Uncovering the story of Eltham's trams ........... and a bit more too

I have long had a fascination for trams and I have just bought Eltham and Woolwich Tramways which contains “a wealth of nostalgia with many previously unpublished photographs depicting street scenes from the past.”*

Now I don’t do nostalgia it is a shallow preoccupation which distorts the past and leads you into all sorts of pitfalls.

On the other hand there is nothing wrong in wanting to peel back your own past and match your memories with the historic record and in doing so not only relive a bit of your youth but also learn more about that time.

So it is with trams.  I was just two and bit when the last one London tram trundled into the depot at New Cross and while family legend has it that I was there I have no memory of the event.

Likewise it would be another twelve years before we moved in to Well Hall and so the story of the Eltham and Woolwich trams is all new to me.

Bits of the story I already knew but Mr Hartley’s book is as promised full of some wonderful pictures which offer up scenes of Eltham and Woolwich before I knew them and as you would expect I was more than a little thrilled at getting close to our own house on Well Hall Road.

But it is easy to get seduced by the old pictures and forget the importance of the tram.  It was a cheap and for the time efficient means of transport reflected in the fact that within a few short decades it was adopted by local authorities across the country to replace horse drawn buses and trams.

LCC Tam, 1622,  route 40 from New Cross to Westminster, 2015

And because it was cheap and fast it opened up the suburbs by allowing workers to live further away from their work place.

Now to a certain extent the railways had pioneered this development but the tram could do this better.

After all it was far cheaper to lay tram track which had the added advantage that the routes could follow the existing road network.

So when the Government settled on Well Hall for its huge housing estate for the Arsenal workers in 1915 the tram network had already been in place for five years and following the Great War the network was extended to Lee, Lewisham and London.

All of which I suppose could mean that Ruskin’s observation that "Your railroad, when you come to understand it, is only a device for making the world smaller"** could equally be applied to the tram.

And on that note I shall leave off and go back to reading the book with just a thank you to Tricia Lesley who first alerted me to it and pass on a recommendation for the book which will not only delight fellow tram buffs like me but also offer up a snap shot of an Eltham which has pretty much vanished.

Sadly the book is out of print but where there is a will there is a copy and if enough people show an interest perhaps there could be a reprint.

Pictures; cover of Eltham & Woolwich Tramways, 1996, courtesy of the publishers and LCC tram 1622, 2015, Crich Tramway Village courtesy of Andy Robertson***


*Eltham and Woolwich Tramways, Robert J Harley, Middleton Press, 1996, https://www.middletonpress.co.uk/

**John Ruskin 1856

***Crich Tramway Village, http://www.tramway.co.uk/

Travelling on LCC tram number 1622 with memories of the Old Kent Road and Well Hall

Now I missed travelling on a tram by just a matter of years, but had I been born a little earlier I might well have been on this one that rattled its way up from the Old Kent Road to Westminster.

And just possibly also taken the 44 and 46 which connected Eltham with Woolwich.

According to family legend I was actually there at New Cross when the last London tram took its last journey in the summer of 1952 but until yesterday I never thought I would come close to one.

Now I know I could visit the London Transport Museum where there is a fine 1910 tram from West Ham Tramways Corporation, but my number 40 which was the one my dad would have used is even closer to home.

It is in the collection of CRICH TRAMWAY VILLAGE just south of Matlock which is no distance for me but I accept is a long way from south east London.

But your loss is our gain and I have planned my visit.

In the meantime I have settled for a picture of LCC number 1622 which plied route 40 from New Cross.

It comes from my old friend Andy Robertson who has been recording the changes to the twin cities of Manchester and Salford and decided to take an afternoon off and visit the museum.

And there is plenty else to see from a Blackpool tram complete with its destination board announcing a Tour of the Illuminations to the Red Lion Hotel which was once in Stoke on Trent and facing demolition was rescued by the museum rebuilt and happily once again serves up a pint.

In his collection of pictures from the day is the sign on a Leeds tram informing passengers that “Spitting is Forbidden” which made sense in an age before antibiotics and the dangers from a range of infectious diseases was all too common.

It is I think Andy's favourite  while for me it will always be the number 40

Which just leaves me to mention Trams in Eltham by John Kennett** and The Campaign To Save The London Trams by Ann Watkins which includes a chapter on that last tram at New Cross.

Picture; trams at the Crich Tramway Village, 2015, from the collection of Andy Robertson, 

* Crich Tramway Village, http://www.tramway.co.uk/

** Trams in Eltham  by John Kennett, Eltham Society, http://www.theelthamsociety.org.uk/publications.php

*** The Campaign To Save The London Trams by Ann Watkins, http://www.kentarchaeology.ac/authors/019.pdf

The multilingual tram …… some confused identity ……and a street grid

So just as you think you are in the French town of Strasbourg, along comes a blue tram with Welcome in Italian embellished on the side.

And to add to the confusion my travelling chum who snapped "Benvenuto tram car 3001" tells me that "here we are in Strasbourg and the trams are mainly white with an occasional blue one".

All of which should not be that confusing to anyone who knows a little of Strasbourg’s history which is a city which has ping ponged between Germany and France.

In the Middle Ages it was governed by the bishops of Strasbourg, and then for four hundred years it was a free imperial city, before being seized by the French in 1681, who subsequently lost it to the newly created Germany in 1871, only to go back to France after the Great War before them briefly being occupied by the Nazis from 1940.

And then after it was liberated by the 2nd French Armoured Division under General Leclerc in November 1944 it was  again a French city.

So some might say my multilingual tram is just covering all the bets, and I have to confess it does in fact have messages in other languages along with the French and German national flags. 

The flags may seem an odd addition given the history but my Wikipedia my Wikipedia tells me that the   service is “one of the few tram networks to cross an international border, [and as well as taking you around Strasbourg will whisk you off] “to  Kehl in Baden-Württemberg, Germany”.

Leaving me just to add "The Strasbourg tramway (French: Tramway de Strasbourg, German: Straßenbahn Straßburg; Alsatian: D'Strossabàhn Strossburi(g)), run by the CTS, is a network of six tramlines, A, B, C, D, E and F . The first tramline in Strasbourg, which was originally horse-drawn, opened in 1878. 

After 1894, when an electric-powered tram system was introduced, a widespread network of tramways was built, including several longer-distance lines on both sides of the Rhine".*

But it wouldn’t be a communication from my travelling friend if I didn’t include one of those cast iron street grids which I delight in collecting.

This one has that romantic and catchy inscription …… "Strasbourg Eurometropole Assainissement" which google translate offers up as …. "Strasbourg Eurometropole Sanitation".

So that is it.

Leaving me just to include  those two trams again .....  if for no other reason than  they also show the tram stops where passengers can shelter, wait for their tram or just take pictures of trams.

And yes I also collect tram stops.

Location; Strasbourg

Pictures, blue trams, white trams and a street grid, 2024

*Strasbourg tramway, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strasbourg_tramway#Future_extensions

Stealing the Freiburg seal …… and catching the wrong colour tram

I have never hidden my obsession for collecting street furniture, be it a lamppost a coal hole cover, or an old manual petrol pump.

Some still perform the task they were intended for but most sit forgotten, and neglected and even vandalized and as such are a rusting monument to former technologies.

But in Freiburg the authorities maintain their cast iron sanitation grids even embellishing them with the town’s seal.

When I first came across one of these cast iron grids, I assumed the ornate markings depicted a nearby castle or the city’s walls while the trumpeters were celebrating a martial victory.

But not so.  My Wikipedia tells me that the design has been lifted from the City’s seal and is a “stylised depiction of the façade of the Wasserschlössle, a castle-like waterworks facility built into a hill that overlooks the residential district of Wiehre. 

The seal depicts a three-towered red castle on a white background, with green-clad trumpeters atop the two outer towers”.

It can be found “in a few places in the inner city” and of course on those street covers which make perfect sense given that they all carry the inscription which translates as “Freiburg sewer system”.

It is the sort of discovery which makes me smug and emboldened by the information and looked to launching detailed account of the tram system based on a fine pictures whizzed over by my travelling companion.

But to use that old Hebrew observation “Man makes plans. God laughs”.

And so having added the picture of tramcar 257 in its white and smudgy blue livery I discovered that one source offer up that the trams “operate in an attractive dark red and white livery and run on 5 routes”.

A mystery further compounded by my travelling companion who informed me that “It seems they have multi colours, even a yellow one. And also different makes/designs. I’ll try and find a red one”.

So, I await more trams and will leave you with the information that the “network currently has five lines. 

The expansion of the tram network since 1980 has served as an example of the "renaissance of the trams" in Germany. 

As of 2023, 73 trams were available for regular use: 2 of these were high-floored, 36 partial and 35 low-floored”.**

And just as I finished the piece my travelling companion found a red tram. and followed it up with an old red tram.

All of which leaves me to fall back on that old observation ......"you wait ten minutes for a tram and three Freiburg trams turn up at once".

Location; Freiburg

Pictures; around Freiburg, 2024

* Freiburg im Breisgau,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freiburg_im_Breisgau

** Trams in Freiburg im Breisgau, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trams_in_Freiburg_im_Breisgau

So good it had to be done twice ……..

And why not?

The network may only run for 15 miles along two lines with 22 trams but then the city according to one source is “of a manageable size and much is within walking distance……[so with] public transport  available for longer distances” the tram is the thing.*

 

And with an eye to the positive the network promises “Our strength: short distances” which is nicely delivered by tramcar no. 13.

It was spotted by my travelling chum who yesterday offered up a picture of one of the modern fleet and not content with that was out before breakfast to snap its older companion.

At which point Eric custodian of all things trams will provide a detailed description of tramcar no. 13 but for now I will leave you with the revelation that “Every Saturday until the end of 2022, buses and trams in the city area of Ulm/Neu-Ulm can be used free of charge”.*

Now there will be those who spot that the offer ran out in 2 years ago and so I am wondering if the scheme has made it in 2024, or has some one not updated the promise?

I could phone the company and ask but I am the first to acknowledge that my German isn’t up to the task.

Leaving me to wonder if my travelling chum will pursue the offer and if so will he choose car 13 or 65?

The possibilities are too exciting to contemplate.

Location; Ulm

Picture; the Ulm tram, 2024

* Public Transport in Ulm/Neu-Ulm, https://gruppen.ulm.de/en/planning/travel-planning/public-transport/

Tramming it in Ulm

Now it’s slim pickings when you come to look for information on the tram network in the German city of Ulm.

But then it only operates two lines with one site boasting “Our strength: short distances”.*

That said it still has 22 trams and operates over 15 miles, with one of its destinations the Science Park.

Of course, when my travelling chum sent over his picture I was a tad sceptical that he was in Ulm given the sign on the front of tramcar no.65  says it is going to the Science Park, but even I know the German for Science Park is …… Wissenschaftspark.

Not that I am surprised.

We watch a lot of Italian TV and in the last few years English has invaded chat show conversations, news bulletins and adverts.

Still I shouldn't be harsh, they have been running their trams since 1897, and in "2018, a second main line was added to the former single tram line that had been left of the former network since 1964".**

Perhaps my friend will have better luck in Frieburg which is the next stop.

We shall see.

Location; Ulm

Picture; the Ulm tram bound for the Wissenschaftspark, 2024

*Public Transport in Ulm/Neu-Ulm, https://gruppen.ulm.de/en/planning/travel-planning/public-transport/

**Trams in Ulm, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trams_in_Ulm

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

One yellow tram, Deansgate Castlefield, 2024

*Trams in Munich, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trams_in_Munich

Back with that blue Munich tram, 2024

**A History of Greater Manchester By Tram, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20the%20History%20of%20Greater%20Manchester%20by%20Tram

The tram to catch in Prague …… travels with old friends

Now, I am reliably informed by my Prague chums that tram route 22 is the one for getting to see all of the city’s attractions.  It offers breath-taking views of the city as it runs through Hradčany, passing by the National Theatre and stopping at Prague Castle, Loreta and Strahov Monastery.

Prague tram car 8567 on the 22 route and a blue pal, 2024

So when I got this picture in the post I just had to explore the Timmy trams of Prague and on the way pick up a bit of the history.

According to my official Prague guide to public transport “tram network is 88,5 miles (142,4 km)-long and consists of 22 daytime tram lines and 9 night lines. Combining this means of transport with the metro, passengers will be able to travel anywhere in the city.

The first tram, which was pulled by horses, started running on 23 September 1875.

Due to the horsecar trams constantly derailing and the introduction of the first electric trams in Europe during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, Prague inaugurated the first electric line in 1891. In 2012, over 324,2 million passengers had used the tram in Prague.

Daytime trams start running at 4:30 am approximately every 10 minutes until midnight. Night trams (numbers 51 to 59) run from midnight until 4:30 am every 30 - 40 minutes”.*

Catching a tram at Exchange Square, Manchester, 2024

And the picture and the story have now been added to my collection which crosses Europe, includes San Francisco and in time heaps more places.**

But at this point as you would expect I cannot resist mentioning the Simpson Topping project to tell the History of Greater Manchester by Tram.***

The first of the series is out now and covers that part of the East Didsbury line from Trafford Bar to East Didsbury.  

It costs just £4.99, just a tad more than the price of a "one day anytime travelcard” and explores each of the metro stops along the route, discovering a bit of the history of each, with fine original paintings by Peter Topping.

It is available from Chorlton Bookshop, and from us at www.pubbooks.co.uk

Our red friend and his blue companions passing through Prague, 2024

So after that outrageous piece of self-promotion, I will return to the Prague trams, with the odd snippet of travel information that apparently ten different companies operate along the same Prague line.

Which I suspect is a very heaven for anyone who collects tram numbers.

*civitatis Prague, https://www.introducingprague.com/tram

**Trams across the world, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Trams%20across%20the%20world

***A History of Greater Manchester by Tram, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20the%20History%20of%20Greater%20Manchester%20by%20Tram

Down on the Corso Garibaldi in Naples waiting for the tram

Now, if you know where to look you can find a tram in Naples.  

On the Corso Garibaldi, 2006

This one runs to the Corso Garibaldi and is one of the  three services which are routes 1, 2 and 4.

I have no idea what happened to route 3, but given that this is Naples there can be any one of a number of explanations.

The most likely is that it was lost once when the tram network was more extensive.

The good news is that trams are on the increase again in the city and that has to be good.

They first began running a service in 1875 which was two years before Rome and at present there are 11.8 km of track.

I wish we could have caught one last month when were there but next time I shall.

Near the Porta Maggiore 2010

And in the same way when we return to Rome I will board one of their green ones.

My preferred choice would be one of  these older ones, but I am guessing it will have been replaced by the new sleeker models.

Well, we shall see.

Location; Naples & Rome

Pictures; Napoli, line of trams in Corso Garibaldi. At the head of the line is Peter Witt-type tram no. 975, ©grahamec, permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 and Roma, Older tram near Porta Maggiore 2010, © Luca F, who as the copyright holder (Luca F.) of this file allows anyone to use it for any purpose, provided that the copyright holder is properly attributed.

Missing the tram in Milan

Now it is odd just what you can miss on a visit to Milan.

Crossing under the Porta Nuova 2013

Some of our family live just a little north of the city in Varese and we sometimes take the train to Milan, but although I see them in the distance I have never caught a Milan tram.

The service began in 1881 and now extends to 170 km with 17 urban lines and one interurban line and about half of the tram lines pass by, or terminate near Piazza del Duomo.

So given that the piazza is a favourite spot you would think we would have hopped on one but no, and I don’t think I have even got a picture.

So there you are.

Location; Milan

Picture; Trams numbers 1754 and 1582 of the ATM of Milan under the Arches of Porta Nuova, 2013,  Giorgio Stagni, who as the creator has licensed the picture under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

The lost 1950’s collection ....... No1 catching the tram in Brussels

Now like all good things the lost 1950’s collection was not really lost just misplaced.

The collection was passed onto me by a friend and in the midst of redecorating the house last Christmas were carefully stored away in the cellar and came to light this week when the said cellar was also going through a makeover.

There are about 30 picture postcards from the 1950s which are part of a bigger collection ranging from Edwardian birthday cards to a vast selection of seaside scenes from Britain, France and Belgium with a few of the Swiss Alps.

But it is the 1950s group that has caught my eye which I suppose is partly because that was the decade when I was growing up and because they have a quaintness about them which makes them look almost like today but not quite.

And to start the series, this is of the Stock Exchange in Brussels, chosen because of that tram.
Trams first came to the city in 1869 and the first electric one 25 years later.

Over time the livery of the trams has changed but in the 1920s they were given a primrose colour which lasted till the mid 1990s.

Location; Brussels

Picture; the Stock Exchange, Brussels, circa 1950 from the collection of  Ron Stubley

Budapest on a fine April day ...... from the camera of Julie Thomas ...no.6

Now Budapest is not a city I have visited, so it has been fun to see the place through the camera of Julie Thomas.

Julie told me “I have my phone on the setting Noir so I will call these Budapest Noir'”

And that is all I am going to say.

Location; Budapest

Picture; Budapest Noir, 2018, from the collection of Julie Thomas

Budapest ........ where the trams are yellow and are fun to travel

Now the trams of Budapest are proof that nothing beats a journey on a bright yellow tram.

That said the city’s trams have had their ups and downs since the first horse drawn service began in Pest on the east side of the Danube in 1865, quickly followed by another in Buda run by a rival company.

Within 20 years there were fifteen lines and by 1944 the network had grown to 66 lines.

But the siege of Budapest which damaged much of the city including the tram network, followed by a switch to trolley buses and petrol powered buses almost did for the tram.

But not quite and today after a policy flip the tram network is growing again and as of 2015 there were 33 lines, including the delightful Budapest Cog-wheel Railway which for those who like detail is Tram line number 60 and runs every from 5 am till 11 at night along 3.7 km of track.

I have Julie to thank for the pictures of the tram and for bringing to my attention the story of Budapest’s tram service.

And the rest as they say is a collection of Budapest's best along which Julie's endorsement of what a "fantastic transport system in Budapest has, with
trams,trolly buses, metro,buses and a water taxi on the Danube and all very cheap."


Location Budapest

Picture;  big yellow tram, small maroon one and number 2 route, 2015, from the collection of Julie Thomas

Painting Well Hall and Eltham ........ nu 9 ........ catching the tram*

Now I know route number 40 never went through Well Hall

We had  routes 44 and 46, but this one is close enough.

It ran via the Old Kent Road and Westminster to the Embankment.

But it is special because it was one of the trams I might just have caught had I been old enough, given that we once lived close to the Old Kent Road.

And knowing how special LCC 1622 was to me, Peter offered to paint it from a picture taken back in 2015 by Andy Robertson.

At which point I could go into great detail on the story of the Woolwich and Eltham trams, but I won't.

Instead I will merely say that when the Government settled on Well Hall for its huge housing estate for the Arsenal workers in 1915 our tram network had already been in place for five years and following the Great War the network was extended to Lee, Lewisham and London.

Which I think neatly gets in a bit of Well Hall’s history alongside my tram and leave me just to correct the story, because Sonia tells me that that the "72 tram went to New Cross through Well Hall all along Westhorne."

Location; London

Painting; LCC tram 1622 © 2016 Peter Topping from a photograph by Andy Robertson, 2015.

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook: Paintings from Picture,s https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

*Painting Well Hall and Eltham, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Painting%20Well%20Hall%20and%20

A little bit of New York in Vienna .......... travelling the Amerikaner

I always like those little messy stories which are not what you expect and take you off in all sorts of directions.

The Amerikaer in Vienna, 2006

This is Peter’s painting of a tram in Vienna which he told me came from New York.

Now there is nothing odd about transport networks buying foreign rolling stock.

All around the world tram and railway companies along with bus operators regularly buy both new and second hand.

What makes this one just a little different is the history behind it.

There have been trams in Vienna since 1865 and today it is the fifth largest tram network in the world with 175.9 kilometres, and 1,071 stations.*

And for those who revel in tram facts, in 2013, 293 million passengers travelled on Vienna’s 525 tramcars.

The service reached its peak during the interwar years but like so many European cities it was much knocked about during the Second World War.

In the case of Vienna most of its 4000 trams had been badly damaged with 400 of them beyond repair.

At which point the Amerikaner enters the story, because these were the trams Vienna acquired in 1948 under the Marshall Plan.**

There were 41 of them, shipped over from New York, and they became known as the Amerikaner.  They were slightly wider than the Austrian ones, had air operated doors, automatic retractable ramps and seat backs which could be changed so that passengers always faced forwards.  At which point Ron will point out that our old Corporation trams had the same facility.

What makes the Amerikaner just that bit more special is that New York abandoned its trams in the 1950s, leaving only its overhead Roosevelt Island Tramway.

So unusual, I used it again

That said there were plans to reintroduce trams to New York a year ago and I must check out whether that has happened.***

So not only was Peter’s tram journey a tad unusual he was riding history.

No wonder he was moved to paint the picture.



Location; Vienna, with an option on New York

Painting; the Amerikaner  © Peter Topping, 2008

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook: Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

*Trams in Vienna, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trams_in_Vienna

**The Marshall Plan, or the European Recovery Program, was a bold American initiative to assist Western Europe rebuild it economies with $13 billion.

*** New York tram stages an unlikely comeback, Robert Wright, Financial Times, New York, February 4, 2016,  https://www.ft.com/content/133c1c58-cb5c-11e5-a8ef-ea66e967dd44

A tram, the Tower and a bit of sun and sand ........... Blackpool on a day out

Now I have to confess that I have only visited Blackpool three times and have never travelled on one of the trams.

All of which is my loss.

The first time was a family holiday now lost in the mists of history, the second was a trip to the Tower and the last was part of a day spent touring the coast.

Now according to one source, “the Blackpool tramway runs from Blackpool to Fleetwood on the Fylde Coast in Lancashire, England. 

It was the last surviving first-generation tramway in the United Kingdom until it was replaced by a fleet of modern Supertrams in 2012. 

However, today the traditional trams still provide a 'heritage service' on weekends, bank holidays and during the summer. 

The line dates back to 1885 and is one of the oldest electric tramways in the world. 

It is operated by Blackpool Transport (BTS), and runs for 11 miles and carries 6,500,000 passengers each year.”*

All of which is enough history and tram facts as you are going to get.

Instead I suggest you go looking for this tram which local artist Peter Topping painted on one of his more frequent trips to the resort.

But then he is a Preston man unlike me who was born  and brought up in south East London and had to rely on Brighton and Clacton for a bit of sea side fun neither of which had a tram






Painting; Blackpool Tram © Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk 
Facebook:  Paintings from Pictures

*Blackpool tramway, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackpool_tramway

That special excursion from Alex ..... taking in a big square, a very tall building and ending with a museum

This is a tram story, although along the way it reveals a bit of detective work, includes one of those preservation societies and ends in a museum which was once the HQ of the secret police.

And it started with a series of tram pictures posted by my friend Kathy when she was in Berlin.

Now I can’t resist a picture of a tram and so when she posted a collection on to social media I was hooked.

This is tram 5984 on route 63.

Intrigued I looked over my pocket guide to Berlin tram routes, but nowhere is there a route 63, although there was once a 60 and a 66 which trundled  respectively along  Schöneberg, Lindenhof – Charlottenburg, Königin-Elisabeth-Straße and Schöneberg, Wartburgplatz – Steglitz, Thorwaldsenstraße.

But number 60 was withdrawn in 1962 and 68 the following year.

Undeterred I went looking for Sonderfahrt which appears on the destination board at the front of the tram only to discover it is not a place but German for special excursion.

This in turn led me to Historic Preservation Association Nahverkerhr Berlin e.V which in association with the Berlin Transport Company was running a special trip on May 20 from the Alexanderplatz, to Hohenschönhausen, which is now a museum but was once the headquarters of the East German Communist Ministry of State Security, the Stasi.

The Society and the transport company run regular trips once a month between April and November using historic trams.

This Sunday  “depending on the weather and technical conditions, the Reko train and the T24 with 2 sidecar are to be used”.  Now I have no idea whether Kathy’s tram was the Reko or T24, but someone will which which save me a search.

The trip apparently cost 6 € for adults and 3 € for children between 6 and 14 and on that sunny day in Berlin there was a choice of the 11 am trip or another at 2pm.

The Berlin tram network is one of the oldest, having been established in 1865 and is the third largest tram system in the world beaten only by Melbourne and St Petersburg.

Just leaving me to say, that Alexanderplatz is a major transport hub, is often referred to as Alex by Berliners* and one of the buildings close by is  the iconic Fernsehturm or TV Tower which is the second tallest building in the European Union.

Location; Berlin

Pictures; tram 63, in Berlin, May 20, 2018, from the collection of Kathy Lee

*Actually being pedantic, and not wanting to be told off, when Berliners refer to Alexanderplatz, as Alex, they generally are referring to a larger neighbourhood stretching from Mollstraße in the northeast to Spandauer Straße and the Rotes Rathaus in the southwest or so Wikipedia tells me

Tram car 541 ………… travels with Kathy and Lawrence across Lisbon

This is tram car 541 on Route 24, which takes you across Lisbon from Largo do Camões in Chiado to Campolide.

And it is one those old trams which have been pressed back into service after a slow decline in the city’s’ tram network.

The decline happened in the 1960s, when the trams were overshadowed by the bright new metro system and an expansion in the bus network.

But with an eye perhaps on the tourist trade, and the fact that the fleet of yellow trams looks fun they are back.

The service started back in 1873 with horse drawn cars, which were replaced from 1901 with electric powered ones, and by 1959 when the network was at its height, there were 27 tram lines.

Today there are six routes, one of which has its own blog story. *

And apparently given the geography of parts of the city, these small trams remain the most effective way of crossing Lisbon.

Route 28 Tram 28 winds its way through the old Moorish quarter which is a labyrinth of narrow streets which climb towards where the old castle was situated. *

And there is even a tourist tram, which as you would expect is one of the yellow ones painted red, offering a guide and a higher fare, following route 28.

All of which means you can do the tourist thing or like Kathy and Lawrence, take the independent approach and travel the network armed with just a map and guide to Lisbon and an indomitable confidence that all will turn out well.

Location; Lisbon

Pictures; Lisbon, 2019, from the collection of Kathy Lee

*Portugal: Touring Lisbon on Tram 28 https://www.routesandtrips.com/touring-lisbon-on-tram-28/