31st August 2024 marks the 125th anniversary of the opening of Neath Corporation (gas-powered) Tramways, situated in South Wales, which was one of Britain’s most unusual first generation tramways. In common with most of Britain’s municipal tramways, Neath’s started...
31st August 2024 marks 150 years since the opening ceremony conducted by Aberdeen District Tramways. This system began life as a 2¼-mile long horse tramway with just two routes, six tramcars and a depot at Queen’s Cross. From these small beginnings the network...
14th July 2024 marks 100 years since the opening of the last of Britain’s first-generation tramways to begin operating – the Dearne District Light Railway in South Yorkshire. This system had the briefest duration of any of Britain’s electric tramways, lasting...
Sunday 5th July 1964 marked the day that the Tramway Museum Society finally achieved its primary aim of building and demonstrating an electrically powered tramway for fare-paying members of the public. The fact that this took place just over a year after the...
On 29th May 1884, the Highgate Hill Cable Tramway became the first cable tramway to be built in Europe. The short line of just under ¾ mile provided a connection between a busy horse tram terminus at the Archway Tavern and Highgate Village, which was at the top of the...
2024 marks the 60th anniversary of the formal opening of Glasgow’s first Transport Museum on 14 April 1964. At that time, the Tramway Museum Society had been established for almost a decade. Having acquired the premises at Crich in 1959, the TMS operated its first...
2023 marks the 150th anniversary of the first public demonstration of Britain’s earliest commercially operated steam tram, which took place in London on the night of 25th/ 26th November 1873. The tram was designed by John Grantham (1808-1874), an English engineer who...
On 22nd October 1883, the Gateshead and District Tramway Company began to operate a 6.22-mile-long standard gauge steam tramway. Unlike neighbouring Newcastle, many of Gateshead’s streets were too steep for horse trams to be practical, so some form of mechanisation...
The National Tramway Museum’s oldest tramcar, Oporto 9, celebrates its 150th anniversary this year! The tramcar was built in 1873 by the Starbuck Car and Wagon Company Ltd. of Birkenhead, which was the first tramcar manufacturer to be established outside the United...
The first successful cable operated tramway in the world – the San Francisco-based Clay Street Hill Railway – began to offer a regular service on 1st September 1873. The system involved a steam-driven continuously moving cable that was capable of hauling a fleet...
Crich Tramway Village is a brand name for the National Tramway Museum (Accredited with Arts Council England), solely owned and operated by The Tramway Museum Society, incorporated in England with liability by guarantee (no. 744229). Registered charity number 313615. Our ICO number is Z6700136.