Who First Made Trams?

The tram is light weight trolley car or train which runs on a steel track and carries passengers on short distances or within city limits. The first tram was developed in United States of America to run within New York city. This tram was pulled by horses. In the start of modernization these horse pulling trams were closed and countries like United Kingdom, Australia etc. started building there trams, powered by steam, cable & electricity. The first steam powered tram was built in United Kingdom in start 1900 century.

The first cable pulled tram was started in San Francisco, California in 1873. The first electric power tram was tested at Richmound, Virginia in 1888. If we look at all these type of trams and see them one after another, we can say first electric power tram was made in 1884 and successfully tested in 1888 built by Frank J Sprague, first steam powered tram was designed by French men and run in between Queensland Australia in 1909 and first cable pulled tram was built by American engineers in 1873 was tested San Francisco, California.

Street cars using horses to pull them were designed to transport people on a regular route without the need to pre-hire them. They were like animal railway and had several drawbacks. The animals had to be housed and fed and could only work for limited hours. And it was but natural that that they would be replaced by trams run on power, as it was more economical and convenient.

The first proto type of electric tram was designed by Russian engineer Fyodor Pirotsky, and he tested it in 1880 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The world's first electric tram line was built by Werner von Siemens in Lichterfelde, in Germany in 1881. Another was by John Joseph Wright in Toronto in1883. All these installation proved to be difficult and unreliable.

Frank J Sprague first tested the electric powered tram in 1888 in Virginia and as this proved successful in all respects, he is regarded as the inventor of the tram or trolley car. He later developed a design where several cars could be linked and run by one motorman.

Beginning of 20th century saw a rapid development in trams and they became the preferred mode of transport in urban areas. But as they could ply only on limited routes and at fixed times buses became more popular.