IT has been used as a humble garden shed for more than a century.

IT has been used as a humble garden shed for more than a century.

IT has been used as a humble garden shed for more than a century.

Now five years after turning up in a Borders garden – and following more than £52,000 of work – a horse-drawn Edinburgh tramcar has been restored to its former glory.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

And, as it runs on the same wheel gauge as the new city trams, in theory, the royal blue tramcar could well make its own way down Princes Street.

The restored 1885 tramcar was unveiled for the first time over the weekend.

Newtown St Boswells residents Roger and Gill French were unaware they had a piece of Edinburgh’s history in their garden and had been using it as a shed until deciding to find out more about it.

They were put in touch with Scottish Tramways expert, Alan Brotchie, in 2007. He then set up the Edinburgh Horse Tram Trust, of which he is secretary, to preserve the little piece of history.

Mr Brotchie, who lives in Aberdour, said: “I was bowled over by what I saw in their garden. I was very surprised that anything could have survived as long as that. The couple have carried on their interest and seen it transformed from a garden shed into quite a nice historical artefact.

“I think the tramcar was taken there when the house was built about 1900 and was possibly used as a bothy for workmen when they were building the house. There is a local story that it was also used as a church meeting place by the Wee Free congregation.”

The number 23 tramcar had been well protected by a corrugated iron roof, a ventilated brick plinth and many coats of paint.

Its original route was between Commercial Street in Leith and the top of Marchmont Road, before running from Murrayfield to Newington Station in its final years.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In 1896, the tramcar was transferred to the Edinburgh and District Tramways Company and was finally retired in 1900.

Mr Brotchie added: “When we took away the coats of paint on the side of it, the original lettering was all still there, which we have replicated on both sides. I think it now looks quite magnificent.

“It also runs on the same wheel gauge as the trams which are being reintroduced to Edinburgh. It could run along Princes Street if there was a degree of willingness – that’s my dream. It would be a very nice historical gesture.”

The work was initially carried out in premises provided by Lothian Buses, with the tramcar moved to the Bus Museum in May last year, where all the finishing work and painting was undertaken.

Many of its original features have been retained or recreated.

There are conductor’s bells on both platforms, recreated period advertisements in the saloon – including an advert for The Peacock Inn in Newhaven from the 1890s – and on the top deck “decency boards” reflect life at the end of the 19th century.

Mr Brotchie said: “Women didn’t often go upstairs but when they did, they might have shown their ankles and the decency boards were to preserve their modesty to stop men looking at them from the street.”

The Edinburgh Horse Tram Trust has so far raised £48,000 from private donations and corporate sponsor Trinity Factors, a property letting and maintenance company, towards the work. Anyone who would like to donate should email {[email protected]}.

Tracking history

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

• THE number 23 horse-drawn Edinburgh tramcar was built by the Edinburgh Street Tramways Company in its workshops at Shrubhill, off Leith Walk. The wheels came from Miller’s Foundry on London Road, a firm which cast wheels for tramway systems around the world.

• No expense was apparently spared in 1885, as it has brass fittings where cast iron would have sufficed, 14 fascinating blue etched glass windows – all different – and plenty of gold leaf. It cost £140 to build.

• The four-wheel, two-horse, double-deck tramcar seats a total of 36 passengers on longitudinal seats on both decks.

• In Edinburgh, the first horse-drawn tramcar hit the rails in November 1871. There were around 100 horse-drawn tramcars in the Capital by 1894.

Related topics: