Edinburgh retro: a look back at trams from the 1950s

Part of our retro series, this video looks back at Edinburgh trams from the 1950s.

Transcript

00:00 Hello, I'm Neil from the Evening News and this video is part of our retro series where

00:05 we look back at historic pictures of Edinburgh.

00:08 In this video, we'll be looking back at trams from the 1950s.

00:13 In this picture, we can see what Haymarket station looked like in 1955.

00:18 Trams would be taken out of service one year later to be replaced by buses, but since 2014

00:25 trams once again travel on the same route.

00:28 Here we see Edinburgh trams number 159 and 166 on the service 9 to Granton and Collington.

00:35 This picture from March 1955 shows them passing through the corner of Broughton Street and

00:40 Picardy Place, the area where the Trams to New Haven project launched this year on the

00:45 7th of June.

00:47 This picture shows tram 23 on the number 7 service passing through the shops at Walridge

00:53 Road in February 1956.

00:56 An area familiar to many but perhaps not instantly recognisable in this picture, we see trams

01:02 number 216 and 52 taking passengers through Talcross.

01:07 Here we can see tram number 58 on service 4 turning at Ardmillan Terrace into Slateford

01:13 Road.

01:15 This picture from September 1956 shows the number 52 tram bound for Fair Mile Head as

01:21 it passes through Lothian Road.

01:25 Looking outside the George Cinema on Portobello High Street, this picture from May 1953 shows

01:31 the number 162 tram on service 21 on its way to the Post Office.

01:37 A picture that shows how much Edinburgh has changed since the 1950s, here we see tram

01:41 number 333 on the service 14 to Churchill seen turning into Prince's Street at the

01:47 top of Lees Street, an area now occupied by the St James Quarter.

01:52 In what is now the Lothian Buses Depot, here we see an old tram car, previously used as

01:57 a holiday chalet, arriving at Lothian Regional Transport's Annandale Street Garage to be

02:03 refurbished in December 1987.

02:06 After its restoration, the tram would later be taken to a museum.

02:11 Bound for Christorphan, here we see tram number 166 on service 12 passing through Duke Street

02:17 in August 1953.

02:21 Here we see tram 104 on service 8 to Newington Station at the corner of Broughton Street

02:26 and Picardy Place.

02:28 When trams were eventually discontinued in 1956, one bugbear for parents travelling on

02:33 buses was that it was more difficult to travel with a pram, unlike the trams where there

02:38 was more room to get on and off.

02:42 That's all for this week's retro video.

02:44 If you'd like to check out more retro content, you can visit our website at www.enbrinews.scottsport.co.uk

02:52 and select the 'Retro' tab.

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