A Tramway is a transport system in which wheeled vehicles run along parallel rails, which originated in collieries in the 18th century.
The word tram is used in most territories, while within North America these vehicles are called streetcars or trolleys as they run mainly on streets.
The first horse drawn passenger streetcar in America, was the New York and Harlem Railroad developed by the Irish coach builder John Stephenson, in New York City which began service in the year 1832.
African-American teacher Elizabeth Jennings Graham insisted in 1854, on her right to ride on an available New York City streetcar at a time when all such companies mostly operated segregated cars. Her main lawyer, future president Chester A Arthur, won the case and all streetcars in New York became desegregated.
The first permanent tram line in continental Europe was opened in Paris in 1855 by French inventor Alphonse Loubat. By the 1860s horse drawn trams plied in London and Liverpool in the UK.
The Toronto tramway system was opened in 1861 as a horse tramway. The system was bought by the Toronto Railway Company in 1891 and it was electrified in 1892. Today the city operates the largest streetcar system in North America.
The first mechanical trams were powered by steam. The first stream tramway in England started operating in Wantage, Oxfordshire in 1875. It was created to carry passengers and goods between the Wantage and Wantage Road Station on the Great Western Railway (nearby to The Volunteer).
Two years after Werner von Siemens first demonstrated electric traction, the world's first electric tramway went into service in 1881. The 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi) long Gross-Lichterfelde tramway ran in Lichterfelde a suburb of Berlin.
One of the first proper electric tramways of many around the world opened in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, on September 29, 1885. Unlike most of the others, it's still going.
Horsecars were largely replaced by electric-powered trams following the improvement of an overhead trolley system on trams for collecting electricity from overhead wires by Frank J. Sprague. Sprague's first electric street railway system – the Richmond Union Passenger Railway in Richmond, Virginia, began passenger operation on February 2, 1888. By 1889 110 electric railways incorporating Sprague's equipment had been begun or planned on several continents.
The 73-year-old Catalan architect Gaudi was run over by a tram in 1926. He looked so bedraggled that bystanders took him for a tramp and were slow in getting him to hospital, where he died.
The trams in Hiroshima were back in service just three days after the atomic bomb dropped near the end of World War II.
Trams are now powered either by electric conductor rails below ground or conductor arms connected to overhead wires, but their use on public roads is very limited because of their lack of maneuverability. Greater flexibility is achieved with a trolleybus, similarly powered by conductor arms overhead, but without tracks. Both vehicles have the advantage of being non-polluting.
Melbourne, Australia has the largest tram network in the world. As of May 2017, the Melbourne tramway network consists of 250 kilometres (160 miles) of track, 493 trams, 24 routes, and 1,763 tram stops.
The world's longest single tram line is the 68 km (42 mi) one that runs almost the entire length of the Belgian coast.
Source Hutchinson Enyclopedia
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| Pixiebay |
The word tram is used in most territories, while within North America these vehicles are called streetcars or trolleys as they run mainly on streets.
The first horse drawn passenger streetcar in America, was the New York and Harlem Railroad developed by the Irish coach builder John Stephenson, in New York City which began service in the year 1832.
African-American teacher Elizabeth Jennings Graham insisted in 1854, on her right to ride on an available New York City streetcar at a time when all such companies mostly operated segregated cars. Her main lawyer, future president Chester A Arthur, won the case and all streetcars in New York became desegregated.
 |
| Mule-drawn streetcar, Houston, USA, 1870s |
The first permanent tram line in continental Europe was opened in Paris in 1855 by French inventor Alphonse Loubat. By the 1860s horse drawn trams plied in London and Liverpool in the UK.
The Toronto tramway system was opened in 1861 as a horse tramway. The system was bought by the Toronto Railway Company in 1891 and it was electrified in 1892. Today the city operates the largest streetcar system in North America.
 |
| Streetcars in Toronto. Wikipedia |
The first mechanical trams were powered by steam. The first stream tramway in England started operating in Wantage, Oxfordshire in 1875. It was created to carry passengers and goods between the Wantage and Wantage Road Station on the Great Western Railway (nearby to The Volunteer).
Two years after Werner von Siemens first demonstrated electric traction, the world's first electric tramway went into service in 1881. The 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi) long Gross-Lichterfelde tramway ran in Lichterfelde a suburb of Berlin.
One of the first proper electric tramways of many around the world opened in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, on September 29, 1885. Unlike most of the others, it's still going.
Horsecars were largely replaced by electric-powered trams following the improvement of an overhead trolley system on trams for collecting electricity from overhead wires by Frank J. Sprague. Sprague's first electric street railway system – the Richmond Union Passenger Railway in Richmond, Virginia, began passenger operation on February 2, 1888. By 1889 110 electric railways incorporating Sprague's equipment had been begun or planned on several continents.
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| Postcard of electric trolley-powered streetcars of the Richmond Union Passenger Railway in 1923 |
The 73-year-old Catalan architect Gaudi was run over by a tram in 1926. He looked so bedraggled that bystanders took him for a tramp and were slow in getting him to hospital, where he died.
The trams in Hiroshima were back in service just three days after the atomic bomb dropped near the end of World War II.
Trams are now powered either by electric conductor rails below ground or conductor arms connected to overhead wires, but their use on public roads is very limited because of their lack of maneuverability. Greater flexibility is achieved with a trolleybus, similarly powered by conductor arms overhead, but without tracks. Both vehicles have the advantage of being non-polluting.
Melbourne, Australia has the largest tram network in the world. As of May 2017, the Melbourne tramway network consists of 250 kilometres (160 miles) of track, 493 trams, 24 routes, and 1,763 tram stops.
The world's longest single tram line is the 68 km (42 mi) one that runs almost the entire length of the Belgian coast.
Source Hutchinson Enyclopedia
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