THEN & NOW MOSS SIDE

Welcome to Then and Now, where each week we compare images of Manchester streets, landmarks and buildings from bygone days with how they look today

THIS week our classic main image shows Stockport tram No. 35B travelling down Upper Lloyd Street in Moss Side. The date is March 1934.

Tram No. 15 is close by and a hardy cyclist is braving the rain that glistens off the pavements and cobbles.

Red-brick Victorian terraces line either side of the street and gas lamps are still in evidence.

The modern picture, taken by photographer Nicola Mazzuia, is very different. The terraces have long since been demolished and asphalt and speed-humps have replaced the cobbles. Trees have grown where tall iron tram poles once stood.

Trams have operated in Manchester since 1877 and were originally drawn by horses. There were 515 tramcars by the 1890s, each requiring six pairs of horses per day.

The first electric tramcars were seen on Manchester streets in 1901 – and had replaced all horse-drawn vehicles by 1904.

The Tramway Corporation continued to build more lines until it reached its peak in 1928. At that time, more than 1,000 tramcars carried 350 million passengers a year over 292 miles of track.

Tram services were gradually run down as the conversion to buses gathered pace. The Second World War slowed down the process, but the final tram ran on January 10, 1949.

Manchester Metrolink became the UK’s first modern street-running rail system in April 1992. The only first generation tram system still in operation was the Blackpool tramway.

● Many more images from Then and Now are featured in the new book The Changing Face of Manchester, published to mark the 150th anniversary of the M.E.N. It’s on sale now at the reduced price of £9.99 plus postage and packing. Order your copy online at inostalgia.co.uk or ring the order hotline on 01928 503777.