Tram travel in history and beyond

About trams, history, history of trams or whatever else comes around

Changing the rule of the road from left to right

Posted on 1 January 2022 by Ernst Kers

Question:

I know that Portugal shifted from driving left to right in 1928. I could imagine, that the trams had only left doors when shifting. How did Portugal cope with this? Did the trams continue in the left side for some time, or was it properly planned as in Sweden, where public transportation introduced double sided door vehicles starting 10 years before cut over i 1967.

*Porto tram no.277 built in 1926; 9 May 2009*

Answer:

In 1928 all trams in Portugal were fully symmetrical: double-end with entrances / exits at both sides. So for the trams there wasn’t anything to change. The first unidirectional trams in Porto were put in service in 1946, the first in Lisboa in 1951. Sintra, Coimbra and Braga never had single-end trams with entrances at one side only.

Continue reading →

Trams on the steep slopes of Lisbon

Posted on 1 January 2022 by Ernst Kers

Question:

I have just visted Lisbon and did a tourist tram ride. I have spent the last couple of days trying to find details of how the trams manage the very steep hills as the slopes are much steeper than I would expect. Can you signpost any internet sights for me.

*Lisbon tram no.560 at the top of the steep Calçada de São Francisco; 19 July 2008*

Answer:

I’m not sure about information on the internet about this. That the small Lisbon tramcars can tackle the hills is because of a combination of things:

Continue reading →