OTD 1974: Model electric trams

Bev Smith meets Bob Whetstone from Bromsgrove who makes scale models of trams.

Bev begins the ATV Today report from the location of the old tram terminus at Rednal where Birmingham trams stopped and brought visitors to the Lickey Hills. A working model of a 1920s Birmingham tram, which has been made by Bob Whetstone of Droitwich Spa, has been based upon technical drawings of the original vehicles.

Bev points out some of the miniature features and then talks to Bob about his hobby. He has taken two years to make the model and made everything by hand. Birmingham Corporation Tramways operated a network of tramways in Birmingham from 1904 until 1953. It was the largest narrow-gauge tramway network in the UK. The electric trams replaced the earlier horse-pulled and steam-powered vehicles which had begun service in 1872.

In the 1930s trolley buses were also introduced into the West Midlands operation. However, by the 1950s petrol buses were apparently the future and the final tram took to the streets of Birmingham on July 4th, 1953. Over sixty years later electric tramways were back in fashion, and Birmingham introduced a new service in 2015.