Liverpool was the first city to obtain an "Act of Parliament" for a local tramway service. The Liverpool Tramways Company got it's act in 1868 and operations started in November 1869 with 16 horse drawn cars. These cars were double deckers seating 46 passengers and were built by John Stephenson of New York and George Starbuck of Birkenhead.[Read More About The Early History]

Electric cars were introduced in 1898 and by 1901, the system had become entirely electric traction.   See the Tram Timeline for more events in the history of Liverpool Trams.

Liverpool had one of the most interesting tramway systems in Britain which operated up until the 14th September 1957. After the second world war, the city of Liverpool foolishly decided to follow a fashion already set by many other British cities and abandon the tram in favour of buses. This was despite having an extensive tramway system in place with much of the trackwork running in the "central reservations" of main roads connecting the city and its suburbs. Liverpool also had a large fleet of "streamliner" trams which had been quite ahead of their time when built in the 1930's and which still looked fairly modern in the 1950's.

You can still see and even ride in one of Liverpool's streamliner trams, also known as"Green Goddesses" at Britain's National Tramway Museumat Crich in Derbyshire. Here number 869 (shown right) a bogie streamliner which was restored by volunteers of the "Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society", still operates. Car 869 was brought back to Liverpool from Glasgow where it operated after the closure of Liverpool's system.

Liverpool's official last tram was car 293 which was painted in a special light cream livery. This tram was sold to the Seashore Trolly Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine in the USA. In 1990 I made my first visit to the museum to see the tram and photograph it. Unfortunately car 293 is now in quite poor condition.

Car 293 was a "Baby Grand". These cars were economy versions of the "Bogie Streamliner" cars like 869 shown above. Another Baby Grand was preserved by the city and this car, number 245 was in the 1970's put on display at a rail museum at Southport, Merseyside.