InTramCities with Gordon Stewart
           INFRASTRUCTURE, ARCHITECTURE and ENVIRONMENT along streets with trams

Street scenes can be fascinating. Tramways bring another element to the mix, making tram routes through cities and suburbs even more so, with the infrastructure they add, the life they bring and the impressive spectacle of the tramcars themselves. Modern tramway developments have often brought about vehicle traffic calming measures and beautification of the streets they serve.

Gordon Stewart travels regularly throughout Europe to create one of the finest tramway photograph collections on the internet. Although trams are the focal point and common thread throughout, it is where they are running which provides the diversity and interest in his photos. As well as city centres with their grand architecture, Gordon takes you to less well-known suburbs to give a real feel for the tramway city. The photos are becoming an important historical record for those interested in the city itself as well as its trams and also show how trams fit into urban environments to help provide an attractive and accessible transportation system.

There are now over 38,000 tram photos from 142 tramway cities from the 1980s onwards in the collection. When Gordon Stewart first visited tramway cities in the 1970s it was assumed that further closures of street routes were inevitable with new routes and entirely new tramway systems highly unlikely. Not so. Their prospects have been transformed completely, providing ever-increasing subject matter for the tramway photographer. Gordon's project has become one primarily to record growth rather than to capture scenes before they disappeared. 
ABOUT THE IMAGES IN THIS MAJOR TRAM PHOTO COLLECTION

Transport Types : Coverage is limited to light rail systems with a predominantly urban tramway character but also includes Paris' so-called Tramway on Tyres.

Series List : Scroll down for the list of tramways covered in city sequence (and year sequence within this for systems visited on multiple occasions) with link to photos.

Presentation : All series are presented on-line in a nine-per-screen format below a tabular list of photos with details of actual or nearest tram stop, direction of view, direction in which the tram is travelling and tram number where available. Photos are listed in the sequence in which they were taken and for more recent series, the name of the street along which the trams are running is shown in the comments column, but only where there is a change of street.

Larger photos (1000 pixel long-side) are presented for very recent series as well as the 9/screen format. The series will only be available for a limited period from date of the visit, typically one year.

What's new ? :   Click here for a presentation of the most recent series (2013 to date)

- In view of the lack of new material in 2020 a review has been undertaken of the photos of St Petersburg (then known as Leningrad) in 1985, improving the details of the photograph locations and commenting on closure dates of stretches where trams no longer operate, such as at the world-famous Hermitage Museum (see photo below).  Go to the series


The Moscow tramway photos from 1985 have also been reviewed and include the photo below of a tram turning out of 1-yi Novopodmoskovnyy Pereulok into Zoi I Aleksandra Komodem'yanskikh Ulitsa. Go to the series

A similar review has been undertaken for a visit to Kiev (see photo below) in 1985. Go to the series

Catalogue : You can view or download the full photograph catalogue as an MS Excel format spreadsheet. The approximate file size is 2 MB. 
Updated to : 19/11/19.  Click here

Maps : For route maps and diagrams, please go to the website of the transport operator or if appropriate the local transport coordinating body. Most have a range of excellent downloadable maps, generally in pdf format but often also as jpg/gif format images

Title Photo : Photo above : Place Darcy, Dijon, France (28th September, 2016) 
This website is an educational resource and is non-commercial. 

This website does not provide a comprehensive history or technical description of the tramways. These aspects are covered by specialist publications and websites elsewhere.
 
This website does present a visual record of a tramway city at a given point in time.  No other website offers as great a level of network coverage.

Digital photography was adopted in 2004, generally resulting in greater network coverage and improved quality images

Use of images : Images may be made available by arrangement for approved uses such as research, publications and materials promoting tramway schemes. Please contact the webmaster

You are welcome to link to these pages. Please don't copy photos for insertion into other websites or publications without permission from the webmaster.

This website is owned and developed by Gordon Stewart and is based in the United Kingdom. All photos are by Gordon Stewart.
All photos are Copyright  Copyright.jpg  Gordon Stewart / InTramCities  1980-2020
InTramCities was formerly known as Tramscape Tramway Cities

Send an e-mail to Gordon Stewart at InTramCities 

THE PHOTOGRAPHS
Click on the Year in the table below alongside the selected city to go to the photographs
Tram System English NameCountry Year  (click to view) No. of Photos
Alicante / AlacantSpain2013135
Almada Portugal2019136
Amsterdam Netherlands 1986 15
Amsterdam Netherlands 2007 444
AmsterdamNetherlands2017540
AngersFrance2019128
Antwerpen AntwerpBelgium 1985 65
AntwerpenAntwerpBelgium2018486
AubagneFrance201752
Augsburg Germany 1984 20
Augsburg Germany 2003 67
Bad Schandau - Kirnitzschtal Germany 2004 20
Barcelona Spain 2010 270
Basel Switzerland 1996 52
Basel Switzerland 2008 519
BaselSwitzerland2019152
BergenNorway2016204
Berlin Germany 1983 12
Berlin Germany 1998 148
Berlin Germany 2005 397
Berlin Germany 2006 225
BerlinGermany2016120
Bern Switzerland 1988 10
Bern Switzerland 1996 65
Bern Switzerland 2001 5
BesanconFrance2016166
Bielefeld Germany 1983 8
Bielefeld Germany 2002 65
Bilbao / BilboSpain2015181
Birmingham - West Midlands United Kingdom200031
Birmingham - West Midlands United Kingdom2016154
Blackpool United Kingdom 1982 8
Blackpool United Kingdom 1984 25
Blackpool United Kingdom 2005 129
BlackpoolUnited Kingdom201377
Bochum-Gelsenkirchen Germany 1983 6
Bochum-Gelsenkirchen Germany 1985 34
Bochum-Gelsenkirchen Germany 1986 61
Bochum-Gelsenkirchen Germany 1988 30
Bochum-Gelsenkirchen Germany 1991 69
Bochum-Gelsenkirchen Germany 1995 94
Bochum-Gelsenkirchen Germany 2002 45
Bonn Germany 1983 8
Bonn Germany 1984 10
Bonn Germany 2001 99
Bordeaux France 2008 524
Brandenburg Germany 1998 54
Brandenburg Germany 2005 59
Bratislava Slovakia 1986 22
Bratislava Slovakia 2007 271
BratislavaSlovakia2017109
Braunschweig Germany 1983 5
Braunschweig Germany 1998 73
Bremen Germany 2013 464
Brno Czech Republic 2006 548
Brno Czech Republic 2007 114
Brussel / Bruxelles Belgium 1983 40
Brussel / Bruxelles Belgium 1985 40
Brussel / Bruxelles Belgium 2012 519
Budapest Hungary 1986 122
Budapest Hungary 2006 494
BudapestHungary2017265
Cairo - Heliopolis Egypt 1998 48
Charleroi Belgium 1983 7
Charleroi Belgium 1997 13
Chemnitz Germany 1997 32
Cottbus Germany 2005 65
Darmstadt Germany 1984 33
DarmstadtGermany2018163
Den Haag Netherlands 1986 40
Den Haag Netherlands 2013 392
Den HaagNetherlands2016430
DijonFrance2016267
Dortmund Germany 1984 84
Dortmund Germany 1986 8
Dortmund Germany 1988 36
Dortmund Germany 1991 99
Dortmund Germany 1995 79
Dortmund Germany 2002 76
Dresden Germany 1997 117
Dresden Germany 2004 228
Dublin Ireland 2005 117
Dublin Ireland 2013 150
Duisburg Germany 1984 24
Duisburg Germany 1986 16
Duisburg Germany 1995 18
Duisburg Germany 2002 30
Dusseldorf Germany 1983 7
Dusseldorf Germany 1984 4
Dusseldorf Germany 1985 48
Dusseldorf Germany 1986 26
Dusseldorf Germany 1991 22
Dusseldorf Germany 1995 44
Dusseldorf Germany 2001 171
Dusseldorf Germany 2002 10
DusseldorfGermany2014217
EdinburghUnited Kingdom2014117
EdinburghUnited Kingdom201633
ElblagPoland2018160
Essen Germany 1983 11
Essen Germany 1985 66
Essen Germany 1986 36
Essen Germany 1988 86
Essen Germany 1991 48
Essen Germany 1995 59
Essen Germany 2002 120
FirenzeFlorenceItaly2016140
Frankfurt an der Oder Germany 2005 72
Frankfurt-am-Main Germany 1984 122
Frankfurt-am-Main Germany 1987 80
Frankfurt-am-Main Germany 1996 62
Frankfurt-am-MainGermany2018466
Freiburg Germany 2000 67
FreiburgGermany2019592
Gdansk Poland 2011 383
GdanskPoland2018264
Geneve GenevaSwitzerland 1988 18
Geneve GenevaSwitzerland 2000 25
Geneve GenevaSwitzerland 2005 179
Geneve GenevaSwitzerland 2007 161
GeneveGenevaSwitzerland2015218
Gent Belgium 1985 17
Gent Belgium 1997 59
Gent Belgium 1999 36
Gmunden Austria 2003 15
Goteborg GothenburgSweden 1990 57
Goteborg GothenburgSweden 2007 350
GranadaSpain2018153
GrazAustria2016337
Grenoble France 2007 243
Halle Germany 1997 66
Hannover Germany 1983 23
Hannover Germany 1991 65
Hannover Germany 1998 109
Heidelberg Germany 1981 6
Heidelberg Germany 1984 7
Heidelberg Germany 1987 15
Heidelberg Germany 1996 79
Helsinki / Helsingfors Finland 1989 5
Helsinki / Helsingfors Finland 1990 18
Hong Kong China 1982 21
Innsbruck Austria 2003 44
InnsbruckAustria2015106
Istanbul Turkey 1994 14
Istanbul Turkey 2009 222
Karlsruhe Germany 1987 29
Karlsruhe Germany 1996 105
Kassel Germany 2002 146
Katowice - Tramwaje Slaskie Poland 2009 336
Knokke-De Panne Belgium 1983 4
Knokke-De Panne Belgium 1997 68
Knokke-De Panne Belgium 1999 13
KolnCologneGermany198328
KolnCologneGermany198832
KolnCologneGermany20009
KolnCologneGermany2001156
KolnCologneGermany201453
KrakowPoland198749
Krakow Poland 2009 418
Krefeld Germany 1986 23
KyivKievUkraine198561
Lausanne Switzerland 2000 19
Le HavreFrance2015178
Le MansFrance2019170
Leipzig Germany 1997 170
Lille France 1997 25
Lille France 1999 5
Linz Austria 2003 77
Lisboa LisbonPortugal 2007 356
LisboaLisbonPortugal2019197
London United Kingdom 2008 137
Ludwigshafen Germany 1981 3
Ludwigshafen Germany 1984 17
Ludwigshafen Germany 1987 5
Ludwigshafen Germany 1996 17
Lyon LyonsFrance 2006 230
Lyon LyonsFrance 2007 38
LyonLyonsFrance2015207
MadridSpain2017168
Magdeburg Germany 1991 39
Magdeburg Germany 1998 85
Magdeburg Germany 2005 72
Mainz Germany 1984 20
Mainz Germany 1987 6
Mainz Germany 1996 24
MainzGermany201723
MainzGermany2018132
MalagaSpain201821
Manchester United Kingdom 1992 43
Manchester United Kingdom 2005 52
Manchester United Kingdom 2007 34
Manchester United Kingdom 2009 63
Manchester United Kingdom 2010 49
Manchester United Kingdom 2011 64
Manchester United Kingdom 2013 88
ManchesterUnited Kingdom201457
ManchesterUnited Kingdom201563
ManchesterUnited Kingdom201614
ManchesterUnited Kingdom201797
ManchesterUnited Kingdom2019114
Mannheim Germany 1981 7
Mannheim Germany 1984 32
Mannheim Germany 1987 43
Mannheim Germany 1996 159
MarseilleMarseillesFrance2017291
Milano MilanItaly 1999 83
Milano MilanItaly 2008 482
Minsk Belarus 1985 28
Montpellier France 2009 328
MontpellierFrance2014270
Moskva MoscowRussia 1985 42
Most & Litvinov Czech Republic201797
Mulheim Germany 1983 7
Mulheim Germany 1985 9
Mulheim Germany 1986 29
Mulheim Germany 1995 17
Mulheim Germany 2002 41
Mulhouse France 2008 169
Munchen MunichGermany 1984 31
Munchen MunichGermany 2003 176
Munchen MunichGermany 2012 260
MurciaSpain201375
Nantes France 2006 427
NantesFrance2019205
Nice France 2009 291
Norrkoping Sweden 2008 192
Nottingham United Kingdom 2004 122
Nottingham United Kingdom 2012 65
NottinghamUnited Kingdom2015101
NottinghamUnited Kingdom2019104
Nurnberg NurembergGermany 1984 24
NurnbergNurembergGermany2018342
Oberhausen Germany 2002 16
Olomouc Czech Republic 2007 74
Orleans France 2013 222
Oslo Norway 1992 43
Oslo Norway 2006 300
OsloNorway2016243
Paris France 1997 75
Paris France 2007 190
Paris France 2013 183
ParisFrance2014190
ParisFrance2015141
ParisFrance2017103
ParlaSpain201783
Plzen Czech Republic 2004 96
Porto OportoPortugal 2008 358
Potsdam Germany 1998 75
Potsdam Germany 2005 150
Poznan Poland 2006 373
Praha PragueCzech Republic 1986 80
Praha PragueCzech Republic 2004 478
Praha PragueCzech Republic 2006 122
PrahaPragueCzech Republic2017413
ReimsFrance2014200
Riga Latvia 2012 407
Roma RomeItaly 2005 155
RomaRomeItaly
2017
241
Rotterdam Netherlands 1986 39
RotterdamNetherlands          2014478
RouenFrance2015168
SassariItaly201971
Schoneiche-Rudersdorf Germany 1998 31
Schoneiche-Rudersdorf Germany 2005 32
Schoneiche-Rudersdorf Germany 2006 8
Sevilla SevilleSpain 2011 82
Sheffield United Kingdom 1999 85
Sheffield United Kingdom 2003 27
Sheffield United Kingdom 2004 94
SheffieldUnited Kingdom201754
St EtienneFrance2015141
St Petersburg Russia 1985 60
Stockholm Sweden 2008 157
Strasbourg France 1996 30
StrasbourgFrance2015489
Strausberg Germany 1998 14
Stuttgart Germany 1984 44
Stuttgart Germany 1987 57
Stuttgart Germany 1996 147
StuttgartGermany2015211
Szczecin Poland 2006 311
ToulouseFrance2014147
TorinoTurinItaly2015 405
UtrechtNetherlands2016 121
ValenciaSpain2016277
Vitoria-GasteizSpain2015150
Warszawa WarsawPoland 1987 41
Warszawa WarsawPoland 2007 377
Weinheim (OEG)Germany19875
WienViennaAustria198628
WienViennaAustria200342
WienViennaAustria200673
WienViennaAustria2016362
WienViennaAustria2017634
WoltersdorfGermany199829
Woltersdorf Germany 2005 22
Wroclaw Poland 2006 314
Wuppertal Germany 1985 28
Wurzburg Germany 1984 6
WurzburgGermany2017170
ZagrebCroatia2018363
Zurich Switzerland 1988 4
Zurich Switzerland 1996 56
Zurich Switzerland 1997 68
Zurich Switzerland 1999 50
Zurich Switzerland 2008 36

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Museum Tramways
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Crich (National Tramway Museum)United Kingdom19908
Coatbridge (Summerlee Museum)United Kingdom20178
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Tramways on Tyres
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Paris  (Line T5)TranslohrFrance201730
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West Germany in the 1970s  :  The photographs of Gordon Stewart and Ian Stewart
Although the InTramCities database starts with the 1980s, Gordon Stewart and his father Ian visited West German tramways on several occasions prior to this, taking a limited number of photographs with varying results. The 1970s was a fascinating era. It was a time when towns and cities, large and small were debating vigorously about what to do with their tramways. Gradually close them down, as some places were, modernise and expand, or as many of the major cities tried, dig as many tunnels as possible and run their trams underground. For most, this proved to be far too ambitious and cheaper alternatives were sought. Many were left with compromise solutions and several cities created problems of their own making due to the differing levels of compatibility between their new developments and their existing tramway infrastructure. Nobody was quite sure what would be the outcome. It seemed that tramway photography would largely be a matter of catching views before most were finally closed down. As it turned out, the 1980s saw the development of the low-floor tram which would bring a great improvement in the physical accessibility of trams. The low floor tram probably saved the street tramway and changed the public's perception of them. This special report by Gordon Stewart showcases some of the photos taken in the 1970s and puts them in the context of the developments taking place at the time.
 
Photo above : A new design of tram for new conditions. Tunnels take over from street tracks in several city centres. A Stadtbahn-M car reaches street level after leaving the recently-opened Porscheplatz underground station in Essen in 1977. Many large cities became building sites and the scenes are barely recognisable now almost 50 years on.

Go to the report

Other Reports
InTramCities with Ian Stewart  Photographs by Ian Stewart (1931-1992)

Naples, Italy in 1973 : The first tramway photographs ever taken by Gordon Stewart
Antwerp, Belgium in 1975 by Gordon Stewart
Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, now Slovakia, in 1979 by Gordon Stewart

Nordhausen (Germany) in 2005 by Phil Barnes

Closed Tramway Alignments


Despite the numerous new tramway openings in recent years, some traditional tram tracks have been closed. In most cases this has been in favour of improved alignments such as tunnels or relocation . One such alignment is that in Friedhofstrasse, seen above on June 9th 2015. The tracks were closed for passenger service in 2017.
Photos in the InTramCities collection illustrate some of these. Click here for more   (only text currently available on-line)

Closed Surface alignments to be restored ?
The renaissance of tramways, beginning with small steps in the 1980s and growing strongly ever since was a recognition of their valuable role in meeting growing transportation requirements, especially in medium-sized cities. There is now a new environment which further supports this view. The 2020s were ushered in following a rapid rise in awareness of climate change particularly following the growth of popular activism on a global scale. The vilification of carbon-producing fossil fuels has led to increasing commitments by governments, companies and private individuals to move towards net zero carbon emissions and also to reduce the emission of other chemicals and particulates deemed to be damaging to human health. This has led to a renewed interest in electric transport where the electricity can be generated in a carbon free-way through solar, wind and tidal power. Tramways are expected to benefit significantly from this movement.  The global Covid-19 pandemic which manifested itself in early 2020, has focused minds on the future. Despite the massive economic disruption and the taking on of enormous debts, governements have talked about "Growing Back Greener". As well as new tramway lines, this could also lead to the re-laying of tram tracks where they were once unceremoniously removed. The benefits of trams in busy urban environments are once again being recognised more widely, but developments are not always universally popular and much political controversy can still be expected.


A busy tramway scene in front of Essen Hauptbahnhof in August 1976 gives little hint that extensive tunneling excavation works at the site would see the end of surface tramways here in the following year. In 2020 plans were approved to begin construction to restore the tramline as part of the Citybahn project, building a ring around the south and west of the city centre. The new line which will run from Betriebshof Stadtmitte (Goldschmidtstrasse) in the east to Bergmuhle in the north-west will allow at least one route to be diverted out of the tramway tunnel which is operating at near-capacity but also improve transport links to the major redevelopment area "ESSEN 51" being built on the site of the former Krupp steelworks.

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