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ALAN BENNETT: 'There was a point
during the Second World War

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'when my father took up
the double bass.

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'To recall the trams of my boyhood
is to be reminded

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'particularly of that time.'

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Trams were so evocative
of Alan Bennett's childhood,

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that he's recorded his warmth
and affection for them

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in a short story called Leeds Trams.

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'We live over the shop, so I sleep
and wake to the sound of the trams.

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'The trams getting up speed
for the hill before Weetwood Lane,

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'trams spinning down from West Park,

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'trams shunted around in the sheds
in the middle of the night.

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'The scraping of wheels,
the clanging of the bell.'

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For a century,
from the 1860s to 1960,

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trams were a familiar feature
of Britain's roads.

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They opened up new places to live,

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new possibilities for work
and opportunities for leisure.

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And they became synonymous
with seaside holidays.

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For many, they were also
a wonderful and comforting part
of their childhoods.

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They are so typical
of the age from which they came.

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When I think about them, I think
about good times in my boyhood.

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And I suspect a lot of other people
think the same.

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Oh, this takes me back to when
I was definitely a Diddy Man.

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When I was a Diddy Man, we used to
travel everywhere, my brother
and sister, my father and mother,

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we used to travel - everybody did -
by tram.

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They clank, don't they?
Clonk, clonk. Clonk, clonk.

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And it's a lovely noise. And then
they go round a corner and scream,

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and you get this business on
a point, and everybody sort of goes
from one side to the other.

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There's nothing else on the roads
like a tram car.

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'It's not just the passage of time
that makes me invest the trams
of those days with such pleasure.

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'To be on a tram, sailing down
Headingley Lane on a fine evening,

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'lifted the heart at the time
just as it does in memory.'

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200 years ago, the only form of
passenger transport was horsepower.

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But it wasn't a smooth ride.

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In the days of unmade, uneven roads,

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a horse bus was a far
from comfortable experience.

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The horse buses often had a problem

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actually going down some of
the roads because of the potholes,

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because of the mud.

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You would need sometimes four to six
horses to pull a horse bus,

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which didn't actually carry
that many people.

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The clue to the way forward

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lay in a system of rails
and horsepower, first used to move

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limestone between Swansea
and the Mumbles.

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If you were to lay a rail down -

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which was the original idea
with tramways,

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that you would lay a hard surface
in a soft road -

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you could actually use fewer horses
and carry more people.

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This same technology was adapted
to carry tourists

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on horse-drawn carriages.

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The system was ingenious,

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and the world's first tramway
opened in South Wales in 1807.

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But with Welsh modesty,
it went almost unnoticed.

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It took a bold and brash American,

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the appropriately named
George Francis Train,

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to get the whole of Britain
on the right tracks.

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He's what we might call
a transport mogul now -

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he built a railway across America,
a shipping line to Australia...

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He's the person that Jules Verne
based his character Phileas Fogg on,

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Around The World In 80 Days.

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Train had witnessed various forms
of tramway being tried

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and tested in the US,
from the 1830s onwards.

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While working for a shipping company
in Liverpool,

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he crossed the Mersey to
neighbouring Birkenhead.

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It was here that Train
did his bit for Britain.

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He launched the first horse-drawn
regular tramway service,

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setting in motion the beginnings of
an urban public transport network,

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and the birth of the commuter.

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And Train never did anything
in a low-key way.

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Well, we're on the site of
the inaugural picture, in 1860,

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when George Francis Train
recorded this event,

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and all the people carefully posed,
packing the tram.

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One of the persons is pointing
outwards up the street there.

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That's George Francis Train
himself.

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Next, Train headed for London,
where things didn't run so smoothly.

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His early tramways
ran on raised rails -

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not a problem in semi-rural
Birkenhead, but in the capital,

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chock-a-block with horse-drawn
carriages, it was a nightmare.

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He was arrested in 1861,

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after his raised rails
caused chaos to other traffic.

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'The enquiry into the summons
taken out against Mr Train

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'for breaking and injuring
a certain road,

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'called Uxbridge Road,
was resumed yesterday...

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'Thomas Clark,
a cab proprietor of Mile End,

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'said he drove over the tramway
in his own horse and cab,

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'and it caused his horse
to fall down.

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'He had a fare going to Hyde Park.

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'When asked, "Where
was your horse when it fell?"

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'he replied, "On his backside."'

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The problem was overcome
by dropping the rails
to the level of the street,

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and by 1870 Train's tram
was back in business.

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Other towns and cities
began following his lead,

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and horse-drawn tramways
started to be seen

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on high streets and promenades.

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These trams were posh. They were
little front parlours on wheels.

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The original horse trams
were sumptuous.

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Utrecht velvet
is on the specification,

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and beautiful wood -
you can see the tram we're in,

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there's lovely figured oak,
and bird's eye maple.

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Three and eightpence
a foot that cost, by the way.

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Early trams had a complex way
of turning round

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at the end of the line.

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Being long and cumbersome,
this clogged up the middle

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of the busy, bustling urban centres.

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Dual-ended trams
that didn't need to turn around

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eventually solved the problem, and
were quickly pressed into service.

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They were lightweight construction,

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so they could travel a bit faster
than horse buses.

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And they had a number
of interesting features -

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they had bells to alert
the driver when to stop,

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they had uniformed staff,
strap hanging -

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we can see in the tram that
we're in now, some straps -

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efficient braking, and features
that we would really call modern,

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to make this modern streetcar.

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# Won't you ride
in my little red wagon?

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# I'd love to pull you
down the street

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# I'll bet all the kids
will be jealous

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# When they see my playmate
so sweet... #

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At first, it was only
the well-to-do who could afford

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the threepenny fare.

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The open top deck was the place
to see from and be seen in,

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as the ladies and gentlemen
of Victorian Britain

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looked down on the riff-raff below.

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It would be many years before tram
travel would be available to all.

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Especially to those
who lived and worked

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in the teeming towns and cities
of mid 19th-century Britain.

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Overcrowding was particularly hard
on the poorest, in slums,

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which heaved under the stench
of filth and vermin.

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Sickness was rife.
For them, there was no way out.

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The working poor hardly moved
from area to area at all.

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All they could do was walk.

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There was no real capacity for
walking or incentive to walk -

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there was nowhere to go
except the local public house -

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so people remained very, very
set in their own locations.

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Pressure would only start to be
relieved by the exodus

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of the middle classes,
who were first to escape.

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They began moving to new houses
on the outskirts of towns.

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To serve THEIR transport needs,
a city-wide,

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integrated transport system
was needed, and it would take

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a young Bristolian, George White,
to help make that happen.

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My great-grandfather, Sir
George White, was a self-made man.

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He was the son of a painter
and decorator and a lady's maid,

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and he was born in Bristol in 1854.

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George White was one of the most
influential figures in Britain's
tram history.

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He left school at 14,

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joined a local law firm
as a lowly office clerk,

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and learnt all he could
by reading the law library.

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In 1874, his firm took over
the reins of the fledgling
Bristol Tramway Company,

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and White, still only 20,
was made company secretary.

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He teamed up with
James Clifton Robinson, who had been

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George Francis Train's
office boy back in Birkenhead,

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and who had squeezed onto that
first British tram ride

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some 14 years earlier.

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It was really James Clifton Robinson
who provided the engineering skills,

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and George White who provided
the inspiration,

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the direction
and the finance.

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And between them, they changed the
face of tramways in Great Britain.

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In Bristol, they would show how
a tram system could transform

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a city and the lives
of its residents.

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It would become a model
copied throughout the country.

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One of the things that trams did
in the big cities

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was to allow the suburbs
to be built.

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It made it possible to join
neighbouring villages.

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By running the trams out
in the direction of these villages,

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building followed -
building of houses in particular.

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And it was in this way that those
living in the cramped inner cities

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were able to move out
to the suburbs.

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Trams played an important part
in the physical expansion of towns

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and cities, which finally
had room to breathe.

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The trams were first introduced to
relieve this massive overcrowding

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in the centre of towns and cities.

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But it was the middle and upper
classes who took advantage of them,

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because they were the people
who could actually afford to buy
the houses on the outskirts of town

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and could afford to actually ride
backwards and forwards on the tram.

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By the 1880s, trams were becoming
increasingly popular,

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and new routes were springing up.

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Lifelong tram enthusiast
Peter Davey

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has his own bijou museum
in his up and over garage.

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It's filled with artefacts

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charting Bristol trams
over the years,

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and includes route signs
for many of the local districts.

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These are the boards that go along
on the side of the tram

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so you know what route you're on,

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and the lovely gold hands

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on the end.

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I've got quite a good set here.
Dad bought these, a penny each,

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when they were scrapping the trams.

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They've all got two routes - this
is Westbury and Tramway Centre,

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and of course on the other side
you've got Zetland Road
to Old Market.

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So that could be used on any
two routes, but a different colour.

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For Alan Bennett, there is a
greater significance in the link

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between suburbs and route numbers.

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'The route numbers
had a certain mystique -

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'the even numbers slightly
superior to the odd,

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'which tended to belong to trams
going to Gipton, Harehills
or Belle Isle,

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'parts of Leeds
where I'd never ventured.

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'And Kirkstall will always be 4 -
just as Lawnswood is 1.

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'Odd details about trams
come back to me now,

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'like the slatted platforms,
brown with dust,

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'that were slung underneath either
end like some urban cowcatcher.

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'And how convivial trams were -
the seats reversible,

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'so that if you chose you could
make up a four whenever you wanted.'

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If we look over here, I've got
one of the seats on the top deck.

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Top deck seats, they were all
open-top decks in Bristol.

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Trams do this all day -
they don't turn round at the end -

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so when you get to the terminus
you've got to change the seat

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so now they're ready to go back
the other way.

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But Bristol had a rather clever
thing. Imagine this on a wet day.

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You get up the stairs, and you
see all this and it's all wet.

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Are you going to sit on it?
No, but look.

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We have a flap here,
and you pick it up,

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and there's a dry bit of wood
that's coming up,

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and you can sit on that
quite happily,

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and when you get off, it goes back,

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all by itself.

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As new tram routes emerged,

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the number of horse trams
on Britain's streets

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multiplied at a galloping pace.

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And more horse trams
meant more horses.

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Horses and other animals
became almost as common

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on the streets as people.

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And the smell in the cities
often resembled a farmyard.

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The horse deposits 30 pounds
of poo per day.

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It also wees out
two gallons of urine.

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In Liverpool they had 400 horse
trams, and for every tram,

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they had 14 horses.

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You can just imagine the vast
piles of poo, basically,

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that built up in towns and cities.

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And there have been some academic
papers written which directly linked

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the horrible conditions
and the amount of dung on the road

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to infant mortality in inner cities,
and so it was a massive problem.

231
00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:31,960
It wasn't just a poo problem.
Horses were expensive.

232
00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:34,400
For every three horses
pulling a tram,

233
00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:36,600
another nine
had to be fed and stabled,

234
00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:39,000
as they were used in shifts.

235
00:15:41,280 --> 00:15:44,760
Tram technology needed
a more efficient source of power.

236
00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:54,840
Steam was the next choice.

237
00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:57,520
Steam-powered ships and locomotives

238
00:15:57,520 --> 00:16:00,400
were commonplace
in Victorian Britain,

239
00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:04,840
with over 10,000 miles of rail track
running between major cities.

240
00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:09,480
But when steam-run trams huffed
and puffed into the urban centres,

241
00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:11,560
they caused a lot of hot air.

242
00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:18,520
People believed that if they're
running through the streets,

243
00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:21,320
they were terrified of the noise,
they didn't like the fire,

244
00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:23,080
they really did blow up,

245
00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:25,440
they'd frighten horses,
and they'd kill people.

246
00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:30,240
The public didn't like it very much,
because they all got on white

247
00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:33,280
and they all got off black,
and it wasn't the best of moments!

248
00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:37,520
Steam had its uses in Britain.

249
00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:40,360
But steam trams never took off.

250
00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:46,880
Richard Tangye, who made steam
engines, actually said,

251
00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:50,480
"Thus was the trade
in quick-speed locomotives

252
00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:51,960
"strangled in its cradle,"

253
00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:53,960
which is a marvellous
turn of phrase.

254
00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:58,920
But a new power was available,
electricity.

255
00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:05,480
Electricity was a phenomenon
that few people had experience of

256
00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:08,160
and even less understood.

257
00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:09,760
At the start of 1881,

258
00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:13,360
the first electricity generator
was installed in Britain.

259
00:17:13,360 --> 00:17:14,720
Within just four years,

260
00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:17,800
the first electrically-powered
trams would be running.

261
00:17:20,600 --> 00:17:23,240
But, as with horse
and steam power before,

262
00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:27,320
the transition to electric trams
wasn't going to be problem-free.

263
00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:43,440
The introduction of electric power

264
00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:48,800
coincided with the explosion
in another industry - tourism.

265
00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:53,640
It was time to pack a bucket
and spade and head for the seaside.

266
00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:56,560
And it was in Blackpool
that the first electric street tram

267
00:17:56,560 --> 00:17:59,280
was launched in Britain.

268
00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:02,680
She proudly paraded along the prom,
lauded like a royal visitor.

269
00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:05,800
But unlike passing dignitaries,
she was here to stay.

270
00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:12,800
The tramway was actually first
opened on 29th September 1885,

271
00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:15,640
and we'd always looked at trams
a long time before that,

272
00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:17,480
because Blackpool Council
wanted one,

273
00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:19,920
but they didn't want to do
something old-fashioned.

274
00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:23,040
They looked at horse trams, they
looked at steam trams and thought,

275
00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:24,960
"We don't want anything
noisy or smelly,

276
00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:26,680
"we want something clean and fresh."

277
00:18:28,120 --> 00:18:30,720
From that point on, trams were
as much a part of Blackpool

278
00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:34,120
as Kiss Me Quick hats
and seaside donkeys.

279
00:18:34,120 --> 00:18:35,800
By the turn of the century,

280
00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:38,720
Blackpool had become
Britain's busiest resort,

281
00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:41,880
attracting more than 2 million
holidaymakers a year.

282
00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:44,600
For thousands of factory workers
from the north,

283
00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:47,800
there was the annual trek
to the town.

284
00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:49,800
They worked hard
for 51 weeks a year,

285
00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:52,640
and for their single week's holiday,
their wakes week,

286
00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:54,760
they wanted to be treated.

287
00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:58,080
A ride on a tram was far removed
from the humdrum of daily life,

288
00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:00,760
and it was a taste
of things to come.

289
00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:04,600
They were beautifully done. The
leather seats would be upholstered.

290
00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:07,240
For working people,
it was all part of their holiday,

291
00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:10,080
their wakes week
or their day by the seaside,

292
00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:14,360
and of course often they'd be
decorated. Blackpool, really,

293
00:19:14,360 --> 00:19:17,000
a lot of the prosperity
of Blackpool all seems to me

294
00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,320
to rely on the trams,
the trams going

295
00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:22,520
up and down the prom to
look at the illuminations.

296
00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:27,760
Mill workers, and not only mill
workers, but many other people

297
00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:31,600
going to Blackpool who wanted to do
all the spectacular things,

298
00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:33,880
"Noted for fresh air and fun,"

299
00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:37,320
wear the comic hats
and eat the stick of rock.

300
00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:41,040
Being on a tram, they were an ideal
vehicle for doing just that.

301
00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:43,000
But it wasn't all plain sailing.

302
00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:48,920
Blackpool's trams
were initially powered

303
00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:50,600
by an underground conduit system,

304
00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:54,280
which meant the electricity
was run through channels

305
00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:56,640
under the road surface.

306
00:19:56,640 --> 00:19:59,440
This quickly became an issue.

307
00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:02,920
Because the line
was directly on the seafront road,

308
00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:06,560
and basically married up with the
beach, every time the tide came in

309
00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:10,280
it flooded, and seawater is a
wonderful conductor of electricity,

310
00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:12,640
and it used to blow all the trips
in the substation,

311
00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:14,240
everything would come to a halt,

312
00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:16,320
and similarly on dry days
when the wind blew,

313
00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:18,600
the sand came off the beach
and filled the slot up.

314
00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:22,200
So we had to hire horses
to pull the trams.

315
00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:25,960
Sparks flew as transport engineers
researched and experimented

316
00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:30,040
to find the most workable system
of running power to the trams.

317
00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:32,760
One imaginative solution
was found in the Midlands.

318
00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:36,440
This is a surface contact stud,

319
00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:39,160
and this system was
used in Wolverhampton,

320
00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:43,520
and what happened was there was a
large magnetic skid under the tram,

321
00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:46,520
which would be in contact with two
of these studs at any one time,

322
00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:48,520
so you wouldn't get
a surge of electricity

323
00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:50,040
each time you went over a stud.

324
00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:54,120
And the magnet would draw up
the contact inside the stud,

325
00:20:54,120 --> 00:20:56,680
and so the surface of the stud
would then become live.

326
00:20:56,680 --> 00:20:58,800
When the magnet passed away,

327
00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:03,800
the contact would drop down and then
in theory the stud would be dead.

328
00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:07,080
Now, we know that in Lincoln
there was a different method

329
00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:09,600
of surface contact used to this one,

330
00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:12,920
but in Lincoln
we know that horses were killed,

331
00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:17,400
and we also know that street urchins
with bare feet were paid

332
00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:19,320
in order to put their foot on this

333
00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:22,080
just to test whether the thing
was alive or dead.

334
00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:30,760
Apart from the danger
to street urchins,

335
00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:33,080
this wasn't the long-term answer.

336
00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:38,880
One after another, transport chiefs
all came to the same conclusion.

337
00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:40,560
Overhead cables.

338
00:21:42,840 --> 00:21:46,880
Electricity would be supplied
by wires suspended above the road

339
00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:49,480
through a swinging arm to the motor
of the tram car,

340
00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:51,560
then back via the wheels
to the rails

341
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:54,200
with no risk of electrical shock
to pedestrians.

342
00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:59,480
At last there was a technology
which was safe and reliable.

343
00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:01,520
But still there were hurdles
to overcome.

344
00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:07,480
On the whole, householders
reckoned that it would

345
00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:09,480
increase the value of their houses,

346
00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:13,720
and shopkeepers certainly felt
that it would increase their trade.

347
00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:16,680
But of course there were those who
thought they were ugly, noisy

348
00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:20,240
and disagreeable, and they certainly
didn't want them in their district.

349
00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:25,320
The public liked
the convenience of tram travel,

350
00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:28,360
but didn't like the disruption
that came with it.

351
00:22:28,360 --> 00:22:30,600
Sites had to be cleared,
roads dug up.

352
00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:32,760
Every time a new scheme
was proposed,

353
00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:36,080
there were huge debates
in pubs and Parliament.

354
00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:39,360
People wanted them,
but not crossing THEIR backyards.

355
00:22:41,360 --> 00:22:45,480
Even if you don't mind the noise
and dirt and dust of trams,

356
00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:47,360
actually laying the lines

357
00:22:47,360 --> 00:22:50,760
is a very expensive
and a very inconvenient business.

358
00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:53,520
Other forms of transport
just run on the ordinary road.

359
00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:55,680
Trams have to have roads
of their own,

360
00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:58,360
and the simple process
of laying those means the town

361
00:22:58,360 --> 00:23:01,360
is disrupted or streets are
disrupted wherever it happens.

362
00:23:01,360 --> 00:23:04,760
George White and
James Clifton Robinson in Bristol

363
00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:08,400
spearheaded the push to get
electrified trams established

364
00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:10,240
in early 20th-century Britain.

365
00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:13,640
In order to persuade the locals,

366
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:16,520
they published newspapers
in every parish and district

367
00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:19,120
where the trams were going to run.

368
00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:21,520
They supported pro-tramway
councillors,

369
00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:24,960
they campaigned at elections,
and of course to achieve all this

370
00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:27,840
they also had to straighten
streets, widen them,

371
00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:30,120
rebuild them, strengthen bridges.

372
00:23:30,120 --> 00:23:33,640
That set off a second
sort of tramway bonanza.

373
00:23:39,360 --> 00:23:42,520
As White and Robinson extended
their empire all over Britain,

374
00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:46,480
new corporations and entrepreneurs
also saw transport

375
00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:50,120
as a way to capitalise on this
spirit of inventiveness.

376
00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:58,240
Britain really was a fairly
entrepreneurial society.

377
00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:01,840
This was the time of people
investing in the new Britain,

378
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:05,640
making money by developing things
that a growing population

379
00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:10,360
with slightly higher wages and urban
living patterns wanted and needed.

380
00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:16,640
There were electric trams coming in,
the motor cars coming in,

381
00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:19,240
people sometimes saw an
aeroplane flying in the sky.

382
00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:21,840
This is the technological beginnings
of new Britain.

383
00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:28,040
More and more people took to trams,

384
00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:32,080
and they started to become the
recognised system of mass transit.

385
00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:34,680
In just four years from 1900,

386
00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:39,200
102 tramway systems were introduced
in towns and cities around Britain.

387
00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:46,120
The opening day was regarded
as a day en fete.

388
00:24:46,120 --> 00:24:48,760
In London, the Prince of Wales
presided over

389
00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:52,880
an extension of the tram system by
standing with his hand on the lever.

390
00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:55,640
It was said in the newspapers
he didn't drive the tram -

391
00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:57,800
he wouldn't have condescended
to drive it -

392
00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:01,280
but he stood there with his hand on
the lever while he was photographed.

393
00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:05,560
The tram company produced
penny tickets,

394
00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:09,280
which were called
the Prince of Wales tickets,
for the inaugural day,

395
00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:12,080
with the Prince of Wales'
feathers on the ticket.

396
00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:13,640
Trams became fashionable.

397
00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:15,960
Trams became things
which were desired

398
00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:18,960
by all the citizens
throughout Britain.

399
00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:24,920
The British loved their new trams,

400
00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:27,720
not least because
they provided ideal vantage points

401
00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:29,360
for any public event.

402
00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:38,680
This is a very typical
British tram of the era.

403
00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:41,960
You can see on the backs of
the steps, they have this pattern.

404
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:45,560
There's absolutely no need
for that sort of thing,

405
00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:49,640
it was just the pride in the vehicle
and the corporate and civic pride,

406
00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:52,360
because it must have taken
quite a lot of time

407
00:25:52,360 --> 00:25:55,760
and quite a lot of money to actually
decorate the vehicle in this way.

408
00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:58,200
And you find that all over
the vehicle as well.

409
00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:01,480
There's a coat of arms etched
into the glass of the door,

410
00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:05,520
there's the gold leaf
painted along the side panels

411
00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:08,680
and the coat of arms
on the side of the tram.

412
00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:10,280
A lot of, basically,

413
00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:15,320
unnecessary embellishment just for
the sheer joy and civic pride of it.

414
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:21,320
For the working man, something
major had changed - the price.

415
00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:23,280
As fares were slashed,

416
00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:25,680
trams became the transport
of the working classes.

417
00:26:27,120 --> 00:26:31,040
The penny ticket on the horse-run
tram became a penny for travelling

418
00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:34,520
two or three miles longer than had
been the case when it was the horse.

419
00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:36,600
And because these journeys
were cheaper,

420
00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:38,520
the journey became more frequent.

421
00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:40,760
In Manchester, in the days
of the horse-drawn tram,

422
00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:44,480
the average working man
made about 50 journeys a year.

423
00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:46,920
Once electric trams came in,
half the cost,

424
00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:49,640
he made 150 journeys a year.

425
00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:51,880
It just made it possible
because it was cheap.

426
00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:56,160
Tram cars started to be held dear
to the hearts of those

427
00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:57,600
who relied on them every day.

428
00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:05,040
In 1905, musical star of the day
George Lashwood

429
00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:06,400
even sang about them.

430
00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:09,840
# Then we'd go, go

431
00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:15,800
# Go for a ride on the car, car, car

432
00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:24,760
# For we know how cosy
the top of the tram cars are

433
00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:28,880
# And the steam car's so small
and there's not much to pay

434
00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:33,240
# You sit close together
and fool all the way

435
00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:37,440
# Maybe a Miss will be Mrs some day

436
00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:40,280
# Through riding
on top of the car! #

437
00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:44,800
On a sunny day, there was
no better place to be

438
00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:47,280
than riding on the top deck
of a tram car.

439
00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:52,440
In the wind and rain
it wasn't so much fun,

440
00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:55,640
but at least the passengers
could huddle inside.

441
00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:58,040
There was no such comfort
for the driver, however.

442
00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:02,240
The poor old driver would
stand here in all weathers,

443
00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:04,800
and there's no protection
at all from the weather.

444
00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:07,200
He'd very often have
big leather gauntlets

445
00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:10,080
so that he possibly
wouldn't get frostbite.

446
00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:12,480
And he'd have a big overcoat.

447
00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:16,200
But it was a pretty grim way
of earning a living.

448
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:20,640
If you can imagine, you're stood up
all day throughout the winter,

449
00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:26,880
come rain, snow, and just standing
driving here for hour after hour.

450
00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:31,440
Other more user-friendly models
managed to give the driver

451
00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:33,600
at least a little shelter.

452
00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:39,560
But space was at a premium, as tram
companies wanted to make money,

453
00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:42,000
and that meant getting
bottoms on seats.

454
00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:46,360
Various designs of stairways
were tried,

455
00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:49,120
to leave as much space
as possible for seating,

456
00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:51,800
though the best solution
created problems of its own.

457
00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:57,160
The staircase spirals down this way

458
00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:01,840
and takes up less space than the one
which would spiral the other way.

459
00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:04,880
But the big disadvantage
with this is that you can't see,

460
00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:07,280
if you're a driver,
over this shoulder.

461
00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:11,760
So a pierced step was put in so that
you could see through and ensure

462
00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:16,240
that nothing was coming past
the vehicle on the left-hand side.

463
00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:20,520
Now, that's fine,
but a tram is the same at both ends

464
00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:23,440
and doesn't turn around,
so the conductor,

465
00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:26,400
on the return journey, would
have to stand on this platform.

466
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:28,120
The pierced step would then mean

467
00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:30,800
he could catch
a glimpse of a lady's ankle.

468
00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:32,680
So...

469
00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:39,120
there's this to protect the modesty
of the ladies - the decency flap.

470
00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:41,440
If the conductor
didn't have that down

471
00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:43,640
when a lady was going up the stairs,

472
00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:47,080
he could probably be dismissed
if the inspector saw him.

473
00:29:52,920 --> 00:29:55,080
Yet times were changing,

474
00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:58,720
and attitudes
were about to be challenged.

475
00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:05,600
During the First World War,
five million men were conscripted

476
00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:07,600
or volunteered
to fight in the trenches.

477
00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:12,840
And almost overnight,
the role of women changed.

478
00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:18,080
Women were needed everywhere
to keep Britain running,

479
00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:20,320
including on the trams.

480
00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:26,200
The female tram conductor,
or conductress,

481
00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:29,440
a clippie, as she was called
in London, was regarded

482
00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:35,000
with some doubt and disquiet at the
beginning of the First World War.

483
00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:39,160
It was thought rather
inappropriate that ladies,

484
00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:41,000
or women who aspired to be ladies,

485
00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:43,360
should climb the stairs,
should shout out

486
00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:47,080
"Any more fares, please?
No more room inside.
Pass right down the car."

487
00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:49,840
This wasn't the sort of thing
the female sex should do.

488
00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:52,960
At the start of the First World War,

489
00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:55,760
there were something like
18,000 women

490
00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:58,800
employed in various forms
of transport across the country.

491
00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:03,000
By the end of the First World War,
it was something like 117,000.

492
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:04,760
So it had increased hugely.

493
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:13,600
When the war ended, men came back
from the trenches

494
00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:16,240
and wanted to return to their jobs.

495
00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:19,640
They wanted their jobs back
on the trams.

496
00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:22,760
But of course, the girls
were rather fond of their freedom

497
00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:24,400
once they'd started to work,

498
00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:27,160
and there were one or two
nasty moments, evidently.

499
00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:31,120
Feelings ran so high
that in a number of cities

500
00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:36,600
such as Bristol and Manchester,
hostilities escalated into riots.

501
00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:41,400
The men said, "They're pushing us
out. We have families to keep.

502
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:45,040
"They should be at home
looking after the children
while we earn the money.

503
00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:46,200
"And they undercut us."

504
00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:52,480
It was an argument that spread
not just in transport,

505
00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:54,280
but in many industries,

506
00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:57,960
and continued throughout
the slow demob process.

507
00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:00,960
There was a very concerted
government campaign,

508
00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:04,440
largely to do with the morale of men
and also for economic reasons,

509
00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:08,080
to get women out of the workplace.
And sometimes,

510
00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:11,720
even for jobs that hadn't existed
before the First World War,

511
00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:13,520
women were dismissed from them.

512
00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:20,240
For the tram passenger, at least,
there was some constancy.

513
00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:25,960
From 1918 for the next 20 years,

514
00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:28,360
trams continued to be
the transport of the people.

515
00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:39,560
They began to have
a more uniform look.

516
00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:43,400
The open balcony backs
and fronts were now enclosed

517
00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:47,960
so people could be packed
on board, whatever the weather.

518
00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:52,240
They were solid, reliable
and dependable in a changing world,

519
00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:56,440
which included a depression
and another war on the horizon.

520
00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:59,840
The face of Britain
was being modernised

521
00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:01,560
and the tram was witness to it all.

522
00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:12,800
The continuity provided by trams
during this period helped

523
00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:15,920
cement them into the hearts of many.

524
00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:19,480
Trams were part of the photograph
album of numerous childhoods.

525
00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:32,720
Comedian Ken Dodd
was born in the 1920s,

526
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:35,480
and trams were
a part of his everyday life.

527
00:33:37,520 --> 00:33:41,440
Oh, this takes me back to when
I was definitely a Diddy Man.

528
00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:44,880
When I was a Diddy Man,
we used to travel everywhere,

529
00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:49,000
my brother, sister, father and
mother - everybody went by tram.

530
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:52,640
He's been tickling audiences
for more than 60 years.

531
00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:54,400
Tonight, ladies and gentlemen,

532
00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:57,960
I feel absolutely tattyfleurious
and full of plumptiousness.

533
00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:00,800
It makes me absolutely
discomnicorated

534
00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:04,680
to see that so many of you
have turned up for the free soup.

535
00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:08,320
"Move along the car, please. Right
down the car, please. Thank you."

536
00:34:08,320 --> 00:34:11,880
Not surprisingly,
he sees the funny side of trams.

537
00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:13,640
A little old lady
said to the driver,

538
00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:17,480
"Will I get a shock if I put
my leg on the tram line?"

539
00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:22,360
He said "You will if you put your
other leg on the overhead wires."

540
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:25,400
As a child in the 1930s,

541
00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:28,720
Ken would travel with his family
from his home in Knotty Ash

542
00:34:28,720 --> 00:34:32,880
to see friends and relations
in various districts of Liverpool.

543
00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:36,600
This particular tram, the number 40,

544
00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:40,880
has a very special place in my
heart, because when we were kids,

545
00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:46,040
we travelled to the Pier Head or
into the city on the 10B or the 10C.

546
00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:49,560
But one day, they said,
"We're going to put a tram track

547
00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:53,360
"and run trams past your house
in Knotty Ash." Whoopee!

548
00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:56,840
And they did, the number 40. It was
like when they went to the moon.

549
00:34:56,840 --> 00:34:59,440
It opened up a new universe for us,

550
00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:01,360
because from Knotty Ash,

551
00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:04,200
you could go to foreign parts
like Garston, Bootle.

552
00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:08,760
We could even come to Birkenhead,
yes.

553
00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:11,800
It was very reasonable.
Adults paid tuppence or threepence.

554
00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:13,600
But when you were a small boy,

555
00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:17,040
you could get away with a scholar's.
A scholar's was a penny.

556
00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:20,720
So needless to say, we were scholars
until quite a ripe old age.

557
00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:24,720
For Ken and other comedians,

558
00:35:24,720 --> 00:35:27,560
tram travel was always
a source for their material.

559
00:35:27,560 --> 00:35:31,680
At the back, there was the
conductor. He was the comedian.

560
00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:35,280
That's where Arthur Askey got
his catchphrase "Ay-thank-yew".

561
00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:39,080
With his little ticket machine,
taking the money. "Ay-thank-yew."

562
00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:43,120
"Right along the car, please."
He had a joke for everybody.

563
00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:45,440
"Does this tram stop
at the Pier Head?"

564
00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:49,160
He said "If it doesn't, madam,
there'll be a hell of a splash."

565
00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:52,080
When Ken Dodd was 14, he became
interested in show business

566
00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:56,000
and started performing
at local community halls

567
00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:57,840
with a ventriloquist's dummy.

568
00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:01,640
His career gradually grew, and
it was the tram that allowed him

569
00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:03,680
to spread his theatrical wings,

570
00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:06,280
performing in Merseyside clubs
and theatres

571
00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:08,640
and linking through
to other transport,

572
00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:10,360
which opened up the country to him.

573
00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:15,600
We used to get the tram down
to the Pier Head,

574
00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:17,120
come across on the ferry.

575
00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:20,480
Here, you'd pick up a bus

576
00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:24,760
and take it - oh, miles away,
to Ellesmere Port.

577
00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:27,320
That was my first job,
Ellesmere Port.

578
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:32,080
And then you might even travel
to Wales.

579
00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:40,360
AIR RAID SIREN WAILS

580
00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:42,320
Ken launched his amateur career

581
00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:45,160
at the outbreak
of the Second World War.

582
00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:51,240
It was a time when people
needed something to laugh about.

583
00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:57,360
It was also a time when the trams
helped keep Britain running

584
00:36:57,360 --> 00:37:01,000
and became etched in the memories
of many, including Alan Bennett.

585
00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:03,840
War might have been going on
around him,

586
00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:08,920
but for a small boy, trams had just
as big an impact on his daily life.

587
00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:17,640
"Daddy's a smoker, so we troop
upstairs, rather than going inside,

588
00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:22,040
"the word a reminder of the time
when upstairs was also outside.

589
00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:27,320
"On some trams in 1942, it still is,

590
00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:29,680
"because in these early years
of the war,

591
00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:33,600
"a few open-ended trams have been
brought back into service.

592
00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:35,960
"We wedge ourselves
in the front corner,

593
00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:39,320
"to be exposed to the wind
and weather an unexpected treat,

594
00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:41,560
"and also an antidote
to the travel sickness

595
00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:43,400
"from which my brother
and I suffer,

596
00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:45,880
"though I realise now
that this must have been due

597
00:37:45,880 --> 00:37:48,960
"as much to all
the smoking that went on

598
00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:52,600
"as to the motion
of the tram itself.

599
00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:54,680
"I went to school by tram,

600
00:37:54,680 --> 00:37:58,520
"the fare a ha'penny
from St Chad's to the ring road.

601
00:37:58,520 --> 00:38:01,920
"A group of us at the modern schools
scorned school dinners

602
00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:03,320
"and came home for lunch,

603
00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:06,320
"catching the tram
from another terminus at West Park."

604
00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:16,360
For Roy Hattersley, born in 1932,

605
00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:20,480
thoughts of trams take him back to
his wartime boyhood in Yorkshire.

606
00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:24,640
There was a great movement
at 7.30 in the morning

607
00:38:24,640 --> 00:38:28,520
of boys and girls
going to different schools.

608
00:38:28,520 --> 00:38:30,960
And what we all wanted to do
is sit in the bay,

609
00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:33,200
which was a circular set of seats

610
00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:35,800
in which eight or ten people
could sit.

611
00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:38,680
So there was a great scramble
in the morning to get upstairs

612
00:38:38,680 --> 00:38:40,920
and get into the bay.

613
00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:49,640
These were rather efficient,
smooth looking vehicles.

614
00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:51,280
They were flat-topped.

615
00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:55,120
They were in the civic colours
of cream and navy blue,

616
00:38:55,120 --> 00:38:57,400
and they looked really rather smart.

617
00:38:57,400 --> 00:38:59,960
They also had this
sort of galleon capacity,

618
00:38:59,960 --> 00:39:01,960
because they almost floated along.

619
00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:05,320
They didn't make the same
sort of noise that motor cars made.

620
00:39:05,320 --> 00:39:09,080
They made a clanging noise
which was somehow detached
from their movement.

621
00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:12,560
So you felt that they had
certain ethereal qualities
as they came past.

622
00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:24,320
While some areas like Hattersley's
Sheffield brought in more modern,

623
00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:28,040
stream-lined trams,
other places, like Bristol,

624
00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:30,800
hardly changed their fleet at all,

625
00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:32,720
and that was part of their appeal.

626
00:39:32,720 --> 00:39:38,560
Peter Davey inherited his life-long
passion for trams from his father.

627
00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:40,480
When they spotted a new tram,

628
00:39:40,480 --> 00:39:44,520
the design was the same as it
had been nearly 40 years earlier.

629
00:39:46,360 --> 00:39:49,400
He used to say, "Come on, my boy,
there's a new tram around.

630
00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:52,640
"Do you want to come with me?"
So I would go.

631
00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:55,320
One or two made a different noise
and he'd say,

632
00:39:55,320 --> 00:39:58,920
"Quite right, because that was made
by a different company to that one.

633
00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:01,520
"It was an experimental one",
and things like this.

634
00:40:01,520 --> 00:40:02,840
So then I got interested,

635
00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:05,240
and I used to write
the numbers down.

636
00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:12,120
Bristol was unusual in that its
tramcars remained open-topped -

637
00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:16,440
a standardised fleet, unaltered
from its original 1900 design.

638
00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:26,320
Peter has a collection
of the city's tram memorabilia

639
00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:29,920
in his personal garage museum.

640
00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:32,280
Actually, these are very rare,

641
00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:35,000
but these are Bristol's
tram tickets.

642
00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:37,480
You've got a child ticket
and a penny,

643
00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:39,880
and you've got another child ticket

644
00:40:39,880 --> 00:40:42,760
and there's a tuppenny ha'penny
one there.

645
00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:44,160
There's a threepenny one,

646
00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:48,960
and then you've got the workmen's
return with the red stripe.

647
00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:52,320
That meant that
when you got on the tram,

648
00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:57,960
you would see this sign
hanging above the driver's head.

649
00:40:57,960 --> 00:41:01,880
Why doesn't it open when you
want it to? Over the driver's head.

650
00:41:01,880 --> 00:41:04,200
And the tram would come down
the road

651
00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:06,680
and you'd say,
"Oh, there's a workmen's car.

652
00:41:06,680 --> 00:41:09,520
"That means I can go back
with the same ticket,

653
00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:12,120
"because they will issue me
one with a red stripe."

654
00:41:12,120 --> 00:41:14,240
So you put it in your pocket
and kept it.

655
00:41:14,240 --> 00:41:17,160
On the other hand,
if he didn't like the look of you,

656
00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:19,280
he could turn it over, couldn't he?

657
00:41:19,280 --> 00:41:22,120
Yes, here, you've got the punch.

658
00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:26,800
The punch won't work
without a ticket in it.

659
00:41:26,800 --> 00:41:30,920
So you have to put a ticket in it.
And then, there we go.

660
00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:32,680
But there's a hole here now.

661
00:41:32,680 --> 00:41:35,880
There isn't a ticket here,
as far as the punch is concerned,

662
00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:37,160
so it won't punch it.

663
00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:39,880
So it's one punch per ticket.

664
00:41:41,040 --> 00:41:44,280
I rather like this,
a lovely enamel sign.

665
00:41:44,280 --> 00:41:49,000
These signs would be on the top deck
of the tram cars, you see?

666
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:50,560
And it says,

667
00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:52,440
"Passengers should remain seated

668
00:41:52,440 --> 00:41:55,000
"when the car is passing
under railway bridges."

669
00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:57,040
I think that's rather good,
don't you?

670
00:41:57,040 --> 00:42:00,320
Don't you think most people
would do that anyhow? Perhaps not.

671
00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:05,840
"..And are warned it is dangerous to
touch the overhead electric wires."

672
00:42:09,480 --> 00:42:12,000
Trams were tall, thin vehicles,

673
00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:14,960
often squashed full
with up to 70 people.

674
00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:20,280
With no other method of transporting
possessions during these war years,

675
00:42:20,280 --> 00:42:22,920
the trams' limitations
started to be seen.

676
00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:27,200
For much of the summer,

677
00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:29,680
I was accompanied
by a very large cricket bag,

678
00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:33,440
because I was playing cricket every
evening and playing all the time.

679
00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:37,320
Therefore, there was a problem about
what to do with the cricket bag.

680
00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:41,040
You put it under the stairs, but
this in itself provided a dilemma.

681
00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:43,640
Did you then go upstairs,
which you wanted to do,

682
00:42:43,640 --> 00:42:48,080
which meant leaving
my cricket bag under the stairs
and risking it being pinched?

683
00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:53,600
Roy Hattersley needn't have worried.
His cricket bag stayed safe.

684
00:42:53,600 --> 00:42:57,440
But he wasn't the only one
with bulky luggage issues.

685
00:42:57,440 --> 00:43:00,840
In Alan Bennett's Leeds Trams
short story, he recalls a time

686
00:43:00,840 --> 00:43:04,200
when a musical instrument
wasn't welcomed on the tram.

687
00:43:04,200 --> 00:43:10,360
"Around 1942, we come
into the double bass period,

688
00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:13,880
"when some of our tram journeys
become fraught with embarrassment.

689
00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:18,000
"The niche that protects
the conductor from the passengers

690
00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:21,640
"is also just about big enough
to protect the double bass.

691
00:43:21,640 --> 00:43:23,720
"But when Dad suggests this,

692
00:43:23,720 --> 00:43:27,400
"there's invariably an argument
which he never wins,

693
00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:30,560
"the clincher generally coming
when the conductor points out

694
00:43:30,560 --> 00:43:36,680
"that, strictly speaking, that thing
isn't allowed on the tram at all.

695
00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:40,360
"So while we sit inside
and pretend he isn't with us,

696
00:43:40,360 --> 00:43:43,600
"Dad stands on the platform
grasping the bass by the neck

697
00:43:43,600 --> 00:43:45,760
"as if he's about to give a solo.

698
00:43:45,760 --> 00:43:48,200
"He gets in the way
of the conductor,

699
00:43:48,200 --> 00:43:51,080
"he gets in the way of people
getting on and off,

700
00:43:51,080 --> 00:43:53,280
"and, always a mild man,

701
00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:57,280
"it must have been more embarrassing
for him than it ever is for us."

702
00:44:02,080 --> 00:44:05,520
There were more pressing troubles
preoccupying Britain.

703
00:44:05,520 --> 00:44:09,000
The war still had no end in sight.

704
00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:13,120
Everyone had to be prepared, and
even trams were used for training.

705
00:44:13,120 --> 00:44:16,040
In this film from 1944,

706
00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:18,920
Home Guard troops practised
how they would tackle

707
00:44:18,920 --> 00:44:20,760
an incendiary hit on a tram.

708
00:44:21,840 --> 00:44:26,720
As bombs rained down at night, trams
kept running through the streets,

709
00:44:26,720 --> 00:44:29,880
their rigid routes enabling them
to travel in darkness -

710
00:44:29,880 --> 00:44:32,040
but not without danger.

711
00:44:32,040 --> 00:44:35,920
During the war, trams were
a very popular form of transport,

712
00:44:35,920 --> 00:44:38,080
but they also
could be a lethal one,

713
00:44:38,080 --> 00:44:41,680
because with the blackout, you
often couldn't see a tram coming.

714
00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:43,800
They were known
as the silent killers,

715
00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:47,360
because at least if a lorry or
a horse and cart or something came,

716
00:44:47,360 --> 00:44:48,800
people got warning of it.

717
00:44:48,800 --> 00:44:50,760
And in the first six months
of the war,

718
00:44:50,760 --> 00:44:54,200
the death rate
of pedestrians doubled.

719
00:44:54,200 --> 00:44:56,920
It was 100% more
than it had been in 1938,

720
00:44:56,920 --> 00:45:00,440
and trams were some
of the culprits of this rise.

721
00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:08,760
Yet trams played a vital role
during the war,

722
00:45:08,760 --> 00:45:11,240
far exceeding their danger.

723
00:45:11,240 --> 00:45:13,840
Some even went beyond the call.

724
00:45:13,840 --> 00:45:17,440
Tram enthusiast Richard Wiseman
is visiting the actual tram

725
00:45:17,440 --> 00:45:20,040
that saved his life
during the Blitz.

726
00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:24,320
Way back when the doodlebugs and
the V2s were falling into London,

727
00:45:24,320 --> 00:45:27,680
I was stationed there
in the Royal Navy.

728
00:45:27,680 --> 00:45:30,400
Any spare time,
I used to ride around on the trams.

729
00:45:30,400 --> 00:45:32,760
And I was on a tram
going towards Kennington

730
00:45:32,760 --> 00:45:35,920
when I saw a number 1
coming in the opposite direction.

731
00:45:35,920 --> 00:45:39,400
I'd been looking out for a number 1
for goodness knows how long,

732
00:45:39,400 --> 00:45:41,400
because they didn't run very often.

733
00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:45,280
And so I got off the tram I was on,
hoping to catch this.

734
00:45:45,280 --> 00:45:47,520
Unfortunately,
I didn't catch number 1,

735
00:45:47,520 --> 00:45:49,560
but the tram I got off

736
00:45:49,560 --> 00:45:53,720
was blown up about five or ten
minutes after I got off it.

737
00:45:53,720 --> 00:45:59,000
So number 1 is very important. Let's
give it a stroke! Give it a hug.

738
00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:00,480
There you are.

739
00:46:02,520 --> 00:46:05,680
Trams have always been an
integral part of Mr Wiseman's life.

740
00:46:05,680 --> 00:46:09,680
He even worked on them in Glasgow
while a student.

741
00:46:11,040 --> 00:46:15,720
Your life varied immensely
and was full of good humour.

742
00:46:15,720 --> 00:46:19,440
The very early tram was about
half past five in the morning.

743
00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:23,040
Your only passengers would be
postmen going up into the city.

744
00:46:23,040 --> 00:46:26,960
If there was a football match
at the Celtic ground,

745
00:46:26,960 --> 00:46:31,040
you would speed up to try and get
past it before the crowds came out.

746
00:46:31,040 --> 00:46:35,920
Ooh! Naughty boy! So you took
your chances on that sort of thing.

747
00:46:35,920 --> 00:46:39,320
The only difficult times, possibly,
would be late at night,

748
00:46:39,320 --> 00:46:43,560
when one or two
inebriated Glaswegians would get on

749
00:46:43,560 --> 00:46:46,280
and you had to cope with them.

750
00:46:46,280 --> 00:46:48,840
On one occasion,
we got to Mosspark terminus

751
00:46:48,840 --> 00:46:51,080
and the gentleman
was completely flat out,

752
00:46:51,080 --> 00:46:54,520
so we took him off the tram,
laid him on a seat.

753
00:46:54,520 --> 00:46:58,400
He wasn't there the next morning, so
presumably he got back home again.

754
00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:04,880
Glasgow, of course, was the greatest
system, probably, in my opinion.

755
00:47:04,880 --> 00:47:08,120
Richard Wiseman's
a bit of an old romantic.

756
00:47:08,120 --> 00:47:10,160
He proposed to his wife, Anne,

757
00:47:10,160 --> 00:47:13,040
within a month of meeting her
55 years ago.

758
00:47:13,040 --> 00:47:16,560
But she's the first to admit
there's always been a third presence

759
00:47:16,560 --> 00:47:18,720
in their marriage - the tram,

760
00:47:18,720 --> 00:47:21,080
and she's had to share
his affections.

761
00:47:21,080 --> 00:47:23,640
When they went to Scotland
for their honeymoon,

762
00:47:23,640 --> 00:47:25,480
it wasn't just for the scenery.

763
00:47:27,040 --> 00:47:30,480
I thought it was strange we were
going to stay in Glasgow overnight.

764
00:47:30,480 --> 00:47:33,680
It's not the first place you think
of when you think of a honeymoon.

765
00:47:37,600 --> 00:47:41,040
As soon as you get into Glasgow,
you were aware of the trams.

766
00:47:41,040 --> 00:47:45,440
They were everywhere! A huge system.
And he was in dreamland.

767
00:47:45,440 --> 00:47:48,160
And so we spent the day
going round Glasgow.

768
00:47:48,160 --> 00:47:52,120
And he was very naughty - he asked
me to go to this dreadful terminus,

769
00:47:52,120 --> 00:47:54,280
and then we hopped on another one.

770
00:47:54,280 --> 00:47:57,640
Can you imagine? We just went
round the tramway places!

771
00:47:59,720 --> 00:48:03,320
It was pouring with rain, wasn't it?
Was it? I can't remember.

772
00:48:03,320 --> 00:48:05,880
I was too busy looking at you!

773
00:48:05,880 --> 00:48:07,840
And the tram, of course.

774
00:48:07,840 --> 00:48:09,040
Charmer(!)

775
00:48:15,320 --> 00:48:17,000
By the end of the war,

776
00:48:17,000 --> 00:48:20,040
trams and tramways
had been left battle-scarred.

777
00:48:20,040 --> 00:48:22,280
Bombs aimed
at Britain's city centres

778
00:48:22,280 --> 00:48:26,800
had torn many rails apart,
closing lines and destroying depots.

779
00:48:29,920 --> 00:48:33,760
It made economic sense
to dig the tracks up

780
00:48:33,760 --> 00:48:35,960
rather than to replace them.

781
00:48:37,280 --> 00:48:39,520
Even those trams which had survived

782
00:48:39,520 --> 00:48:41,320
were now seen as outmoded

783
00:48:41,320 --> 00:48:45,160
and not conducive
to the "brave new world"

784
00:48:45,160 --> 00:48:47,440
that was being planned
for the future.

785
00:48:47,440 --> 00:48:49,080
Towns were changing.

786
00:48:49,080 --> 00:48:51,880
What was happening is the sort
of ribbon development

787
00:48:51,880 --> 00:48:53,720
and the growth of the suburbs,

788
00:48:53,720 --> 00:48:55,800
which extended
far into the countryside,

789
00:48:55,800 --> 00:48:57,440
not only in London

790
00:48:57,440 --> 00:49:01,880
but in Manchester and Bristol
and Leeds and all these places,

791
00:49:01,880 --> 00:49:05,160
and of course the trams weren't
so good for such long distances.

792
00:49:05,160 --> 00:49:08,720
So you've got the great growth
of the suburban railways

793
00:49:08,720 --> 00:49:11,040
and in places
like London and Glasgow

794
00:49:11,040 --> 00:49:13,480
you've got the extension
of the underground.

795
00:49:13,480 --> 00:49:16,920
So even though trams were very
popular with the people,

796
00:49:16,920 --> 00:49:20,560
they weren't necessarily
quite so popular with the planners.

797
00:49:20,560 --> 00:49:25,000
Buses were available, and
they could be much more flexible,

798
00:49:25,000 --> 00:49:26,320
when you think about it.

799
00:49:26,320 --> 00:49:31,280
If they had to close a road, a bus
can go round, whereas a tram can't.

800
00:49:31,280 --> 00:49:33,440
Motorcars were coming in,

801
00:49:33,440 --> 00:49:37,720
and people were getting
their own selfish ways of transport.

802
00:49:37,720 --> 00:49:43,320
These spanking, shiny buses and cars
were now overtaking trams.

803
00:49:43,320 --> 00:49:47,920
They heralded the start of a large
vehicle manufacturing industry

804
00:49:47,920 --> 00:49:52,240
which would employ
thousands in Britain.

805
00:49:52,240 --> 00:49:54,400
And they were symbols
of a new prosperity,

806
00:49:54,400 --> 00:49:56,360
and with it new social status.

807
00:49:57,760 --> 00:49:59,520
HOOTER BLARES

808
00:50:01,200 --> 00:50:05,800
ROY HATTERSLEY: Trams were what
the working classes travelled in.

809
00:50:05,800 --> 00:50:08,080
As we became middle class,
people began to turn

810
00:50:08,080 --> 00:50:10,360
instinctively,
perhaps subconsciously,

811
00:50:10,360 --> 00:50:14,360
against what seemed to them
to be a working-class phenomenon.

812
00:50:14,360 --> 00:50:17,560
Roy Hattersley has long been
an observer

813
00:50:17,560 --> 00:50:19,680
of the landscape of social class.

814
00:50:19,680 --> 00:50:23,560
He wears his own humble
Sheffield roots with pride.

815
00:50:23,560 --> 00:50:28,120
While he and fellow journalist
Keith Waterhouse were both
columnists for Punch,

816
00:50:28,120 --> 00:50:32,760
Waterhouse gave them each their
own northern, working-class emblems.

817
00:50:32,760 --> 00:50:34,920
Keith said,
"Let's come to an agreement.

818
00:50:34,920 --> 00:50:38,080
"You can have trams
and I'll have cloth caps."

819
00:50:38,080 --> 00:50:42,080
And this was because he was
implying, I think quite rightly,

820
00:50:42,080 --> 00:50:45,880
that the tram, like the cloth cap,
is resonant in people's minds

821
00:50:45,880 --> 00:50:48,200
of industrial north of England.

822
00:50:48,200 --> 00:50:52,000
The late author
never lost his affections

823
00:50:52,000 --> 00:50:54,560
for the working-class transport
of his boyhood

824
00:50:54,560 --> 00:50:57,720
and fulfilled an ambition
when he got to drive one.

825
00:50:57,720 --> 00:51:00,200
So, this one forward?
Yeah, at the same time.

826
00:51:00,200 --> 00:51:03,240
Do I have to press it down?
No, just pull it towards you.

827
00:51:03,240 --> 00:51:04,440
I can do that, can't I?

828
00:51:04,440 --> 00:51:06,880
HORN TOOTS
You can do that. I can do that.

829
00:51:06,880 --> 00:51:08,800
Toad of Toad Hall!

830
00:51:08,800 --> 00:51:11,640
Right, that way. And one, and two,

831
00:51:11,640 --> 00:51:14,480
and three, and four. Four. And...

832
00:51:14,480 --> 00:51:15,560
HORN TOOTS

833
00:51:15,560 --> 00:51:17,800
That's it.
HORN TOOTS

834
00:51:24,440 --> 00:51:27,400
New double-decker buses
were modelled on trams

835
00:51:27,400 --> 00:51:31,000
and began replacing them
almost by stealth.

836
00:51:31,000 --> 00:51:35,440
Over the years, trams had become
more utilitarian and less plush.

837
00:51:35,440 --> 00:51:37,440
But the new buses were cushioned

838
00:51:37,440 --> 00:51:39,960
to compensate
for the harder, non-rail ride.

839
00:51:39,960 --> 00:51:42,800
They seemed luxurious by comparison.

840
00:51:44,280 --> 00:51:48,120
"Buses have never inspired
the same affection,

841
00:51:48,120 --> 00:51:51,720
"too comfortable and cushioned
to have a moral dimension.

842
00:51:51,720 --> 00:51:57,480
"Trams were bare and bony, transport
reduced to its basic elements,

843
00:51:57,480 --> 00:52:00,680
"and they had a song to sing,
which buses never did.

844
00:52:02,280 --> 00:52:05,640
"I was away at university when
they started to phase them out -

845
00:52:05,640 --> 00:52:09,640
"Leeds, as always, in too much
of a hurry to get to the future

846
00:52:09,640 --> 00:52:12,880
"and so doing the wrong thing.

847
00:52:12,880 --> 00:52:16,760
"I knew at the time
it was a mistake, just as
Beeching was a mistake,

848
00:52:16,760 --> 00:52:20,800
"and that life
was starting to get nastier."

849
00:52:23,960 --> 00:52:27,360
Tram by tram, town by town,
they were phased out.

850
00:52:28,840 --> 00:52:32,080
Bristol, Liverpool...

851
00:52:32,080 --> 00:52:34,360
Sheffield, Manchester...

852
00:52:34,360 --> 00:52:38,040
and finally Glasgow -
they all bade farewell.

853
00:52:41,520 --> 00:52:44,520
London's last tram
bowed out in 1952,

854
00:52:44,520 --> 00:52:48,520
and thousands turned out
to say goodbye and thank you.

855
00:52:48,520 --> 00:52:53,160
CROWD SINGS "Auld Lang Syne"

856
00:52:53,160 --> 00:52:58,080
And so, in the name of Londoners
and London Transport,

857
00:52:58,080 --> 00:53:01,800
I say, "Goodbye, old tram."

858
00:53:08,880 --> 00:53:11,680
The public had mixed feelings
about trams,

859
00:53:11,680 --> 00:53:15,400
because a lot of people's childhood
memories were days out on the trams.

860
00:53:15,400 --> 00:53:18,200
And for workmen, that's the way
they had been to work.

861
00:53:18,200 --> 00:53:21,920
They were not uncomfortable, were
quite reliable, all these things,

862
00:53:21,920 --> 00:53:25,040
so when it was the last day
of the trams, people would turn out

863
00:53:25,040 --> 00:53:28,680
and there'd be bunting put up
and there'd be a genuine sadness

864
00:53:28,680 --> 00:53:30,360
that the trams were going

865
00:53:30,360 --> 00:53:33,040
and something had passed,
something was lost

866
00:53:33,040 --> 00:53:36,120
in the organisation
of towns and of people's lives.

867
00:53:36,120 --> 00:53:38,120
CHEERING

868
00:53:45,720 --> 00:53:48,080
Every urban tramway
closed in Britain,

869
00:53:48,080 --> 00:53:53,480
except Blackpool, home of the first
electric tram back in 1885.

870
00:54:06,640 --> 00:54:10,680
The town's link between the trams
and joyful holidays

871
00:54:10,680 --> 00:54:12,720
had been enough to keep it going

872
00:54:12,720 --> 00:54:15,200
when everyone else
was digging up the rails.

873
00:54:16,320 --> 00:54:19,880
The tramway has always been
extremely important to Blackpool.

874
00:54:19,880 --> 00:54:23,320
It's played a very key role
in tourism

875
00:54:23,320 --> 00:54:27,360
and moving all our visitors
along the seafront.

876
00:54:27,360 --> 00:54:31,240
There was an enormous amount of
pressure for the tramway to close,

877
00:54:31,240 --> 00:54:32,680
but Blackpool kept faith,

878
00:54:32,680 --> 00:54:36,200
and there have always been a large
number of people within Blackpool,

879
00:54:36,200 --> 00:54:39,920
both within the council over the
years and in the local populace,

880
00:54:39,920 --> 00:54:42,720
that have demanded that
we retain our trams.

881
00:54:42,720 --> 00:54:44,760
And we're very pleased that we have,

882
00:54:44,760 --> 00:54:47,680
because they still maintain
that wonderful seafront link.

883
00:54:49,920 --> 00:54:54,200
People come who came to Blackpool
when they were children
in the 1930s,

884
00:54:54,200 --> 00:54:57,520
and their amazement
to see the same vehicles running

885
00:54:57,520 --> 00:54:59,400
is clearly plain to see.

886
00:54:59,400 --> 00:55:02,200
And people want to experience
their youth again,

887
00:55:02,200 --> 00:55:05,160
and they want the rest
of their family to experience it.

888
00:55:05,160 --> 00:55:07,440
And you very often hear people
telling them,

889
00:55:07,440 --> 00:55:09,760
"I rode on this tram
during the war years,

890
00:55:09,760 --> 00:55:12,280
"when I was stationed here
as a WAF" or "a WREN!"

891
00:55:12,280 --> 00:55:15,040
Of course, as long as people
perpetuate that history,

892
00:55:15,040 --> 00:55:18,080
the tramcar will always have
a role to play.

893
00:55:22,000 --> 00:55:24,160
SIREN WAILS

894
00:55:25,880 --> 00:55:28,440
In fact, with today's choked traffic

895
00:55:28,440 --> 00:55:32,120
and rush-hour chaos
the worst it's ever been,

896
00:55:32,120 --> 00:55:35,560
trams have been making
something of a comeback.

897
00:55:37,000 --> 00:55:40,400
I think more recently,
planners have begun to realise

898
00:55:40,400 --> 00:55:43,080
how disastrous cars are in cities,

899
00:55:43,080 --> 00:55:46,520
how in fact the traffic jams
have become insupportable,

900
00:55:46,520 --> 00:55:50,840
not only extremely irritating, but
they are economically disastrous

901
00:55:50,840 --> 00:55:53,640
when you get
these complete gridlocks.

902
00:55:53,640 --> 00:55:56,800
And so I think people are beginning,
planners are beginning

903
00:55:56,800 --> 00:56:01,120
to think maybe the idea of trams
as sort of designated routes

904
00:56:01,120 --> 00:56:03,720
and all this thing isn't a bad idea.

905
00:56:06,360 --> 00:56:10,200
A new generation of planners
is looking to the tram.

906
00:56:10,200 --> 00:56:13,760
Manchester, one of the first cities
to scrap them,

907
00:56:13,760 --> 00:56:17,960
was the first to re-introduce them,
and others have followed.

908
00:56:17,960 --> 00:56:21,280
It seems the old spark
is still there, in a new guise.

909
00:56:22,640 --> 00:56:26,240
There is this apparent effect,
known as the spark effect,

910
00:56:26,240 --> 00:56:30,000
credited to electric
railed vehicles,

911
00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:34,600
that if you electrify a train line,
apparently people use it
more than previously,

912
00:56:34,600 --> 00:56:38,560
and if you put a tramway in,
people ride on the trams

913
00:56:38,560 --> 00:56:40,360
more than they did on the buses.

914
00:56:40,360 --> 00:56:43,960
And I think that's been
borne out by the new tramways

915
00:56:43,960 --> 00:56:46,400
which have started to crop up
around the country.

916
00:56:48,040 --> 00:56:50,680
200 years after their
first appearance on our roads,

917
00:56:50,680 --> 00:56:57,200
new-look, hi-tech trams are
once again carrying high hopes.

918
00:56:57,200 --> 00:57:00,200
They're being seen as the solution
to urban congestion

919
00:57:00,200 --> 00:57:03,000
and the way forward to the future,

920
00:57:03,000 --> 00:57:06,520
and this time around,
they could be here to stay.

921
00:57:08,440 --> 00:57:12,080
ALAN BENNETT: "If trams ever come
back, though, they should come back

922
00:57:12,080 --> 00:57:17,240
"not as curiosities, nor, God help
us, as part of the heritage,

923
00:57:17,240 --> 00:57:20,880
"but as a cheap and sensible way
of getting from point A to point B

924
00:57:20,880 --> 00:57:24,080
"and with a bit of poetry
thrown in."

925
00:57:27,440 --> 00:57:31,000
# We get to the end
of the journey all right

926
00:57:31,000 --> 00:57:33,080
# Or at least
to the end of the track

927
00:57:33,080 --> 00:57:36,720
# But while all the others
prepare to alight

928
00:57:36,720 --> 00:57:39,120
# We remain on the car and go back

929
00:57:39,120 --> 00:57:41,320
# And when we get married

930
00:57:41,320 --> 00:57:44,440
# Now, boys, here's a tip
That ought to be useful to you

931
00:57:45,760 --> 00:57:49,400
# We shan't spend too much
on the honeymoon trip

932
00:57:49,400 --> 00:57:54,400
# For we've made up our minds
what to do

933
00:57:55,440 --> 00:57:59,800
# We shall go, go, go for a ride

934
00:57:59,800 --> 00:58:04,680
# On the car, car, car

935
00:58:04,680 --> 00:58:11,880
# For we know how cosy
the tops of the tramcars are

936
00:58:11,880 --> 00:58:15,280
# The seats are so small
and there's not much to pay

937
00:58:15,280 --> 00:58:18,880
# You sit close together
and spoon all the way

938
00:58:18,880 --> 00:58:22,680
# And many a Miss
will be Mrs someday

939
00:58:22,680 --> 00:58:28,600
# Through riding
on top of the car! #