May 2000. With every respect to these ladies, the car's crowning moment came on 11th Sept.2001 when H.R.H. The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, took the controls during a visit to the Museum (sadly, the event was totally overshadowed by the Twin Towers, Pentagon and the other hi-jack disaster in the USA later that day and the expected benefits of publicity did not materialise). Lanarkshire 53 has also appeared in a number of television programmes, such as Para Handy, with STG members crewing the car during filming.

Ex-Glasgow motorschool car 1017's body was offered to the Museum from its resting place in a garden in Cambuslang where it had lain since withdrawal in 1962 and was serving as a summerhouse and one time meeting place for the Scottish Tramway Museum Society (now S.T.T.S.). The Group found it a great challenge to collect the body as infrastructure in the area had changed considerably since it had been delivered and recovery was thought to be very difficult if not impossible! Recovery was accomplished in 1991 and the Group undertook restoration, procuring a narrow gauge truck from Lisbon, having it regauged to standard, fitting it etc. Only in the very latter stages did the Museum take over the restoration. The car has run very occasionally in public service, but has not yet been officially "launched". It is now on its fourth owner, having originally been built as double-deck Paisley car 17 (similar to Lanarkshire 53) before the Paisley system’s acquisition by Glasgow Corporation Tramways.

With the inability of any of the cars to accommodate wheelchairs and knowing Dusseldorf were about to dispose of the last of their four-wheelers, Dusseldorf was contacted by the Group and their 392 was purchased (at the generously discounted price of DM1.00!) arriving on 8th December 1999. Various grants enabled the fitting of a wheelchair lift in the May of the following year. The car has not yet run in service being held up with various rules & regulations as well as suffering a severe attack of vandalism!

In 2003, the Museum accepted the donation of Glasgow 1245 and Group members travelled to Blackpool to remove various fittings, seats, etc., before the upper deck was split from the lower to allow passage under the bridge in West Canal Street. Restoration of this car is a very long term project, for which volunteers will be welcomed.

Two trams have been dismantled since arriving at Summerlee, Oporto 150 as mentioned above to provide a truck for Lanarkshire 53 (the body of 150 served as a members’ bothy for another few years), and the original car, Brussels 9062, which was subjected to an attack by vandals in early September 2004 (also seriously affecting Dusseldorf 392) and deemed to be beyond economic repair. The truck from 9062 has since passed to a museum in England.