#Edinburgh Trams

[neiljohnsonphotography]

Edinburgh Tram on Constitution Street in Leith earlier this evening.

[virtualscotland]

Just a little taste of the Bruce 750 Festival which has been going on this weekend in Dunfermline, Scotland's ancient capital and resting place of King Robert the Bruce. The festival is to celebrate Bruce's 750th birthday and includes jousting tournaments, battle reenactments, falconry, music, and lots of demonstrations and activities. It's also being held in Pittencrieff Park which is a beautiful location in itself, and under the shadow of Dunfermline Church and Abbey. A great weekend with lots of things for everyone to do. Enjoy! 😀

[violeteclipse2002]

ten years to the minute since Edinburgh Trams opened the airport to york place section of line 1A, having had no trams running as public transport since 1956

still remember that special day in 2014, ten years already,, and honestly i can't imagine no having the trams

[vox-anglosphere]

Scotland's ancient capital.. shrouded in fog and mystery at night

[violeteclipse2002]

today is the 67th anniversary of this very sad evening - 28 tram routes, frequent reliable, covered most of the city, and had been operating for 85 years.

half of the old tram routes (services 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 23, 24 and 27) still operate along part, most, or all of the tram route - but with buses, some are still almost the same (eg 4, 5, 23), some were renumbered (ie tram route 19 became bus route 49 and still operates) and other routes are pretty much unrecognisable in their current bus route form, and bus services 6, 18 and 28 don't currently exist.

after spending about 23 years to complete part of line 1A (or service 50 depending who you ask) of the current tram network, the fact that the entire extensive tram network was destroyed 67 years ago is saddening.

trams are good, and if politicians want to scrap a tram line then it's probably not a good thing, especially when they decide to rebuild it all 43 years later, then take nearly 25 years building not even the entirety of one line.

On November 16th 1956 the last of the original trams ran in Edinburgh.

Sixty five years ago this evening, thousands turned out to wave an emotional goodbye to the city’s original tram system before it was scrapped.

Trams had been falling out of favour across the country since the end of the Second World War. Cities were expanding, and the rail-and-wire-bound trams of yesteryear could not compete with the flexibility and cost-­effectiveness of the modern motor bus. Municipal tramways up and down the country faced the heavy axe of progress.

The decision to decommission Edinburgh’s tram network arose in 1952, its 47 miles taking just four years to dismantle.

In the last week, a special service painted handsomely in white and gold livery was laid on to tour what was left of the old network.

All ordinary tram passengers were issued with a bright yellow “Last Tram Week” ticket; a masterstroke by Edinburgh Corporation which did a “roaring trade” in the final seven days.

The last hurrah arrived on Friday, November 16; a suitably cold, grey and miserable day. That evening, a procession of tramcars made its way from the Braids terminus to Shrubhill depot, taking in much of the original 1871 route. Ten trams were laid on due to the demand – one car containing the very city councillors who had consigned the trams to the history books in the first place.

It seemed that the entire city was out in force that night; throngs of people lined the pavements and eager spectators hung out of tenement windows to catch a glimpse of the historic procession.

Motor cars and buses added to the atmosphere by tooting their horns.

At the Mound and Hanover Street, an enormous crowd reaching 60 or 70 yards up the road gathered to wave goodbye to the last cars.

Police, mounted and on foot, kept the mass of spectators from pressing against the vehicles. Souvenir-hungry “boys and youths” armed with screwdrivers were reported aboard the final convoy, keen to secure their own little bit of history from the inside of the cabins.

Regardless of whether you lamented their passing or were glad to see them vanish, it was certainly the end of an era. From the earliest horse-drawn trams and cable cars of the turn of the century, to the electric system implemented in the 1920s, tramcars had been present in the Capital, in one form or another, for generations.

Eighty-five years of municipal tram history, which at its height had carried around 200 million passengers a year on routes covering Corstorphine to Levenhall, and just about everywhere in between, had been consigned for good to the great catenary wire in the sky... or so we all thought.

[kingcharley17]

Been messing around with a few styles.

Of course ft. The vampires.

[twostepstyless]

I’ve got a very similar photo to this of me at a work Christmas party when I was 19 downing the free table wine. We’re the same, me and him 🤞

[ur-mag]

Council boss at centre of Edinburgh Trams fiasco remains in senior role despite blunders | In Trend Today

Council boss at centre of Edinburgh Trams fiasco remains in senior role despite blunders Read Full Text or Full Article on MAG NEWS

[tswiftupdatess]

'TTPD' themed Tram spotted in Edinburgh in honor of Taylor Swift's upcoming Eras Tour shows in the city! x

(June 5, 2024)

[ayeforscotland]

Are you cheering Edinburgh in the European tram championship?

Lmao the what?

You know what, without even looking, I am almost 100% sure that this is some event in Germany.

[penny-anna]

edinburgh's best-regarded Mexican restaurant was a place called Los Cardos in Leith whose food was beloved by all; tragically they closed due to lack of footfall caused by the tram works. sorely missed, have yet to find anywhere else that can rival their carnitas burrito

last time i went out for mexican food was to a place called El Toro Loco in the grassmarket. i was w my sister who is a foodie w high spice tolerance and we all had a lovely time!

city centre is pretty dense w mexican restaurants these days:

i'd prolly avoid any of the dedicated take-out burrito places (i've yet to find one i enjoy but i have basically no spice tolerance so not the best person to ask) but the sit-down restaurants generally reputable places that know what they're doing 👍

Las Iguanas is the UK's biggest (i think? possibly only) Mexican & Latin American chain place, its pretty generic but probably a safe bet if you're ever in the UK

anyway that's my guide to mexican food in edinburgh. i'd also like to say one more time that i miss los cardos a lot :(

good night sweet prince....

[neiljohnsonphotography]

Trams. Leith, Scotland. December 2023.

[virtualscotland]

The ultimate tourist guide to Edinburgh! Explore the must see places, including Edinburgh Castle, Craigmillar Castle, Lauriston Castle, the Royal Yacht Britannia, Princes Street and Princes Street Gardens, the Botanic Gardens, Arthurs Seat and so much more!

@scotland-forever @scotianostra @scotlandscalling @scotland @doricloon @edinburghworld

[ivys-garden]

The thing that continues to shock me about the modern world is the multitude of ways we let cars ruin are lives.

Private cars continue to be a Blight, an obsession and focus on speed and size in car culture leads to accidents becoming more and more deadly.

Counties like China used to be completely dominated by bikes, now Beijing has some of the worse air quality in the world. Globally respiratory conditions in adults and children continue to rise. And co2 drives us ever closer to climate collapse

Switching to electric and hydrogen doesn't fix this either, parts still need to be mined, rubber still needs to be produced, as does plastic and old cars and bygone petrol stations need to be scrapped as many cannot be converted

Streets and cities used to be a place of community, but now they are dominated by cars. Want to go to the park? Sorry, it was torn up for a parking garage. Want to cross the road? Yeah, just wait ten minutes for all the cars to pass and get over in 10 seconds before someone decides that getting to mcdonalds is more important than traffic laws. Oh, and I hope you've not got a motor disability or are in a wheel chair or your royaly fucked.

Pedestrians used to have the right of way always, never cars. You never had to teach children to look both ways because cars were expected to stop. Of corse motor companies started paying schools to teach traffic safety and over the decades streets became devoid of people to the point where some see hanging around on a conner or playing curby as a crime.

Cars themselves cut of connections, drivers get ever more angry at simply mistakes and spend acumelate years of there life in traffic Jams. And don't think Lane expansions help, that just means the jam expands to meet the new capacity

The private car in the modern day is pointless and dangerous, cars do have a place, like for businesses or the police or I'd your disabled and public transport in nonaplicable, but other than that the car is of a bygone era

There's a reason that more young people don't buy cars and not just because there expensive and bad for the planet - though that is a factor - cars are simply to dangerous and difficult to use.

Edinburgh has experimented with banning cars from several Streets, reinstating conections and allowing kids to play. They up parking charges to dissuade people from using there car and clogging up the narrow streets, they instal low emissions zones to stop the most polluting cars entering.

And it works.

More and more people in Scotland are using public transport, the tram lines have been expanded, as have the train and bus routes. Travel becomes cheaper and these measure have begun to spread.

It's not just Scotland either, Ireland and prodigal have done similar. Brazil has expanded bike lanes to make cycling safer and introduced a bike share system.

Spain went even further and made train travel free and German citizens even tried to get Berlin to completely ban cars

The era of the car is ending, and the sooner people accept that public transport is safer, more affordable and better for the environment, the sooner and smoother the change will occur.

One day, when I'm and old lady sitting on by garden chair, I will look out and smile because coming down the street will not be and endless cavalcade of cars, it will be the odd company van, the single decker bus carrying passengers and merry children running down the streets.

Or you know we could keep using the car and literally destroy the world via climate change whatever you want really.

[thedottydiapercompany]

7 Fun Derby facts!

1. Derby is 303 miles from Edinburgh! Wow, we have got a long way to travel🚗

2. Florence Nightingale is from Derby⚕️

3. The hot dog was invented by a Derbeian🌭

4. Derby is full of museums including the Tram museum🚃

5. It is called the most central city in England!🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

6. Derby is just a stones throw from Alton Towers, the biggest theme park in the uk🎢

7. Derby will host the Littles LockIn on the 5th of May at THE VENUE, DERBY, doors open at 12pm and it will have a giant ball pool🧸

We hope to see you on Sunday at the @littleslockin 🥳

[scotianostra]

The Pilrig Middle.

I walked up Leith Walk today and was happy to see an info board had been added here since the last time I took photos.

Edinburgh’s tram system was predominately cable-run and Leith’s was electrified. This meant passengers travelling along Leith Walk were forced to change trams outside the Boundary Bar opposite Pilrig Church.

This inconvenience became known as the "Pilrig Muddle" and existed until the late 1920s when Edinburgh electrified its system. When they were digging up the road for the new tram system they found the old cable-winding wheels intact so used them to create this memorial.