Inaugurated on December 20, 2003, in the presence of the former President of the Republic, Jacques Chirac, the new Bordeaux tramway is about to celebrate its 20th anniversary. But before this revival, this urban transport had been present in the Bordeaux conurbation until 1958. Its network then reached 253 km.
Inaugurated on December 20, 2003, in the presence of the former President of the Republic, Jacques Chirac, the new Bordeaux tramway is about to celebrate its 20th anniversary. But before this revival, this urban transport had been present in the Bordeaux conurbation until 1958. Its network then reached 253 km.
Did you know ? Before being electric, the first Bordeaux tram was English and it was pulled by horses. This rail tram, which in 1880 replaced the horse-drawn omnibus, the first mode of public transport to appear in the 19th century, in 1830 – a system invented by the philosopher Blaise Pascal in the 17th century – will last until the very beginning of the 20th century, remembers our faithful reader, Jacques Chaigneau. Supporting evidence.
The horse-drawn tram, ancestor of our tram
120 open-decker trams, pulled by one or two horses, served Bordeaux
This 92-year-old Bordelais has a fine collection of photos of views of Bordeaux taken around 1900 by his grandmother, a stay-at-home mother. On the two digitized prints of excellent quality that he sent us, we discover two large stagecoaches towed on rails by horses in front of the Saint-André cathedral, place Pey-Berland et victory square : tram cars of yesteryear.
A horse-drawn open-top tram car, Place de la Victoire.
Jacques Chaigneau
Chosen by the municipal council on January 26, 1874 and inaugurated on May 4, 1880, by the mayor at the time, Alfred Brandenburg, this horse-drawn tram had been installed by the company “Tramways and General Works Co Ltd”. Ten years later, in 1890, the city was served by 120 open-decker streetcars, drawn by one or two horses, and 137 omnibuses, also open-decker. The tram network, delimited on the left bank by the boulevards, then extended along the quays on the right bank and reached the Benauge and the avenue Thiers. Only the omnibuses ensured some connections with the suburbs.
Another time, different mores: as alcohol advertising was not yet regulated, the tram cars unashamedly displayed advertisements for absinthe and the Dubonnet aperitif…
A horse-drawn tramway in Saint-Projet, Bordeaux, in 1900.
Reproduction South West/DR
Unfortunately for the Bordeaux conurbation, this system had its limits since it stopped at the Bordeaux gates. Therefore, from 1888, towns in the suburbs like Le Bouscat, Eysines and Blanquefort, tired of not being served, were going to regroup and create their own electric tram line.
On the same subject
1880-2021: The great history of the tramway in Bordeaux
LONG FORMAT. On December 21, 2003, 45 years after the closure of the last line, the tram made its big comeback in Bordeaux. From the first tram in 1880, English and pulled by horses, to the electric tram that has crisscrossed the heart of the urban area since 2003, here is the great history of the Bordeaux tram. In 1958, its network reached 253 km.
Electricity drives horses
A bustling view of Rue Vital-Carles in the 1910s with its electric tram.
Memory of Bordeaux Métropole © Coll. Francis Baudy
However, the Gironde capital continued to use its horse-drawn tramway network until 1900, before it in turn disappeared, defeated by the electricity fairy, as can be seen in these two photos by The Memory of Bordeaux Métropole, issues de la collection Francis Baudy.
During the First World War, in 1915, women took control of electric trams. They are called “wattwomen”.
Memory of Bordeaux Métropole © Coll. Francis Baudy
