Leeds Trams 1958

[@davidgibbs7232]

Lovely to see old Leeds.I have lived in Leeds my whole 64 years and when I see old film like this I cannot shake the feeling we were so much better off then than we are now with the chaos on our roads.A world sadly gone with the wind.Many thanks for the memories as Bob Hope may have said.

[@tressteleg1]

I’m pleased that this has brought back fond memories. No doubt that Roy Hubble would be equally pleased.

[@davidgibbs7232]

Amen to that.

[@jonboy1937]

i was born in middleton and my dad always told me about the trams going through the woods to middleton ,great to see it on video, if my dad was alive today i am sure he would have appreciated this great piece of history on film. thank you

[@tressteleg1]

😊👍. I think Leeds had a fair bit of reserved track so is one tramway that should have been allowed to survive.

[@kitludd465]

Some of those central reservations for trams around cross gates are guided busways now! Thanks for sharing this footage of trams in Leeds.

[@tressteleg1]

@@kitludd465 Thanks for that, I didn’t know that some of the former Tramway reservation had been reused. Buses of any form aren’t of great interest to me.

[@martingoldman8393]

I remember the trams well, but lived in Leeds 8 and never took the routes in your film. There was a track that went up the side of Roundhay Road, and then along the side of Soldiers Field up to Roundhay Park, and thence on to Moortown. As a very small child, I hated climbing on to the top level of the older models. Thanks for sharing this film.

[@tressteleg1]

I'm pleased it brought back some memories. Probably next week there will be another by Roy Hubble, Grimsby and Immingham trams, owned by BR

[@Tomsonic41]

I'm too young to remember the trams; was born long after they had been discontinued. But my parents told me about where you could still see remnants of the old system, such as the Meanwood Waste Sorting Site. Until the 2000s, you could see the old tram tracks on the ground as it used to be a tram depot. Likewise, you can see where the rails used to run between two lines of trees by Soldiers Field, and the tram turning circle near Roundhay Park.

[@tressteleg1]

It sounds like Roy’s movie has brought to life some of the observations you made or was told about 😊. Maybe trams will return to Leeds one day…

[@LeodisTrainSpotter]

I was born in 2006 and iv been obsessed with things from the past, and recently i was in town and they were digging up the road near the train station and there were some tram tracks!

[@tressteleg1]

@@LeodisTrainSpotter You were lucky to be in the right place at the right time 🤗 In the 50s and 60s when many tramways were abandoned, the value of the steel in the rails was low so it often was not worth digging up the road to get it out, besides disruption to road traffic. So often it was just paved over as you saw.

[@allotmentuk1303]

That brought back a few mrmories Thank you for sharing. Mike Brotherton

[@tressteleg1]

😊👍

[@annienmouse9767]

I remember the trams on Harrogate Road. We lived near a terminus and the sound of the conductor reversing the backs on the seats to face the way the tram was travelling. There was also a chap who used a long pole to transfer the electric connector from one overhead line to another with a lot of sparks. It was great to see the green buses too. As a child I thought the only place “allowed” to have red buses so was amazed when visiting Manchester to see their red buses, quite shocking!

[@tressteleg1]

😊👍. Sydney conductors also walked through the newer trams pulling the seats over with a crash crash crash.

[@Omegaman1969]

My dad was a conductor on one of those Trams.

[@pjohnson9576]

My grandma got me a ticket for the last tram still have it in my album

[@tressteleg1]

Hang on to it!

[@danielfield2570]

Born and Lived in Leeds all 18 years of my life, shame they got rid of these Trams, now Leeds has the unfortunate distinction of being the largest metropolitan area IN EUROPE without a mass transit system of any kind (exc, Bus and Heavy Rail) I hope the town planners of the next generation reintroduce some back as much of the street layouts dont need that much altering Id love to see some come back up Otley Road in my lifetime Great Footage Thanks!

[@tressteleg1]

Most UK governments are uninterested in trams. Like Australia, the attitude is that buses are just as good so why waste the money on trams.

[@slash653able]

I enjoyed see this as it shows Hunslet road & Waterloo road both my parents were born in hunslet and remember them telling me about the tram (I missed them by about 5 years ) I also remember my dad telling me a story about getting his push bike wheel stuck in the tram track and ending up in the tram sheds about two miles away from where he lived....

[@tressteleg1]

+slash653able It’s great that the video has meant so much to you and your family history. It is just s pity that it is no longer possible to pass your comments on to cameraman and narrator Roy Hubble.

[@johncourtneidge]

Thank-you!

[@tressteleg1]

😊👍

[@TonyTANNER-l5b]

As a child, I loved traveling on a tram. My rother and I would walk don the street and place stones on the tram lines to see how the trams would crush them. I miss them so much, Would Leeds get them back? I doubt it after the latest budget

[@tressteleg1]

@@TonyTANNER-l5b I often hear of happy childhood memories from people living in many different cities. It’s a pity that so much of the English-speaking world as well as a few other countries thought that buses would handle it. Now it is very expensive to put them back. I think there has been several plans to return trams to Leeds, but with the central government not keen to fund them, they went nowhere. Who knows if that will ever change?

[@moochincrawdad]

They say that Los Angeles had the largest tram network ever in the 1940s, it too was taken apart by the motor car companies

[@tressteleg1]

LA tramways were big in the sense that many of the PE lines were long distance interurbans. After the war private car ownership was a major factor in closing many lines.

[@elephantsmemory3142]

I remember that last tram with the lord mayor on it I think it was the 22 to Temple Newsam I left school the following month at xnas

[@tressteleg1]

Neusser, seit ein verträumter etwas I wonderful

[@tressteleg1]

Ignore that. For some reason the iPad decided to dictate in German! I suppose that the mayor stated that it was a wonderful step forwards to replace the trams with buses. It was a mistake made in those days.

[@elephantsmemory3142]

@@tressteleg1 Ihave no idea what that means pal

[@tressteleg1]

Elephants Memory Replacing trams with buses was the ‘modern’ thing to do post war. Now, places that can afford it are putting trams back in.

[@elephantsmemory3142]

@@tressteleg1 If you ever got the front wheel of your bike in a tramline then you would not be so chuffed with them

[@mebeasensei]

Pity they scrapped them. Many tram systems got the chop in the late 50s the world over. Ours survived and is now the worlds biggest, but there was plenty of talk of killing it, along with most suburban trains, from the late 50s through to the early 80s.

[@tressteleg1]

Some believe that Melbourne survived because Conservative politicians did not want to waste good money buying buses for the city while the trams were still providing a service. Whatever the reason, we are pleased Melbourne trams survived. But tram scrapping was simply seen as modernisation in the English speaking world.

[@speakfreeley4473]

At the beginning of the 1950s when most towns & cities had or in the process of getting rid of their tram systems, Leeds was still very much pro-tram, even planning on extending it. Then came a change of council & opted to axe the system so by the time the 1950s ended trams were no more in Leeds. When the 1960s started only Sheffield, Glasgow & Blackpool still had their trams but they soon went barring Blackpool, where they survive to this day, but even there there were many route closures. History has shown it was a bad decision to shelve the trams as congestion worsened soon after & replacement buses got mixed up in it all whereas trams in many cases had reserved track away from all the mainstream traffic. The post-war years were bad for public transport what with this & the 1960s with a certain Dr Beeching with the railways. Today trams have however made a comeback in London, Sheffield, Nottingham, Manchester & Edinburgh. Other towns & cities have looked into it but keep meeting local opposition.

[@tressteleg1]

speak freeley Thanks for that. Unfortunately the English speaking world as well as some other countries like France and Spain did the ‘modern thing’ and changed to buses. The cost of putting trams back in is generally overwhelming.

[@speakfreeley4473]

@@tressteleg1 Melbourne was one part of the English speaking world that kept it's trams, & San Fran Cisco with it's famous cable cars.

[@tressteleg1]

speak freeley Of course I’m aware of Melbourne. I was a tram driver there. Some say that the trams only survived because the rural-leaning state government would not pay for new buses. Luckily it survived into the days when trams won favour again. SF cable cars are a tourist attraction, not general public transport. Nevertheless of the very few US cities which still have trams, 90% or more of their other lines were closed.

[@GeoffSh4rt]

You said that London trams were sold to Leeds. How did they get the trams to Leeds?

[@tressteleg1]

Geoff Short Double deck trams are usually transported by road on the back of trucks. They may have to take quite a few detours to avoid obstacles which they can’t get under so I suppose that is how the London trams got to Leeds.

[@GeoffSh4rt]

@@tressteleg1: Interesting. Thanks a lot.

[@chrisbradley1192]

3:02 the railway bridge at the bottom of Halton Hill.

[@craigr306]

bring it all back

[@tressteleg1]

If only we could!

[@LazlowUK]

fascinating stuff!

[@tressteleg1]

👍

[@tressteleg1]

To Paul Crompton, please try to contact me again. Your last comment was inaccessible to me.

[@paulcrompton2953]

Hi there, I was going to ask you if you wouldn't mind me using a few seconds of footage for a video I made on Leeds trams, but I now made the video!

[@paulcrompton2953]

Here's the video on why Leeds doesn't have trams anymore: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3K0c3-HZZ2fhZo

[@tressteleg1]

I did try to reply to you at the time, but sometimes for reasons unknown, when somebody leaves a comment on KZbin I may be able to read it but when I try to leave a reply, it disappears. I don’t know why this happens, and you were not the only person who this has happened to. I would have given permission when I knew what it was for, but unfortunately it is too late now. I am going out this morning, but will look at your video later. I hope you get plenty of views.

[@paulcrompton2953]

@@tressteleg1 No worries, thank you anyway :)

[@3275Dan]

I have lived in Leeds most of my life but never saw the trams as was born 1985. Question for the people who were in Leeds when the trams were active, do you think we should bring trams back to Leeds and other city's in the UK? Been watching vids to do with Leeds trams and find it very interesting (I find history in general very interesting), when I watch these vids makes we wish Leeds still had a tram system today.

[@tressteleg1]

I thought somebody from Britain may have replied by now, so I will have my say. A couple of decades ago, there was plans for something special in Leeds. It may have been for a new trolleybuses system but don’t quote me on that. Unfortunately the current British government seems not terribly interested in light rail or anything else like that, so for the time being I don’t think you have much hope. This is a pity, as I have a feeling that some of the old Leeds tram reservations would still be available for re-use.

[@3275Dan]

@@tressteleg1 Cheers for reply :)

[@tressteleg1]

😊👍

[@johnf3326]

Sad that these gone. Modern transport has no heart or soul

[@tressteleg1]

New trains might be nice and efficient, but they certainly lack character.

[@neilrogers6767]

As usual, the transport planners regret getting rid. A shame that they're gone. My dad is from Leeds and he's ridden them through the 1950s.

[@tressteleg1]

Unfortunately the English speaking world became obsessed with buses from the 1930 because they didn’t block traffic like trams and were CHEAPER. And when London tumbled, the rest soon followed.

[@bonbon19977]

Can we have this double deck train if we have new tram in Leeds? It is better than the single deck train as in Manchester. I think the design concept of Leeds double deck tram is the best. Simpler station design (no stupid platform and machine) and better space left to the people living there.😊

[@tressteleg1]

No chance. No major manufacturer makes double Deck Trams. They are too slow to load and modern laws demand the new constructions have wheelchair access. So if Leeds ever gets trams, and don’t forget such a plan was cancelled a number of years ago, they will be something pretty standard and off-the-shelf from the handful of manufacturers around these days.

[@bonbon19977]

@@tressteleg1 No, Hong Kong just have new double deck trains joined, made in France, a few years ago. Air conditioning, LED, and high speed. Think about the single deck tram in Manchester is financial blackhole. You know, the station platform occupied many space and huge construction work. And many people do not buy tickets, so tram need to be running by subsidiary and so increasing council tax.

[@bonbon19977]

I hear they have a new driverless concept on tram last year //A design studio reveals driverless tram concept for post-COVID Hong Kong The concept aims to encourage public transportation in the city.

[@bonbon19977]

//Hong Kong Tramways Limited, which is owned by French multinational Veolia, contacted MBD Design in order to create a new renovated version of the town’s double-decker trams. In the past, different internal projects were undertaken but could not be accepted by the passengers as they were not respecting the traditional and almost patrimonial vehicle style: plastic seat shells and “bus” style filling were not suitable for this Hong Kong iconic vehicle. Therefore, MBD Design decided to focus on finding a subtle balance between the necessary overhaul and the need to keep the unique atmosphere of this fleet that carry an average of 250,000 passengers every day. The blend of solid wood with an aluminium frame in a modern styling design came out onto an elegant and comfortable seat, establishing immediately the much sought-after strong identity. The interior includes new generous fillings, clearly requiring the presence of aluminium. They integrate numerous and ergonomics handrails as well as energy-saving and more welcoming LED lighting. As of the driver’s dashboard, it has been improved with CCTV and easier-to-read destination panel. Passengers waiting at a tram stop immediately recognize the face that is a fully integrated part of the urban Hong Kong landscape. The tram’s triple-window windscreen and central headlight have been maintained, as well as the passenger entrance through a flap gate at the rear of the car. The first refurbished trams were put in service in March 2011. The entire fleet of 161 trams will be refurbished at a rate of two per month by Hong Kong Tramways

[@bonbon19977]

On the problem of wheelchair, it is really a problem.🤔

[@valgailjarrett]

Interesting

[@tressteleg1]

😊

[@joaquinguzman8315]

all these trams were old rejects from london.

[@tressteleg1]

Not so much rejects but castoffs when London changed to buses.

[@joaquinguzman8315]

@@tressteleg1 i stand corrected, thankyou.

[@tressteleg1]

@@joaquinguzman8315 😊