Streetcar Sunday - Edinburgh, Scotland

In many ways, Edinburgh's tram system was similar to systems in other cities. The city started out with horse-drawn cars in 1871. But then, instead of switching to electric overhead wires, they switched to a cable-drawn system. There were other cities around the world that did this, but few had them for very long. It wasn't until the 1922 that the cable system in Edinburgh was switched over to an electric traction system. Here are several pictures from the James Valentine views that I introduced last week. You can see the line between the tracks, indicating the location of the cable (and later the electric traction.)

I wish we could see the trams more clearly, but we can certainly see that they're double deck and open on the top. Another striking feature in this photo is the North British Station Hotel with the gardens in front. Yes, there's a railway station under those gardens (Waverley Station.)  It's such an elegant design approach. Here's another view looking out from the hotel.

The Hotel is now known as the Balmoral Hotel. According to Wikipedia, JK Rowling finished the last book in her Harry Potter series at the hotel. She lost her deposit and was sent a bill,  because she commemorated the occasion by writing in black marker pen on a marble bust of Hermes in her room: "JK Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in this room (552) on 11th Jan 2007".

Anyway, back to the trams. The Edinburgh electric trams continued to operate until they were replaced with buses in 1956. Fast forward to 2007, when work began on bringing trams back to Edinburgh with a system that would link Leith with Edinburgh City and the airport. The project was scheduled for completion in 2011, but has been plagued by problems including delays and cost overruns. The snarled traffic and loss of revenue to local businesses has made the project fairly unpopular even among former supporters.  For more information on current happenings surrounding the Edinburgh tram system, visit Trams Stop Here!

And here's another view from this series showing a tram in Edinburgh.

Jolly Halloween

This card was sent from Martha B. in Cooperstown, New York to Miss Viola Vincent in Sidney, New York. The message reads:

Oct 30, 1922

Come Up! or write

Dear Viola I hope you will have a good time on hollow'een. I am going to. I am going out. Are you? I am getting along fine in school. Are you? My average was 91.4. We are all well. Hope you are the same. just getting supper.  from your loving cousin Martha B.

James Valentine - Views of Edinburgh, Scotland

I apologize. I am once again straying away from postcards. I originally thought to use these as illustrations in combination with postcards of Scotland, but they are so beautiful that I decided to feature them on their own.

James Valentine was a Scottish photographer (1815-1879.) In the early years, Valentine produced studio photographs and then started concentrating on views of Scotland. I have approximately 20 of these views, which measure about 7" by 9".

I love that you can clearly read the signs for D. McLeod's Temperance Hotel and Knox's Corner China Warehouse (now a museum.) What a beautiful shot. Here's another one of the Tolbooth and Canongate. It really gives you a sense of what it would be like to walk down a street in  Edinburgh at the end of the 19th century.

After James Valentine's death in 1879, his sons retained the business and soon started focusing on producing postcards. They were employing 1,000 people by the turn of the century and by 1907, they had 40 people employed to retouch the postcard views. This is a job I would like to have had, except for the drawback of the lead-based paints, which could shorten your career and turn your skin a funny color if you got in the habit of licking your paintbrush. Otherwise, I love the idea of adding color, brightening skies, painting little fluffy clouds, and deciding what color the ladies' dresses will be. Alas, I was born too late.

By the 1950s, the focus of Valentine's turned to greeting cards. In 1980, they sold out to Hallmark cards, and in 1994, Valentine's Dundee factory closed.  I won't post all of the cards, but I will post more of them soon.