Andrew Simpson: Munich …the home of trams since 1876 …..

Tuesday, 21 May 2024

Munich …the home of trams since 1876 …..

Munich trams are blue.

A blue Munich Tram, 2024

But my travelling chum assures me that apart from being blue they are just like our yellow ones.

Blue Munich trams, 1974

Well that may well be but my Wikipedia lists a whole set of different designs which have busied themselves across the city since the first horsecars appeared in 1876 followed by the first electric trams nineteen years later.*

Now we won’t over mention the last world war when only 168 trams out of a fleet of 444 were operational.

Happily today there are 13 day time tram lines with four night time routes covering a total of 165 stops.

At this point Eric who is a champion of our own Metro link will point out that in Greater Manchester there are 99 stops along 64 miles of track, although ruefully he had to concede we have only eight lines …. But with more planned.

Two yellow trams, St Peter's Square, 2024

Now I could mention the new series of books telling the story of Greater Manchester by Tram, but that would be an outrageous bit of self-promotion, so I won’t other than to offer up a link to the project.**

And because Eric insisted our own yellow trams get a look in , only for the technical tram fan to argues about the similarities and differences between blue and yellow.

Location; Munich

Picture; a blue Munich tram, 2024, München MVV Tramlinie 9 (M4.65 2496) / 20 (M3.64 2350) Cosimapark am 17. August 1974, Kurt Rasmussen, and yellow Manchester trams, 2024, St Peter's Square, and Deansgate Castlefield, from the collection of Andrew Simpson