Electric tramways were a common form of urban public transport during the early part of the twentieth century, but from about 1930 onwards many towns and cities began phasing them out. There were two main reasons for this. The first was that the increase in private cars meant that trams were more likely to impede the free flow of traffic. The second was the expansion during the thirties of towns and cities into new suburbs; it was easier and cheaper to provide buses to service these new developments than to spend money on extending existing tramways. Trams were given a new lease of life by the outbreak of war in 1939 because electricity could be provided from coal mined in Britain whereas wartime conditions meant that it was difficult, dangerous and expensive to import the oil needed to produce diesel fuel. After the war, however, more tramway systems were closed down, including London's in 1952. A few cities, notably Sheffield and Glasgow, seemed to be holding out, but Sheffield's last tram ran in 1960 and Glasgow's in 1962. This left Blackpool as the only city in mainland Britain still operating a municipal tramway, and even here the system was retained more as a tourist attraction than as a practical transport option.

Kevin Brownlow's film follows the journey of Glasgow's last tram, number nine to Dalmuir West, on 4th September 1962. The tone of the commentary is one of nostalgia, pointing out that trams had their own culture, different from that of the bus service; for example, Glasgow allowed women to drive trams but not buses. (The reason, not explained in the film, was that driving buses required greater physical strength). Tram drivers even wore their peaked caps at a different angle from bus drivers. The film, however, leaves us in no doubt that trams were an institution that had had their day and that the future belonged to the petrol and diesel engines. The soundtrack features the instrumental hit "Telstar" by The Tornadoes, named after a communications satellite, and the point is explicitly made in the commentary; how could yesterday's invention, the tram, co-exist with something as futuristic as the Telstar?

Sixty years on, however, "Nine, Dalmuir West" is one of those documentaries which purports to be looking backwards but which tells us as much about the age in which it was made. To a modern audience it conjures up as much nostalgia for the sixties as it does for the Golden Age of the Tram earlier in the century. Tramways began to make a comeback in Britain in the nineties, with cities such as Manchester, Nottingham and Croydon- although not yet Glasgow- beginning to reintroduce them. Trams, therefore, no longer automatically strike us as outdated, but the vehicles we see in the film now look just as antiquated as the trams once did, if not more so. And as for "Telstar", that is one of those hits which have become a sort of aural shorthand for a long-vanished age.

The documentary is a form of non-fiction storytelling that aims to present factual information, insights, and perspectives on real-world subjects, events, issues, or people. Documentaries can cover a wide range of topics, including history, science, culture, social issues, nature, biographies, and more.

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The short form refers to creative works characterized by their brevity and concise storytelling. Unlike full-length feature films, short films have a running time of less than 45 minutes, while TV shorts have a running time of less than 22 minutes.

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A homage to Glasgow's tram system follows the last train to run in September 1962.

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Nine, Dalmuir West

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