tram rails

tourjet · Post by **tourjet** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 12:08 pm

anybody any pic of old tram tracks in the roads, ie been covered up by tarmac and when they are carring out road repais they are expossed. Saw some the other day was pretty cool.

mattvince · Post by **mattvince** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 12:28 pm

Firstly, welcome to UKTrainsim. Secondly, we appreciate it if everyone attempts proper spelling and punctuation, it makes reading posts less like working at GCHQ!

Thirdly: Yes, this one is New York, but it's a few pages on a truely fascinating website: http://www.forgotten-ny.com/TROLLEYS/Tr ... lley2.html

Cuchulain · Post by **Cuchulain** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 1:21 pm

'Old' Portsmouth still has tram lines in the cobbled streets

TomBoyRacer · Post by **TomBoyRacer** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 12:24 am

there are some at the old derby friargate station (they where in fact horse drawn tram sidings that where there before the station).
i've been preparing a site on derby friargate, so the photos may come to light soon.

chriscooper · Post by **chriscooper** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 12:33 am

Am I right in thinkng that when digging up a road to build one of the new tram networks, they came across some old tram tracks?

cadet200 · Post by **cadet200** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 12:40 am

that was on high street in manchester. there's some at the top of yorkshire street in rochdale too.

TomBoyRacer · Post by **TomBoyRacer** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 12:46 am

oh yeah, grimsby bus depot still has it's tram lines in it complete with points. i guess there's never been an opportunity to take them out

Cuchulain · Post by **Cuchulain** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 1:00 am

See i come from a town that respects it heritage

We had some old tram lines in the area of the city known to locals as old Portsmouth.
When the local council tried to tarmac over an old tramway, they recieved so many complaints, they had to take the tarmac up again.

I was actively taught at school, all about what our local station used to look like, and what else used to exist, like a tramway that crosses over the railway just west of the station.

I find it strange, that more and more cities are putting in tram systems {under the clever banner of a Light rapid transport system}. Surely future planning could of predicted city growth, and that scalling down public transport routes would come back to haunt them.

Alexcutts · Post by **Alexcutts** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 1:36 am

maybe not, didn't football grounds redevelop their grounds in the 80's with lesscapacity than there was before, as they thought it was going out of fashion...

in short, you can't predict the future completely, especially not then... remember the things about predicting manned flight and all that

slipdigby · Post by **slipdigby** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 5:56 pm

Cuchulain wrote:I find it strange, that more and more cities are putting in tram systems {under the clever banner of a Light rapid transport system}. Surely future planning could of predicted city growth, and that scalling down public transport routes would come back to haunt them.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Postwar there was a general consensus (Liverpool, bradford, Sheffield, Glasgow and Blackpool et al excepted) that trams, and later trolleybuses had had their day. Tramways on the whole had suffered from vast underinvestment for a number of decades for various reasons. For example Bristol tramways manintained open tops right up to the end due to the city council having an option to buy the private system every 4 years. And who's going to invest in a tramway that could be taken off you in half a decade? (Who said stupid transport policies are an invention of relatively recent times). Large cities like Manchester had already disposed of their tramways by 1936, with the war prolonging the lifespans of many of the remaining tramways. Postwar however, abandonment and conversion continued. the nationalisation of local electricity concern meant that urban tramways had to pay their way even further when compared with motorbuses. Many places chose to use trolleybuses, faster accelerating and smoother riding than the old tramcars, with certain added flexibility. The replacement of life expired rolling stock with new vehicles operating on infrastructure with plenty of life left extended the mainstream lifespan of Electric traction in British cities into the 1970's (when Bradford's trolleybus network closed). This left only Blackpool to struggle on alone (The first and last of a long line

).

Bit of a hotchpotch history, but hey ho

Slip

222004 · Post by **222004** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 8:29 pm

There was work going on on the Dublin tramlines when I was there during the last two Decembers (2002 and 2003). I didn't take pictures, but it was an interesting sight. I had always wondered how the tracks were put in before. Hopefully by the time I go there again (might be going in December) they'll have the lines operational again! It would certainly save walking into town from Connolly!

allypally · Post by **allypally** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 8:32 pm

weymouth quay. called a tramway, but isnt,last train to run there was 1999. the station is the ferry terminal. doesnt really count, but there you go.

rcp27 · Post by **rcp27** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 9:41 pm

There's the entrance to the Kingsway tram subway in London, shown at the link below.

http://dewi.ca/trains/conduit/subway.html

Vikingbrit · Post by **Vikingbrit** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 9:49 pm

rcp27 wrote:There's the entrance to the Kingsway tram subway in London, shown at the link below.

http://dewi.ca/trains/conduit/subway.html

Damn them photos are good, i didnt know trams went under the ground

cadet200 · Post by **cadet200** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 12:27 pm

http://www.starfury.demon.co.uk/uground/

if you click on kingsway underpass you can see what it is like today.