American streetcars - John E. Gruber

The handsome multicolored streetcar is a nostalgic icon of the some of the most romantic and heritage-rich locales in America, including San Francisco, New Orleans and Chicago, immortalised on stage and screen in classics including 'Meet Me In St Louis' and 'A Streetcar Named Desire'. Streetcars of America chronicles these vehicles from the earliest animal-drawn carriages to the height of their popularity in the 1920s, when there were more than 1,200 tram railways, to the turning of the tide in the mid-twentieth century when congestion and attacks from the automobile industry eventually pushed streetcars from most urban landscapes. But it also looks at the recent efforts to revive tram heritage that have led to vintage streetcars becoming a hip and environmentally-friendly daily commuter service, as well as tourist attraction, in more than thirty cities including Memphis and Washington DC.