The Edinburgh Trams system has for a long time had a connection with rugby, with Murrayfield Stadium being served on the original route and several trams over the years carrying adverts for Scottish Rugby, who call Murrayfield their home. One tram which has had a long association with the sport is 261 having carried two adverts in the past and it has now completed a hattrick with a new design applied which is promoting the forthcoming summer internationals.
This new advert in fact replaces another one for Scottish Rugby with it having carried ads with the “As One” slogan since November 2021. Whereas that advert was a general one for Scottish Rugby this new one is very much specific towards three forthcoming international matches at Murrayfield with Italy (29th July), France (5th August) and Georgia (26th August) being the opposition.
The previous advert on 261 for rugby was an internal Edinburgh Trams promotion back between February and May 2017 (using the “tried” and test slogan “Try the return to Murrayfield”. The tram has also had ads for Hogmanay services (December 2016-February 2017), Royal Highland Show Trampede (May-July 2017), Edinburgh Trams Festival and Fringe (July-September 2017), the predictable C R Smith (September 2017-January 2019) and Standard Life (January 2019-March 2020).
261 makes the stop at McDonald Road with a service to the Airport. The new advert tells us that there is “Nothing Like Being There”.
A close-up view of the advert giving details of the three internationals coming up over the next couple of months. (Both Photographs by Roy Calderwood, 24th June 2023)