Tram Gear
Pair of tram driver's gloves, 1938–60 1988.248.[2]
“I often had to help my father pull off his motorman’s gloves when he came home after a winter shift. He would be frozen stiff.”
William Tollan
Comment by Jessie Connelly, former tram conductor
Our ticket machine was called a Tim. T.I.M. - ticket issuing machine.
From: Jessie Connelly, former tram conductor
Comment by Willie Anderson, former tram driver
The uniform was very comfortable, very good to wear. As a matter of fact you could clean up your buttons, smarten them up, which would please bosses in those days. You had to be neat and tidy because they were very strict about clothing you wore. Even as a tram driver, if you put on a sweater, I have been sent home for that myself.
From: Willie Anderson, former tram driver
Comment by Brian Longworth
I think the site is really good. However you've titled your image tram driver's gloves. The correct term is motorman's gauntlets.
From: Brian Longworth
Comment by Jessie Connelly
I’m petrified of dogs. We were only allowed one dog on the tram and it had to go up stairs. Someone would come on with a dog and I’d say ‘We’ve already got one on’. But there wasn’t one on at all.
From: Jessie Connelly
Comment by Jessie Connelly, former tram conductor
You had to be firm with the passengers. ‘Move up there, no standing, keep the passage way clear.’ We had control, they were scared of us.
From: Jessie Connelly, former tram conductor
Questions by Glasgow Museums
Do you wish we had conductors on the buses - would they look after the passengers? Or were the tram staff too strict?
Eyewitness by Margaret Kernohan, conductor
You were very vulnerable because you had a bag hanging loose in front of you that anyone could dip into. You were in a situation where people would come onto the tram, some of them were polite, some of them not so polite.
From: Margaret Kernohan, former tram conductor
Eyewitness by Hannah Crossie, conductor
Around 1955 the Asian ones came in, they got jobs conducting … they did really work … they’d come in for any shift, a lot of them were working and sending money home
From: Hannah Crossie, former tram conductor
