Onwards we go with our A-Z with the letter O.
And we’ve gone with O is for Open Top. Today open top trams are popular with the general public in nice weather as you can get great views from the top deck regardless of where you are – whether you’re in a park, by the seaside, heading past an estuary or through a quarry. But it wasn’t always so as in the days of first generation trams in operation there was probably a lot of joy when the open toppers were enclosed to give a bit more protection when travelling to and from work. If its for joy though what better way to travel than by open topper?
Open Top is represented in this photo by Southampton 45 – the tram which started the preservation movement of course and because of that one which still had an important story to tell. Probably without it we wouldn’t be here now writing about it. Although currently only on display at Crich it remains at the museum. This photo shows it at Victoria Park with a busy load of passenger up top. (Photograph by Gareth Prior, 31st May 2014)