In chapter 9 of Martin Booth's book, he describes a tram ride from Kennedy Town to Shau Kei Wan.
Here are the photos we've been sent that show the views he'd have seen along that route.
Many thanks to the people who have shared their photographs with us.
(You can click any of the photos below to see other readers' comments, and / or leave your own.)
Comments
Can you add any more?
Do you have any photos from the 1950s that show sections of the tram lines that we've missed above? If you are willing to share, it's easy to add them in.
Just create a new image, and fill in:
Then once you save the new image it will automatically appear in the right place on this page. Let us know if you need any help.
How does it work?
This page relies on several of the features we've talked about lately.
If you had a big box of photos of Hong Kong, and I wanted you to make a display like this, I'd ask for something like:
"all photos that show trams" - this uses tags. We tell the computer to search for all images that have the tag 'tram'.
"that were taken in the 1950s" - that's easy, we tell the computer to further limit its search to images with a 'date picture taken' between 1950 and 1959.
"lay them out in order" - here we use the 'places shown' . Luckily the tram line runs almost exactly West to East, so we can tell the computer to sort the images by 'ascending longitude'.
Filling in tags, dates, and places takes a bit more time and effort when we create the image. But I think it's worth it, as then it lets us search and view them in more interesting ways.
wonderful work
You've done a fabulous job on this. It makes me think how wonderful it would be if the govt. had turned Tamar site into a nice big green park. It also made me think of my recent Guangzhou trip - it's true that bits of current Guangzhou look like 1950's des voeux road - so visit and photograph it while you can!
Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it - and it's been a few years since I've been to Guangzhou, so yes, a visit is overdue!
Dutchman's Videos
Hey guys, I am a random person. This dutchman got some cool videos here: http://www.youtube.com/user/MichaelRogge
Just want to share them with you. Enjoy!
fascinating and thanks
Tremendous work everyone.
New life for old Hong Kong!
Love to see a similar walkthrough for Queens Road East at different periods in time.
Still so much to see and ponder on around there, especially as you wander up the hill at Star Street (near the original burial ground), or the eerie Ship Street.
Nam Koo terrace, and the tiled footprints of demolished mansions, stairways and paths, and further up the hill what I imagine might have been old dairy sheds...
Still time to catch it, before Sir Gordon buries it all under concrete at some point in the future.
Love to be pointed at some early ordinance survey or other historical maps of that area, and try and rebuild an image of what it all looked like in the past.
Many thanks again to all the contributors and David in particular for sterling research work and commitment.
Best regards
Julian, Singapore
re: fascinating and thanks
Hi Julian,
Glad to hear you're enjoying the site.
I look forward to seeing what you find out about Wanchai. A good start is "Wanchai. In search of an identity" by Carl T. Smith in the book "Hong Kong. A reader in social history". It covers that area in a lot of detail.
regards, David
Thanks for the tip
Thanks for the tip David.
I will be up in HK for the dreaded 'sevens' from next wednesday, and will certainly take the opportunity to have a look for Cart T Smith book.
Also the various governement map publications recommended elsewhere on the site sound like a 'must have...' for any reader of HK history.
Take care.
Julian
Trams and bridges
Dear all,
A random question got popped at me about trams. Yesterday my 3-year-old asked whether trams go on bridges, and it got me thinking.
The tramway system today doesn't seem to have any bridges. The only one that I can think of is the 'Gooseneck bridge' that went over Bowrington, but it's not here anymore. In any case, what were the exact years that a tram line ran on Gooseneck?
Can anyone enlight me with more instances of trams going across bridges or flyovers down the ages?
breskvar
Re: Trams & bridges
Hi Breskvar,
I think we've just found Gwulo's youngest member! Your 3-year-old will probably be interested to see this photo.
Regards, David
Views along the line 1955
The latest photo that 80sKid put up is part of a series that include views along the line from approximately Hennessy Road right down to Shau Kei Wan terminus. If we follow this link
https://picasaweb.google.com/Don1.Irw/HONGKONG1955#5238617446263036226
we will see from photos 15 to 34 the photographer got on a tram and snapped many pictures. In photos 35 and 36 we can see the boats harboured in Aldrich Bay, which would be just by the side of the tram terminus.
David, my son was very amused when I showed him the Gooseneck Bridge photo with the trams. Thanks for giving me the link.
breskvar
Breskvar, thanks for the link
Breskvar, thanks for the link to those extra tram photos, and glad to hear your son enjoyed the photo.
Regards, David
A ride along the tram line in 1967
Absolutely brilliant. And
Absolutely brilliant. And awesome to see what a huge change in just one lifetime - amazing!
Great website.
Thanks Maj, glad you enjoyed
Thanks Maj, glad you enjoyed it.
Regards, David
Two more for the 1950's tram line
https://gwulo.com/atom/25891
https://gwulo.com/atom/32741
Tram ride in July 1979
Found this film about a tram ride from Central to Shau Kei Wan, dated July 1979.
Hong Kong Trams - July 1979 - YouTube
Gives many impressions of interior and passengers, and the Shau Kei Wan Tram Terminus.
missing video?
I still can't seem to see the video posted here: https://gwulo.com/comment/21964#comment-21964
Not sure if it's my issue or a general one.
re: missing video?
Should be fixed now. It needed updating to the latest version of Youtube's embed code.