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Electric Trams

I went to Crich some years ago, a couple of photos inside a tram. The one shows an age group reliving memories, the second shows the steep stairs which we could still use, and the driving controls.

We climbed the stairs to enjoy a nice sit down.
Tramupstairs.jpg


The stairs with two-level hand rails and look at the wood panels.
Tramstairs.jpg
 
Hiya Mo, Was looking at those steps, dont think I could manage them now with my dodgy knees, oh! to be young and fit again Bernard
 
Ouch! An incident on one of the most extensive tramways in the world - in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic.
 
Imagine these going round the Inner Circle. Here is one the latest trams to hit the track in Prague. Seen at their No. 8 terminus. Note the green Temple of Convenience provided exclusively for tram drivers for which they are issued with a key. Shows some Communist ideas were useful.
 
Haven't seen a tram picture in the thread lately. One driver two trams and selling flat caps was a good business to be in !
RemembertheTrams.jpg
 
Beautiful painting Cookie, brings back memories of those times, thanks for putting it on.
oldmohawk...
 
Hi
Here are a few photo's for you to look at



The first one is taken at Camp Hill

Tram725CampHill.jpg






The second Tramcar no 262 was fitted with its own snow plow was taken at Lodge Rd Hockley in 1940


Image2_Tramcar_262_Lodge_Rd_1940.jpg







And the third one Tramcar 843 was taken in Ford St in 1938


Image1_Tramcar_No_843_In_Ford_St_1938.jpg




Regards Stars
 
stars said:
Hi
Here are a few photo's for you to look at

Regards Stars
Click to expand...

That's an unusual looking tram in the third photo.

I notice I previously had a couple of photos of the inside of trams earlier in the thread, found them lurking in my 'puter, and put them back Here

oldmohawk
 
If you refer to the 'photo of Car 843 as the third 'photo then the answer is along these lines. It was the last tramcar built for Birmingham and presumably would have been the precursor for any new trams built. The newer upper deck styling brought it up to date in appearance and it had, as far as I recall, lightweight bodywork compared to its predecessors. It often seems to have been used as a 'Special' for many purposes as I have seen a few 'photos of this car on such a duty: especially around route closure dates.
 
Thanks for the information about car 843. I must admit on the occasions I used the No 6 tram to Perry Barr I liked using the open balcony types even though we could only sit at the rear.
oldmohawk
 
nnn~0.jpeg


I suppose those interested in trams and buses will have already seen this one of Navigation Street.
 
Open balcony tramcars: yes, indeed, those of us old enough to have travelled on them will remember the thrill and excitement to be out there. I wont go into detail what childish antics we all must have done at one time, or another, when looking out over the balcony rail. :excitement: The greatest disapointment was, of course, if some other lucky individuals had got there beforehand. But, as many will remember, there were always plenty more trams following: they seemed to run just a few minutes apart.

My experience of these cars was on the Rednal route - no prizes for guessing my destination as The Lickeys. :playful:
 
Some of my observations of the world at large are that visitors to the UK don't come to see new stuff...towers...glass; they come expecting to see history and older buildings. They have the other modernity in spades...everywhere and hate the impersonal nature of it all I suspect. When we visited back home in previous years, we enjoyed the un-contrived aged buildings...corners that were not square...old and used and human places. This would have been prior to rampant graffiti art. After being away for many years, back then, we were overcome with the comfort and, yes, everyday patina of years of use. Oh to step back in time and have the old tram system back again. These old cars would be prized the world over now and people would come just for the experience of riding on them.
 
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Rupert, how right you are, I became a tourist guide for Birmingham in the late 70s and I soon became aware that people from other countries were not at all interested in anything that had been built after the 50s. Without a doubt they were all far more interested in what had been demolished and why it suffered that fate. The canals were a great point of interest as was the River Rea and I could not tell you how many times I took people out to Wasely hills and then through the City showng them where the Rea had forged its course years ago, then out to Gravelly where it meets a big brother. The Council House and Town Hall, Accident Hospital and The General Hospital, a walk around the Edmund St area as well as St Pauls Square were alway very popular as well. The vast majority of these visitors did ask about the trams and to a lesser degree about the trolley buses. To be precise, everything that was old was of interest to these people and some even wrote to the City Council telling them just that. I would love to come back in fifty years time to see all the junk that has been built in recent years.
stitcher.
 
hyt.jpeg

This one used to run between Smethwick and Birmingham and it is loading at the Smethwichk terminus,
 
Then why not build some more just the same. It's not rocket science...heck the folk who built these had never heard of rockets. Lay some track and put up some cables and don't talk about cost...everything costs something and the cars last a lot longer than a bus...and no polution at the user point anyway. No fumes in the city. Can you just see these same trams winding round Selfridges now...a priceless picture. Make it so! There's a lot of unemployment, so why not use it on something.
 
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mmnn.jpeg

The only information I have with this is that it is the junctionof Washwood Heath Road and Alum Rock Road.
 
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John Lyster was listed in kellys as landlord of the Ivy House from 1884-1892. He is not there 1883 or 1895
 
A most interesting picture showing the two tramcars on route 10. The nearest car has a tram stop sign mounted on the traction pole. What a peculiar place, by todays understanding, that seems to be - right at a road intersection. ;)

I believe the road direction signage reads - Castle Bromwich, Nuneaton and Leicester. You needed good eyesight years ago for road directions. At least signs were not an intrusive on the landscape as they are today. My area is totally disfigured, in many places, by an excessive zeal on someones part to produce road and information signs. I wonder if they get a commission on everyone made. :friendly_wink:
 
The two cars are at The Gate Saltley. Late 40s early Fifties I would say. The Belisha beacon would give some indication of date perhaps. This was the junction where the number 8 tram headed 'up the Rock' out of the picture to the right.
 
Rupert said:
The Belisha beacon would give some indication of date perhaps.
Click to expand...

Indeed it does.
To precis from CBRD (Chris's British Road Directory) and other sources:

Zebra crossings have their roots in pre-war days, when in 1934 the then Transport Minister Leslie Hore-Belisha introduced the practice of marking crossing places with orange globes on top of striped poles. This type of crossing didn't develop any further until October 1951, when the Ministry reacted to complaints that the crossings weren't sufficiently visible by ordering that they should have thick white stripes painted across the road to leave motorists in no doubt, but as the winter went on, the problem became worse - simply because motorists assumed that crossings would be highly visible and were unable to see the stripes in darkness.
The Transport Minister, JR Willis, complained that the measures to improve crossing safety had worked in the day and not at night, and their only course was to spend even more money to make them safe after dark. At that time, the 'Belisha' Beacon was just a glass ball on a pole and the Ministry considered floodlighting the crossings before it settled on the idea of making the beacons light up somehow, and in October 1952 a flashing mechanism was eventually sourced that could be produced in the tens of thousands. It was to be manufactured by a firm of clockmakers.

The whole story of Zebra, Panda, Toucan and other crossings is told amusingly in nine pages here - and is worth the read as it often descends into Governmental farce - as summed up by a Daily Telegraph columnist:
"Nerdley, long a pioneer in urban traffic control, is to install a new experimental system of push-button-controlled pedestrian crossings. This will be combined with the beacons and stop-go signals at the present zebra, panda, wallaby and hippopotamus crossings, with a different coloured flashing light - purple, acid green, pink or beige - to indicate which type of crossing is concerned. When a pedestrian wishes to cross the road, he pushes a convenient button-shaped push-button, inserts coin in slot (change machines are provided), and adjusts dials on a convenient panel to indicate the time he expects to take in crossing, reasons for wishing to cross, nature of business on the other side, &c., &c.
The data is fed into a central computer and correlated with factors of traffic density, actuarial expectation of life, social relevance of the pedestrian and so on. Finally, illuminated figures of standing, walking, running and falling men, women and children in various colours and combinations appear on the signal equipment, indicating whether, at what speed and how soon the pedestrian may expect to cross, if ever."
 
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So, the picture shows (unilluminated) orange beacons applying to an unpainted crossing marked by studs, so dates between 1934 and 1951.
 
bvv.jpeg

A friend suppied this with a message that it is on the Bristol Road.
 
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