Tram Facts for Kids

A tram in Moscow, which has one of the largest tram networks in the world.

Streetcars in Toronto. This city has the largest streetcar system in North America.

A double-deck tram in London, 1910. Double-decker trams were common in Great Britain and Dublin before they were removed in the 1950s and 1960s.

A PESA 120N light rail vehicle in Warsaw.

A double-decker tram in Hong Kong.

A tram (also called a tramcar, trolley, or streetcar) is a passenger vehicle. It is like a light train that carries people around a city. Trams can carry many people at once. Riding a tram instead of driving a car helps reduce pollution and makes the roads less busy.

The word tram is mostly used outside North America. In North America, these vehicles are called streetcars or trolleys. This is because they usually run on city streets.

Newer and larger trams made since the 1970s are often called light rail vehicles. The tram in the second picture from Warsaw is an example. These vehicles are bigger because they often have two or more parts. They have a bendy section in the middle, like a human joint. In railway language, these are called "articulated" vehicles. Light rail vehicles sometimes have their own special tracks, not on the street. Their stops are also usually farther apart, so they can travel faster.

In San Francisco, old streetcars from the 1910s to the 1940s are a popular tourist attraction. They are called "historic streetcars" and run on the F Market line. Another city famous for its trams is Hong Kong. Trams there have two floors, which is very rare around the world. Tourists love riding them.

The biggest tram networks in the world are in: Melbourne, St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, Berlin, Moscow, and Vienna.

History of Trams
Related pages
Images for kids
See also

History of Trams

Tram networks around the world: Countries with tram networks Countries without tram networks

Trams first started being used in the 1890s. They took the place of "horsecars," which were streetcars pulled by horses.

From the 1910s to the 1930s, some metropolitan areas in North America had special, longer streetcars. These traveled long distances to far-off suburbs on lines called interurban lines. These streetcar lines sometimes had their own special tracks and made fewer stops. This helped them travel faster.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, in the United States, some large companies worked together. These included an oil company, a car company, and a tire company. They bought many streetcar systems. Then, they removed the tracks and replaced the trams with buses in many cities across North America. They did this to earn more money by selling more oil, buses, cars, and rubber tires.

Because of this, cities had to spend a lot of money in the 1980s and 1990s. They rebuilt the streetcar systems as light rail systems, using modern light rail vehicles.

Images for kids

The Tatra T3 vehicle is the most widely produced tram in history.
The Artic X34 tram vehicle in Tampere, Finland.
A horse-drawn tram operated by Swansea and Mumbles Railway, 1870. This railway service was the world's first, started in 1804.
A horse-drawn tram in Sydney, 1894. Sydney had Australia's first tram service, which opened in 1860.
Horse-drawn trams were used in New York City until 1917.
A steam tram engine from the Cologne-Bonn Railway, pulling a train through Brühl marketplace, around 1900.
Winding drums of the London and Blackwall cable-operated railway.
The first cable car service in Melbourne, 1885. Melbourne had one of the largest cable car networks in the world from its start until 1940.
A San Francisco cable car in 2008. Cable cars work well in hilly areas, which is why they are still used in San Francisco.
Gross-Lichterfelde Tram in 1882. Early electric trams from this company did not use overhead wires. They got power from the rails.
Volk's Electric Railway, around 1890. Opened in 1883, it is the world's oldest electric tramway still running.
A tram in Budapest in 1908. The city built a network of electric trams in 1894.
Melbourne Tram system in 1979. Melbourne was the only city in Australia to operate a tram network through the 1970s.
Convict tramways were human-powered tramways used in Port Arthur.
The only petrol-driven tram of Stockholms Spårvägar, on line 19, in the 1920s.
Several trams in Toronto on a special track lane. The tram in the front is about to enter a part of the network that shares the road with other traffic.
Overhead lines are used to power most electric trams. Both trams and light rail systems use overhead wires.
A section of APS track in Bordeaux with powered and neutral parts.
A cross section of a grooved tram rail.
Made in 1923 and 1924, the 900 Series tram is still used by the New Orleans tram system. Trams usually last longer than buses that use gasoline.
A sign telling cyclists to get off their bikes because of tram tracks. Tram tracks can be dangerous for cyclists, as their wheels might get stuck.
Map of Melbourne's tram system in 2009 (with planned extensions). This tram system is the largest in the world.
A tram in Chengdu. Its line is part of the Chengdu Metro. Chengdu is one of several cities in China that have invested in tram systems in the early 21st century.
Cologne Stadtbahn is the largest tram network in the European Union.
Opened in 2001, the Portland Streetcar was the first new (not historic) tram network built in North America in many decades.
A painting of Auckland in 1889 with horse-drawn trams on the road.
Construction of light rail in Canberra. Building light rail became a big topic in the 2016 ACT general elections.
PreMetro line E2 is a tram network that has been running in Buenos Aires since 1987.
A model of a town with a tram model built into it.
A sign in Portland that says "go by streetcar." Trams are usually called streetcars in North America.
Preserved Linke-Hofmann-Busch tram, in Kraków, Poland.

Tram facts for kids

Contents

History of Trams

Related pages

Images for kids

See also