Tramcar no.779
Tramcar, 1898 LT.1958.43.c
“In Glasgow, the tramway company have once more been pioneers, trying with triumphant success, the experiment of employing women conductors.”
From "Women’s Employment", 1915
Comment by Irene Warren
We used to run upstairs and try to get the seats at the front of the standard trams – then we’d close the door, so no one else could join us. If you were lucky, the tram conductor would let you flip the seats at the terminus.
From: Irene Warren
Comment by Hugh Crossie, tram conductor
A tram went off the rails one day by hitting a bolt. An Inspector came on the car and moved it back onto the rails, but unknown to him and me, the clippie had forgotten to turn over the cross bow. The whole thing brought the whole line down and the wires. It held up the whole of Glasgow, because all the trams were jammed up and couldn’t pass each other. That was 1955/1956.
From: Hugh Crossie, tram conductor
Questions by Glasgow Museums
Do you remember flipping the seats on the trams? Did you have a favourite place to sit?
Or maybe you’ve been stuck behind a tram causing a traffic jam?
Eyewitness by Francis Cumming, tram conductor
It was absolutely freezing on a tram, especially first thing in the morning leaving the depot. Sometimes you would only get as far as the gate, and you’d have to take it back if the air pipes had frozen up, so you’d have no brakes!
From: Francis Cumming, former tram conductor
Eyewitness by Hannah Gracie, tram conductor.
The public could be nasty to us. They might say something like, “We’re keeping you in a job.” I used to say to them, “Well, if you’re keeping me in a job, then you're no paying me enough!” Most of the passengers were alright . . .apart from the Giffnock crowd, they were very hard and the Kelvindale/Mosspark . . Oh my God!
From: Hannah Gracie, former tram conductor.
