Simon Johnston

The Trams Return : Celebrating 1,000 issues of "Tramways and Urban Transit" Simon Johnston

To mark this significant milestone issue of T& UT and its predecessor "The Modern Tramway", published continuously by the LRTA since 1937, the magazine's production team has put together this interesting collection of tramway topics for readers to enjoy and share in our celebration. Covering the history of the Association and its involvement in determined advocacy of the benefits of modern tram systems, a collection of expert authors explain the demise of the first-generation tramways throughout the British Isles (with the honourable exceptions of Blackpool and the Isle of Man) and the ultimate successful return of the mode to Manchester, followed by Sheffield, the West Midlands, Croydon, Nottingham, Dublin and Edinburgh - in addition to the Tyne & Wear Metro and London's Docklands Light Railway. With both archive material and new content - as well as many previously unpublished images - the book explores how the mode has evolved and adapted to support the growth and expansion of cities around the world.

It also places tramways and light rail into the vital context of social, political and economic change that has brought us from closures and abandonments to openings and the application of cutting-edge technology.