Trams & Recollections: Sunderland Trams in the 1950s: (Recollections 85)

In this 85th volume: We travel back to the streets of Sunderland in the 1950sSunderland's trams had an appeal to tram enthusiasts that was as great as any other British system.Possibly it was the fact that many were second-hand from other systems, or was it their (almost unique) pantographs in their later years?Like many others, David Clarke was fascinated by trams from an early age.He can remember looking out of the first-floor front window of his house (they lived above a shop where his father was manager) and noticing not the few motor cars, which were all black, or the trade vans, or even the fairly ordinary shops and houses, but the brightly coloured red and cream trams that seemed to pass by every few minutes.This was North London, not Sunderland, but the effect would have been the same anywhere.Trams were the conspicuous things, and they were beautiful to behold.When he was just short of two years old they were taken away and trolleybuses substituted, and he can remember asking