15 June 2011

Bombay's last surviving tram?


This is not exactly railways. But worth a mention here
.

A replica of the city’s last surviving tram is in ruins at the BEST Transport Museum. It is similar to the ones that ran on Mumbai’s roads. Tram services in Mumbai, then called Bombay, were terminated in 1964 after 90 years of existence. Tramways were proposed as early as 1864, but a contract for their construction was given to Stearns and Kitteredge only in 1873. They were to run the lines for 21 years after which electric trams were introduced. The first trams, between Parel and Colaba were drawn by teams of six to eight horses. When the tramways started in 1874, Stearnes and Kitteredge had a stable of 900 horses.

Electric trams were introduced in 1907 and ran till 1964.

The order for the first electric tram-car had been placed with the Brush Electrical Company of London. The vehicle arrived in Mumbai in January 1906. There used to be an Upper Class in the tram-cars; it was removed after some time. (27/09/09)


14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mumbai's trams were lovely creatures slowly trundling through the city's traffic. They should not have been scrapped...
Amit Desai, Mahalaxmi

Plant & Animls Welfare Society - Mumbai said...

Rajendra Ji,
You are really doing great job by collection information about Railway History it is very useful.
Sunish Subramanian Kunju
Bhandup, Mumbai

Unknown said...

It is interesting to know that the tram still exists. I'd like to know where the transport museum is. They shouldn't have been scrapped.

Akshay Iyer, Chembur, Bombay

Ravindra said...

Amongst all your posts on this wonderful site, this one is the most charming. Keep it up !!!

Anonymous said...

Does anyone have a map of all the Bombay tram routes?

Unknown said...

Yes. The map is available. I think I do have a copy of the map.

MSW said...

Hi ,

If anyone has the copy of tram routes, please pass it on. Also , I would appreciate all the information on trams of mumbai..

doing a research of the same
thanking everyone in advance.

RJ Bosco Rodrigues said...

That photograph of the tram at the Anik Depot is from Calcutta. It was used in a movie made on Dr.Ambedkar. The Bombay trams looked completely different from the calcutta ones. Unfortunately BEST has not retained even one model of the old AEC Double deck or single deck buses leave alone trams. Anyone having the tram routes, kindly share that with me as well.

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Anonymous said...

my name is shivaji kamble who have travalled by this trams to my school from lalbaugh to parel to st. mares stella prprimary school and the fare was 2 paise only travelled for 3 years from 1960 to 1963 it was a bouble deck tram and the trma route was right in the middle of the road
seperating the two roads on either side

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kaizar kagalwala said...

31ST MAR 1964 WAS THE DAY WHEN THE TRAM WAS DISCONTINUED FROM BOMBAY UNDER THE FIRST CITIZEN MR ISHAQBHAI BANDOOKWALA DURING WHOSE MAYORALITY TRAMS WERE TAKEN OFF THE ROADS.

Karel Hynek said...

Dobrý den.
Mohu poprosit o informaci, a fotografie, o trolejbusech Škoda 9 Tr v Bombaji? Společnost BEST provozovala v letech 1962 - 1973 12 kusů těchto vozidel. Jsou známy pouze 3 fotografie z provozu, ale o jiných mi není nic známo. Stejně tak mi není nic známo o zbytcích infrastruktury (trolejbusového vedení) ani o vozidlech (zda byly sešrotovány nebo využity jiným způsobem). Mohl bych tedy poprosit o fotografie a informace? Předem děkuji.

Hello.
Can I ask for information, and photos, about Škoda 9 Tr trolleybuses in Mumbai? BEST operated between 1962 and 1973 12 of these vehicles. Only 3 photos are known, but nothing is known about others. Likewise, I am not aware of any remaining infrastructure (trolleybus) or vehicles (whether they have been scrapped or otherwise used). So could I ask for pictures and information? Thank you in advance.