[5] The Glasgow Street Tramways Act 1870 prohibited the town council from directly operating a tram service over the lines.

[6] The St George's Cross to Eglinton Toll tram line was opened on 19 August 1872 with a horse-drawn service by the Glasgow Tramway and Omnibus Company.

[7][8] The Glasgow Tramway and Omnibus Company operated the tram-line and subsequent extensions to the system until 30 June 1894.

The shipyards provided their own small electric locomotives, running on the tramway power, to pull these wagons, principally loaded with steel for shipbuilding, from local railway freight yards.

The electrification of the tram system was instigated by the Glasgow Tramways Committee, with the route between Springburn and Mitchell Street chosen as an experiment.

With a fleet of 21 newly built tramcars, the experimental electric route commenced on 13 October 1898 and was considered a success.

[10][11] Pinkston and substations located at Coplawhill, Dalhousie, Kinning Park, Whitevale and Partick also powered the Glasgow Subway.

Following electrification, Glasgow trams were initially fitted with trolley poles to take electricity from the overhead wires.

[13][14] On the final day of service there was a procession of 20 trams through the city between the depots at Dalmarnock and Coplawhill, an event attended by 250,000 people.

[15][16][14][17][18][19] Apart from the Blackpool tramway, Glasgow became the last city or town in the UK to operate trams until the opening of the Manchester Metrolink in 1992.

One effect of the closure of the system was the loss of a rare example (for that period) of gender equality in the workplace.

The Glasgow system's initial network of a few lines expanded greatly in the early years of the 20th century,[22] extending to burghs and rural areas outside the city boundaries which were soon incorporated into it[a] as well as outlying neighbouring towns[b][23][17][24] The time of the 1938 Empire Exhibition held in the city's Bellahouston Park is viewed by some as the apex of the system's timeline,[25] with new cars recently put into service[26] and special routes added for the exhibition, while the city was as yet undisturbed by World War II and subsequent redevelopments, with the trams winding through the dense network of tenements and factories which characterised industrial Glasgow in the first part of the 1900s,[27][24] but also into some new 'garden suburb' developments with widened streets to accommodate the tracks.

Tellingly, the routes were not extended to any of the large 1950s peripheral housing schemes[c] nor to the new towns being developed outside the city.

[28][29] Glasgow's first purpose-built electric trams were 20 bogie single deck vehicles with a central entrance, entering service in 1898.

672) was converted to a mains testing car and was subsequently restored to its original condition for preservation in Glasgow's Riverside Museum.

[32] The electrification of the Glasgow system was rapid and the city needed cars quickly to fill the demand.

92) survived until the 1930s, having been converted into a single-deck one-man-operated car for use on the Finnieston – Stobcross and then Paisley – Abbotsinch services.

These four-wheeled, double-deck tramcars were the mainstay of the Glasgow tram fleet from electrification until the late 1950s (only being withdrawn due to the imminent closure of the system).

A few cars were also cut down to single deckers for use on the Clydebank - Duntocher route which passed under low railway bridges.

1089) was built in 1926 for evaluation on longer distance interurban routes where traffic was being lost to privately operated motor buses.

These were delivered in 1927-1929 and resembled an elongated version of the hex-dash Standard trams, but with eight wheels (two four-wheeled bogies) and four-bay saloons with larger windows.

The production batch were constructed by four different manufacturers to a common design, but all used bogies ordered from the Kilmarnock Engineering Company (hence the nickname).

These eight-wheeled trams were restricted to several comparatively straight routes to avoid the risk of derailing on tight curves.

The Empire Exhibition at Bellahouston Park in 1938 would also require additional vehicles to transport the expected visitors.

Although the Coronations were very highly regarded, they were expensive to build and operate and were not suitable for routes with tight curves, so a cheaper alternative was considered.

1392 (the very last all-new double deck car built in the UK) is preserved in Glasgow's Riverside Museum.

They were not wholly successful in Glasgow as their original construction had not been as robust as that of the Coronations, and with the running down of the Liverpool system they had been allowed to deteriorate into a poor condition.

Glasgow rejected an offer from Liverpool to purchase more Green Goddesses or the newer four-wheeled version, known as "Baby Grands".

Some of the rolling stock was preserved and the largest collection can now be found at Glasgow's Riverside Museum, including the only remaining horse-drawn tram.

[26] The Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life, in Coatbridge, runs a former Glasgow Corporation tram on its electric tramway.