Electric trams first ran on systems in neighbouring Musselburgh (1904) and Leith (1905), meeting the Edinburgh cable-trams at Joppa and Pilrig respectively.
Electrification meant cable trams last ran in 1923, with through running now possible to Leith and as far east as Port Seton.
Remnants of the cable-tram system can be seen in Waterloo Place and Henderson Row, and of the Musselburgh line at Morrison's Haven.
The solution was found in the cable tram system, already in use in San Francisco - powered by a network of steam fired power stations, cables laid in conduits in the ground running at constant speed could be gripped and released as needed by trams, in order to stop and start, or otherwise adjust their speed.
[2] Electrification of the cable-trams began partly in mitigation of the effects of the unpopular merger of the Edinburgh and Leith burghs in 1920.
[6] Expansion in the 1930s added routes Gorgie to Stenhouse, Braids to Fairmilehead and North Gyle to Maybury.
[1] After six years in which the controversial scheme suffered from long delays and over-spending, the new Edinburgh Trams system finally began operation on 31 May 2014, albeit on a single route from York Place in the city centre, west along Princes Street to the Airport.
It is a part of a double-track loop about 58m in length and laid in setts, and was uncovered at some point for educational purposes.
Owned by the Edinburgh Horse Tram Trust, it's housed in the Scottish Vintage Bus Museum at Lathalmond in Fife.
The restoration required substitution wheelsets and brakegear from an ex-Douglas IOM Horse tram to be used (the original wheels having been cast by local firm, Miller's Foundry on London Road).
After withdrawal, it had its electrical and running gear removed, and was sold as a body shell, for further use as a holiday home in Hume, Scottish Borders.
Upon rediscovery in 1987, due to being well maintained as a chalet despite being outside, it was determined by the National Museums of Scotland to be probably the best preserved double-deck ex-cable car in the world and therefore of considerable importance in the history of public transport.
By this time it was in a poor state of repair, so it was placed with the National Tramway Museum in Derbyshire on long-term loan, as a static exhibit.