The Modern Tramway

Dejan Petkov explores the tramway renaissance in Western Europe from a socio-technical standpoint and focuses on the development in Germany, France, and England. A multiple case analysis reveals the drivers, impact forces, actors and interest constellations behind the tramway renaissance in these countries and demonstrates the large variations in local systems and their style. A key finding is that there can be quite different paths to the success of tramway systems, but this success usually comes at a cost and can have a comprehensive character only if the systems are considered an integral part of the overarching strategies and concepts for urban and regional development.

This book is suitable for front-line personnel engaged in the design, construction and maintenance of tramway track engineering as a technical reference, and also provides theoretical reference for researchers in related fields.

Be it the passing scenery, or the collective memory that has always accompanied us, “Ding Ding” not only brings with it the road travelled by the Hong Kong people across the century, but also carries the traditional culture and the spirit of Hong Kong. The author has collected more than 200 precious photos and relevant literature to concisely and gently present the history of tram development And little known trivia on the production and anecdotes. Most of the photos in the book have never been published, aiming to share with tram fans and like-minded friends. On both the history of and the tenderness one gets from the love of trams.

There have been passenger tramways in Britain for 150 years, but it is a rollercoaster story of rise, decline and a steady return. Trams have come and gone, been loved and hated, popular and derided, considered both wildly futuristic and hopelessly outdated by politicians, planners and the public alike. Horse trams, introduced from the USA in the 1860s, were the first cheap form of public transport on city streets. Electric systems were developed in nearly every urban area from the 1890s and revolutionised town travel in the Edwardian era.A century ago, trams were at their peak, used by everyone all over the country and a mark of civic pride in towns and cities from Dover to Dublin. But by the 1930s they were in decline and giving way to cheaper and more flexible buses and trolleybuses. By the 1950s all the major systems were being replaced. Londons last tram ran in 1952 and ten years later Glasgow, the city most firmly linked with trams, closed its network down. Only Blackpool, famous for its decorated cars, kept a public service running and trams seemed destined only for scrapyards and museums.A gradual renaissance took place from the 1980s, with growing interest in what are now described as light rail systems in Europe and North America. In the UK and Ireland modern trams were on the streets of Manchester from 1992, followed successively by Sheffield, Croydon, the West Midlands, Nottingham, Dublin and Edinburgh (2014). Trams are now set to be a familiar and significant feature of twenty-first century urban life, with more development on the way.

A comprehensive history of the system, with accounts of the various modes of traction (including horse-power, steam, heated-water, and compressed air locomotives, cable traction, and electric traction). A description of the varieties of rolling stock and ample details of cost and working expenses.