Where else can you catch a tram in London after they’ve all but disappeared

London’s best kept secret is that the city still has trams running through some boroughs.

It may come as a surprise that London still has a tram service.

Four London boroughs have trams for you to enjoy that feeling of smooth travel while you take in the sights.

But the history of trams goes back more than 200 years, when they were the most cutting edge transport available – before disappearing as petrol vehicles took over.

The first trams in London

Trams brought new energy to the capital’s streets in the early 1900s, offering a cheaper alternative to the masses, says London’s Transport Museum.

It might be hard to believe from today’s limited network, but late Victorian London boasted the largest network of trams and trolleybuses in the world.

Traffic jams wreaked havoc until the late 19th century due to the “enormous and expensive” horse population, the museum explained.

London’s population grew to around 5,000,000 in 1900, before rising to 7,000,000 in just the next decade.

A new form of transportation was urgently needed to help the residents of the capital move faster.

So the capital’s underground electric railway was opened in 1880 – the first of its kind in the world.

However, it wasn’t London where the first electric tram was launched – it was Blackpool in 1885, while London didn’t get its own until 10 July 1901.

The first tram ran between Shepherd’s Bush, Hammersmith, Acton and Kew Bridge, and within months East Ham and Croydon also had their own lines.

Fast forward to 1906, and ten municipal systems launched electric streetcars.

How the trams almost disappeared

Trams were an integral part of London transport until 1952.

Their heyday saw the construction of new infrastructure and an integrated tram system, including tracks over Westminster Bridge and the Kingsway Underground in 1908.

Although they were cheap to run and frequent at the height of their popularity, the tide of trams turned before World War II.

TfL’s predecessor, London Transport, began incorporating the tube and bus network in 1933. But the tram system it took over was in poor condition and badly in need of repair, despite being hugely popular with London’s commuters .

Then there were the buses, the fossil fuel competitor of the electric trams.

So the last tram journey left Woolwich for New Cross on 5th July 1952 during the exciting ‘last tram week’.

It was unclear if they would ever return.

John Cliff, vice-chairman of London Transport and former tram driver, drove the last tram.

It seems to have been very emotional, with banners raised and souvenir tickets sold, reports the Londoner.

London’s trams were forgotten for almost 50 years until 2000.

London had a short-lived streetcar service until 1962 before it was withdrawn, marking the end of electric street transport in London.

The transport museum said the decision to scrap the trams was “primarily financial” made at a time when “the full impact of fossil fuels on the environment has not been fully appreciated”.

Where else can you catch a tram in London?

The mysterious London tram still exists – in South London.

It was brought back to life in May 2000 when the Croydon Tramlink system relaunched them on behalf of TfL.

But the 21st century version is much shorter than the streetcars of their heyday.

Four London boroughs can boast of still having a tram connection – Croydon, Sutton, Merton and Bromley.

It now has two lines through four boroughs linking Wimbledon, West Croydon, East Croydon, Beckenham and Elmers End among others.

Fatal tram accident in Croydon

While the trams appear stable and generally safe, unfortunately there was a fatal accident on 9 November 2016 in Croydon.

Seven people died and others were injured, 19 of whom suffered serious injuries, after tram 2551 was thrown from the tracks after taking a corner at around 43mph at Sandilands.

Drivers should normally slow down to 12 mph when approaching the curve.

The tram was traveling in bad weather and “three times the speed limit” before the break-in, the Office of Road and Rail Industry Regulation (ORR) said.

Last year TfL and Tram Operations Limited were fined a total of £14,000,000 after pleading guilty to health and safety offences.

Driver Alfred Dorris was acquitted by an Old Bailey jury of health and safety failings in June last year.

Prosecutor Jonathan Ashley-Norman KC told the court, during a trial at the Old Bailey, that the tragic deaths were “likely to live on in the memory of everyone who was an adult in Britain that day”.

He said: “At that speed he couldn’t hope to hold the track. The inner wheels lifted off the rail and the tram derailed.

“It tipped over on its side, throwing those inside as if, as one survivor put it, they were in a washing machine.

What’s next for London’s trams?

Transport for London has revealed what the future of trams in London looks like and whether they could disappear.

A TfL spokesperson told Metro.co.uk: “We currently have no plans to extend the London tram network, but we have started the procurement process to replace the older trams we operate, which are approaching of the end of life.

“The award of any contract to design and build the new trams is conditional on securing an adequate funding package, with the aim of the new rolling stock entering service in the 2030s.”

“Any new trams will of course have the latest features including air conditioning, the latest audio and visual real-time travel information, charging points for mobile devices and new CCTV for enhanced safety and security.

“They will also include the latest safety features building on the improvements already made to the network as TfL works to eradicate death and serious injury across London’s transport network as part of our Vision Zero commitments.”

Although there are no plans to extend the network, TfL will not be phasing them out anytime soon as it “provides an important and much-loved transport option for south Londoners”.

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