A pair of trams in Nottingham - May 2022

 Late last month, I visited Nottingham to find some things (and was not helped by a certain illogically-named place that was on the opposite side of the city centre to where one would have thought it was!)

Of note is Nottingham's transport network, which is one of the most advanced transport systems in the country, featuring a substantial number of electric buses, the world's largest fleet of gas buses (143, after the latest order) and a stylish modern tramway, which is what this post is about.

Nottingham, like many other cities, had older tramways, but like so many other cities in the UK, during the middle of the 20th century, the trams were replaced by buses, Nottingham losing theirs in 1936. (Blackpool's tramway was the only tramway that survived this period.)

The present tramway was opened in March 2004 and was extended in 2015. It is twenty miles long and has two routes with a total of fifty tram stops. It is served by 37 low-floor articulated five-car trams, all of which are named after local Nottingham people.

Two trams at Old Market Square in May 2022. The Nottingham tramway uses two types of trams, of which one of each is shown in this photo. Both types of tram run interchangeably on both of the tram routes. On the right is no. 213 Mary Potter, one of 15 Bombardier Incentro AT6/5 trams that were the original trams on the modern tramway in 2004. Similar trams are in service in Nantes, France. The Bombardier trams, built in Derby, were refurbished twice, once when the newer trams entered service, and again from 2019, when the trams were repainted again, but this time into a livery that resembled that of the newer trams. No. 213 is seen on its way to Toton Lane, the southern terminus of line 1.
The other tram, on the left, is no. 231 Rebecca Adlington OBE, one of the twenty-two Alstom Citadis 302 trams introduced  in 2014, ahead of the extension of the tramway. Other Citadis 302 trams are in service in places such as Jerusalem, Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Nice, Rotterdam and Barcelona. No. 231 is heading away towards Phoenix Park, the northern terminus of line 2.