Saturday Variety

Back in the day, workmen took over the road and laid the tracks. They did not have modern traffic., health and safety or vociferous opposition to frighten the politicians. Above is Leicester and below is Nottingham.

And any way, trams just ran along the road with ordinary traffic – seemples. Once built, everything ran happily together …

… well, most of the time.

In Europe, the fashion was for wide main streets, copying thr “boulevards” of Paris, so fitting today’s trams into a central reservation (possibly widened) was relatively easy. 

This is the northern limit of Angers line A.

It is worth noting that tram stops on Line A are “cheap and cheerful”.

Where width was less generous, some stops are island platfroms.

And when we come to the town of Avrille, now a busy suburb of Angers …

… something’s missing.

No overhead! No disfigurement of this picturesque ex village and no poles to block “le trottoir”! The power is picked up from a third rail.

Yet again we have apoplexy from the health and safety police and lots of black and crinkly ex residents; additionally fried cats and genuine hot dogs. 

Of course not.

The third rail is split into short sections. As the front of the tram enters a section it witches ON the power for that section and OFF from the previous. Seemples again.

Some short sections of road have been completely closed to other vehicles …

… and some quite long sections.

Access is always provided for emergency vehicles and close-by for residents.

But thanks to Streetview’s failure to remove old pictures, we can see in some detail, how the tram was threaded through a difficult area.

Coming in from the top of the map, a grotty strip of back yards …

… has become a pleasant green tram track, cycleway and footpath.

A wiggly back street in poor condition …

… is now tram only. 

Likewise here is the same bit of road from the other end.

And, oh dear, there’s a river in the way. So build a bridge …

… just for trams, pedestrians and cycles!