Edinburgh Transport

Lower Granton Road

Approaching the railway bridge at the foot of Trinity Road

Lower Granton Road

Tram and Street Sweeper

Thank you to John Stewart for allowing me to reproduce this photograph taken in Lower Granton Road.  The tram is heading from Granton towards Newhaven and is about to go around the double bend and under the railway bridge at Trinity Road and into Trinity Crescent.

The bridge and embankment have now bee removed, but the double bend is still there.  It is due to be removed when Edinburgh Council can find the cash to realign the junction.

A scaffy (street sweeper) is beside his cart on the southern side of Lower Granton Road.

The road signs are for a 'Double Bend' and 'Tram Pinch'.  The lamp posts have decorated ironwork at the top.

When might this photo have been taken?

Reply

1.

David King

Trinity, Edinburgh

Thank you to David King for sending me this reply.  It reached me about an hour after I added the photo to the web site.

David wrote:

1935-39 or 1946-56

    ©

"My guess is that this photo was taken:

-  between 1935 (when this style of painting was introduced on the trams) and  16 June 1956 when service 13 was withdrawn,

-  but not including the war years and immediately afterwards (when the tramcars had white paint applied to the footsteps and in a band at the foot of the bodywork to improve visibility during the blackout).

Unfortunately, I can’t read the vehicle number, or I might have been able to narrow the dates down.

Tramcars of this type were still being built in 1950.  I think this may be one of the later ones as the top deck windows have quite a narrow opening section.  This was deeper (about half the total height of the window) in cars built before the war."

David King, Trinity, Edinburgh:   October 10, 2010

Reply

2.

Ian Thomson

Lake Maquarie, New South Wales, Australia

Thank you to Ian Thomson who wrote:

Walking and Playing

    ©

"What a great picture of Lower Granton Road.

My wife Betty Thomson (née Kernan) used to walk this section as a wee girl in the 1940s, going to the trinity store just past the bridge for messages for her grannie who lived in Wardie Square.  She also played in Starbank Park as a wee lassie."

Trams and Buses

"Betty say's when she started work in 1950, she used the bus along this route. So did buses replace trams then?   ***

***  Edinburgh trams were all withdrawn by November 1956.  I don't know when the last tram ran along Lower Granton Road or when buses started running along Lower Granton Road.

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh:  October 14, 2010

Ian Thomson, Lake Maquarie, New South Wales, Australia:  October 11, 2010

Reply

3.

Ronnie Elder

Kandy, Sri Lanka

Thank you to Ronnie Elder who replied:

1954-55?

    ©

"Studying the photographs of trams in the same location on the Granton History Group web site, I might hazard an opinion that this photo would have been taken in 1954-55.

Ronnie Elder, Kandy, Sri Lanka:  October 15, 2010

Reply

4.

Archie Foley

Joppa, Edinburgh

Thank you to Archie who wrote:

Replacement of Trams by Buses

    ©

"I have looked up my copy of 'A Short History of Transport in Edinburgh', in response to Ian Thomson's comment about his wife taking the bus to work.

It seems that:

- the first tram service along Lower Granton Road to be replaced by bus was the No. 2 (to Stenhouse) on December 14, 1952.

- all other Granton services remained until the No. 8 (to Newington) was replaced by bus in April 1955, to be followed at regular intervals by other services during 1955 and 1956.

Archie Foley, Joppa, Edinburgh:  October 21, 2010

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