In today’s gallery, we take a look back at a fascinating period in Carlisle’s history.

Cumbrian history buffs will be no doubt well aware about the former presence of trams on the streets of Carlisle from the beginning of the 20th century through to 1931.

The tramway was operated by the City of Carlisle Electric Tramways Co Ltd, power being taken from the Corporation’s supply station in James Street and it opened for public service on June 30, 1900.

In 1911, trams were clearly big business and the network was sold to Balfour Beatty which undertook track renewals and replaced the fleet of tramcars at a cost of £18,000 – the equivalent to £1,846,594 today.

After the First World War, however, the company was unable to expand the services to meet the needs of an expanding town, and had started its own motorbuses services. In 1926 it changed its name to Carlisle and District Transport Company.

Eventually, the Carlisle Corporation, after being unable to get agreement with local bus operators and secure an operating licence, closed the tramway system on November 21, 1931.

This marked the final time trams would ever take to the streets of Carlisle.

In today’s gallery, we take a journey right back to the early 20th century to catch a glimpse of what life was like back then in our region.

In a fascinating set of images, we see a Caldewgate tram, in all its glory, waiting for Carrs Biscuit workers to finish work in 1927. And there is also a picture of a Carlisle tram passing the Goodwin School in the 1920s.

We also see the old tram sheds in Carlisle which, of course, played a focal part in the whole operation.

And we fast forward a century to the last tram from the network, which was unearthed in Carlisle just under a decade ago. It clearly captured the imagine of those present and we see people taking pictures of Carlisle’s last known tram from storage in the Swifts Mews building back in 2013.

For history enthusiasts, this gallery will bring a moment in time back to life.

A real eye-opener into times gone by.