The last day of the trams
Trams are a thing of the past. Nowadays, they have been replaced by buses, subways or cars. Sweden have had its share of trams. I can name at least five major cities that had them. Stockholm was one of them, but the Stockholm transport authority decided to remove them when Sweden switched from left side, to right side traffic in 1967. The cost of replacing cars and what not would have been too big.
Malmö (third biggest city in Sweden) on the other hand, decided to convert their remaining tram cars to right side traffic, which prolonged the tram service until 1973. When it was decided that too few people used the remaining lines and cars. The transport authority felt that buses were cheaper and easier to maintain. I have been lucky enough get hold of some photos taken on the last day of the tram service in Malmö, April 27, 1973. I've always felt that a tram service in a city makes it more alive and more pleasant. But I guess, it really is a thing of the past.
Malmö, Sweden, April 27, 1973
Malmö, Sweden, April 27, 1973
Malmö, Sweden, April 27, 1973
Malmö, Sweden, April 27, 1973
Malmö (third biggest city in Sweden) on the other hand, decided to convert their remaining tram cars to right side traffic, which prolonged the tram service until 1973. When it was decided that too few people used the remaining lines and cars. The transport authority felt that buses were cheaper and easier to maintain. I have been lucky enough get hold of some photos taken on the last day of the tram service in Malmö, April 27, 1973. I've always felt that a tram service in a city makes it more alive and more pleasant. But I guess, it really is a thing of the past.
Malmö, Sweden, April 27, 1973
Malmö, Sweden, April 27, 1973
Malmö, Sweden, April 27, 1973
Malmö, Sweden, April 27, 1973
Posted at 5:34 PM | 8 comments | links to this post 
My name is Chris and I live in Sweden. I love the 50s and 60s lifestyle and design. I am very fascinated by the architecture of the period too, for instance googie, modernism, the work of Joseph Eichler, John Lautner and Arne Jacobsen's international style. I have a large archive with space-age, library, bossa, cocktail, retro soundtracks and exotica music. I also believe that things were better in the old days.
8 Comments:
Whoa! My town. I didn't grow up in Malmö so I can't say I remember how it was back then. Great photos. I moved to Malmö in beginning of the '90s. But I have been to "Malmö Spårvagns Museum" (the Tram Museum of Malmö). Back then that museum was run more or less on private initiative by a couple of nice elderly gentlemen (formerly tram drivers as I remember it).
Trams were (and are) a nice ingredient in the architectue of the city. But I still have problems coming to cities where they still have trams. I am alway close to be hit by one of them. They are rather unpredictable... ;-)
April 22, 2006 9:26 AM
Get glasses mr DF! Unpredictable?! rams run on tracks! ;)
April 27, 2006 1:58 AM
Trams det är vad det är! Trams!!!
April 27, 2006 1:59 AM
Fronning - I already have glasses than you. Trams are still unpredictable. Cool but dangerous vehicles.
;-)
April 27, 2006 9:42 PM
Bigger glasses, MrDF, bigger glasses!
April 28, 2006 12:43 AM
Thanks for these shots!
Once upon a time here in the midwest were "interurbans" and I've run across some old slides of those.
Am putting time aside to get them up on my other blog.
Thanks & Cheers from the US!
May 13, 2006 3:37 PM
Boston, Massachusetts still has trams. Our subway system has four lines, and the Green Line is actually a tram system. There's a few newer cars, so I don't think it'll be going anywhere anytime soon.
July 13, 2006 1:01 AM
I would just like to point out that Gothenburg (Göteborg), Sweden still has trams.
May 27, 2007 5:58 PM
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