Glasgow’s trams stopped running on 4 September 1962, when the city held a grand farewell procession for its beloved ‘caurs’. Despite pouring rain, an estimated quarter of a million people lined the streets to watch the last trams pass. Glasgow was the last major city in Britain to give up its trams, after nearly ninety years of service.

Nearly ninety years of the caurs

Glasgow’s trams began as horse-drawn cars in 1872, and the Corporation took over the system in 1894 and electrified it around the turn of the century. It grew into one of the largest tram networks in Britain, known to everyone simply as the ‘caurs’, with the sturdy double-decker ‘Standard’ car becoming a familiar sight. The trams were built and maintained at the Corporation’s own works at Coplawhill. They are a central part of the story told on our transport page.

The last major tram city in Britain

Most British cities scrapped their trams for buses between the 1930s and the 1950s, and London’s last tram ran in 1952. Glasgow held on far longer, partly because it built its own trams and spare parts at Coplawhill and could keep the system going after the suppliers had gone. By the end only a single route remained, the number 9. The trams outlasted almost everything except the Subway, which still runs today.

The last procession

On the final day, 4 September 1962, twenty trams, some historic and some modern, processed from Dalmarnock depot through the city centre to Coplawhill. The rain fell steadily, but around a quarter of a million people turned out all the same, and many laid pennies on the rails to keep as mementoes of the day. It was one of the great Glasgow send-offs, a scene that sits alongside the affection Glaswegians still feel for the Subway.

Not quite gone

The trams were not lost entirely. Several of the old caurs were preserved, and the Coplawhill works became the city’s first transport museum in 1964. You can still climb aboard a Glasgow tram today, among the treasures of the city’s transport past kept for later generations, some of the hidden corners of the city’s history worth seeking out.

When did the last tram run in Glasgow?

The trams made their last journey on 4 September 1962, when a farewell procession was held through the city centre.

Why did Glasgow keep its trams so long?

Partly because the Corporation built its own trams and spare parts at the Coplawhill works, so it could keep the system running long after other cities had closed theirs.

Can you still see Glasgow’s old trams?

Yes. Several of the old ‘caurs’ were preserved and are on display today, having first been kept at the transport museum that opened in the old Coplawhill works in 1964.