In the 19th century Britain experienced an economic and social revolution, part of this was new form of public transport on the streets of Britain’s towns and cities – trams. Initially powered by horses, steam tramcars then appeared in some areas, but it was the electric tram that really brought a major leap forward. In the early 1800s the majority of Britain’s population lived in the countryside, but as people migrated into the larger towns and cities to take up work in industry, urban areas became overcrowded. Trams, costing passengers just a penny a mile, were cheaper, safer, and more comfortable than horse buses, enabling the middle classes to move out to the suburbs. London’s first tramways began in 1870, and within 5 years, 55 miles of line had been built for London’s 350 horse trams. Suddenly horse trams were in demand across the county, cities and towns, large and small, wanted their own tram networks. By 1878 Britain’s 300 miles of tramways were carrying 150 million passengers a year – the age of the horse tram had arrived. However, the high cost of running horse tramways lead companies to explore alternative forms of power. Civil engineer John Grantham demonstrated an open top 4-wheel steam powered tramcar in March 1873 able to carry 60 passengers, his tramcar entered service in 1876. The 1874 Howard Medal was awarded posthumously to Grantham for inventing a locomotive to replace horse traction on street trams. Watch the complete documentary here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHXGruMALew Subscribe to Element 18 – https://bit.ly/337R2uO