Heritage streetcars (also known as heritage trams or nostalgic trams) are a part of the efforts to preserve rail transit heritage. In addition to preserving street-running rail vehicles, heritage streetcar operations can include upkeep of historic rail infrastructure. Working heritage streetcars are closely related to the growing global heritage railway movement and form a part of the living history of rail transport.
The vehicles are called streetcars or trolleys in North America and trams or tramcars elsewhere. The first two terms are often used interchangeably in the United States,Young, Andrew D. (1997). Veteran & Vintage Transit (). St. Louis: Archway Publishing. with trolley being preferred in the eastern US and streetcar in Canada and the western US. In parts of the United States, internally powered buses made to resemble a streetcar are often referred to as "trolleys". To avoid further confusion with trolley buses, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) refers to them as "trolley-replica buses".
Museums, heritage tram line operators, and amateur enthusiasts can preserve original vintage vehicles or create replicas of historic vehicles to re-create or preserve streetcar technology of the past. Heritage vehicles that are kept fully functional can be used on heritage tramlines or for charter traffic.
Europe Austria The Remise Museum (Depot Museum, or Carbarn Museum) in Vienna, opened in 2014, covers the history of public transport in the city of Vienna and offers an extensive tram collection to visitors.
The Styrian municipality centre Graz has a tram museum since 1971 located in the depot of Mariatrost. Another heritage tramway operates in Styria between the railway station of Mariazell and the nearby Erlaufsee, mainly using ex-Vienna streetcars. This line was recently electrified on longer sections and also extended towards the city center.
In Innsbruck, a collection of the city's historic trams is preserved and renovated – together with other Tyrolean railway vehicles – by the association Tiroler MuseumsBahnen, which has its museum in the old station of the Stubaitalbahn.
Belgium In Belgium, there are three tram museums, one in Brussels – organizing several weekend rides to Tervueren and around the city – and other in Antwerp. The Kusttram (the coastal line between Knokke and De Panne via Ostend) features also some vehicles of the once-extensive interurban network, housed in the depots at De Panne and Knokke.
ASVi run a museum in Thuin and an line with electric and diesel cars on a part of the once SNCV line 92 and on a part on the once SNCB line 109 after regauging to .
Bulgaria
In Sofia, heritage trams are operated. Occaisionally, stage plays are performed, including stand-up comedy and stage plays for children. Additionally, late 2024 a tourist information point was opened in former tramcar 83.
Czech Republic In Prague, the Prague Integrated Transport operates Historical Tram Line No. 41 at weekends using historical Ringhoffer tram vehicles and a week-long operating Nostalgic Tram Line No. 23 using older PCC-based ČKD Tatra T3 and uniquely a T6A5.
Historical trams are also seasonally operated on the Brno tram system.
Denmark
In Ringsted, the museum opened on land which belongs to Skjoldenæsholm Castle on 26 May 1978. the Danish Tramway Museum, is an open-air museum dedicated to vintage trams.
Estonia
In Tallinn, renovated heritage trams have been in public use since 2017.
Finland
In Helsinki, Oy Stadin Ratikat Ab offers charter (private-hire) tram rides with vintage cars and in summer months operates an in-street heritage tram line on the Helsinki tram network.
France
In France, the Deûle Valley tramway near Lille which runs along a track from Marquette-lez-Lille to Wambrechies features several tram vehicles dating back to the beginning of the 20th century.
Germany
Woltersdorf Tramway located in Woltersdorf, Brandenburg, near Berlin, Germany. The line opened in 1913. In the 21st century, it is one of the smallest surviving town tram operators in Germany. The Naumburg tramway, opened in 1907, closed as a regular public transport service in 1991 but reopened in 1995 as a heritage tramway with limited operation over a short section of the former route.
Hungary In Hungary all of the four tram systems (Budapest, Debrecen, Miskolc, Szeged) have operating heritage trams.
In Budapest, heritage trams first operated in 1987. Its fleet contains quite a few preserved public transport vehicles (trams, buses, trolleybuses, even metro cars) spanning from the late 19th century until recent years, and there are more waiting to be repaired. Heritage services are mainly operated from April/May to September/October on weekends. There are both heritage and retro lines. The retro lines can be used with normal (seasonal) tickets, however, on heritage lines other, heritage (seasonal) tickets are needed. In 2019 there are two heritage tram lines; one retro tram line, one heritage bus line and one retro bus line operated regularly. Occasionally there are other lines in operation. There is also one vintage tram line - tram line 1956 - operating once-a-year in late October as a memorial to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956; it can be used with normal (seasonal) tickets.
In Debrecen, there are also a few vintage trams. They are operated less regularly, mostly on certain occasions.
In Miskolc, there are also a few vintage trams and buses. They are operated less regularly, mostly on certain occasions.
In Szeged, there are also a few vintage trams, buses and trolleybuses. Trams are in service on certain summer weekends. Otherwise, they are operated less regularly, mostly on certain occasions.
For about a one-month period near Christmas, each city operates lighted trams (trams that are decorated with LED strips and/or Christmas decoration). These trams operate on various lines around the cities in the late afternoons, evenings, and can be used by normal (seasonal) tickets usually. At the same time each of these cities, except Miskolc, light trolleybuses are operated in the same way as trams.
Italy Turin operates the historical route 7, a two-way circular route around the town centre. Turin was the first town in Italy with tram lines served solely by historical trams. The inauguration of the heritage tramway took place during the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of national unity, in March 2011.
In the nearby metropolis of Milan, the continued, extensive use of the "Series 1500 tram" (Peter Witt streetcar) dating from 1928 to 1930 is an example of a heritage tram use that is so widespread across the system and blends into everyday urban life in the city to such an extent that it is not regarded as historic or heritage operation.
Netherlands
In the Netherlands, historic trams are preserved and operated in several cities. In Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague, dedicated organisations maintain operational heritage vehicles running on regular tram tracks through the city.Stichting RoMeO Besides a trammuseam, The Hague also has a tourist tram service, operating on weekends during the summer months. The service uses original PPC trams built between 1957 and 1971.
Additionally, the Netherlands Open Air Museum in Arnhem operates historic trams originally from Rotterdam mostly as a park transport system, allowing visitors to hop on and off to explore different parts of the museum. The heritage tram itself is a popular attraction, showcasing Dutch transport history.
Norway In Bergen the Bergens Elektriske Sporvei has operated a short heritage tramway since 1993.
In Oslo, the Tramway Museum operates veteran trams on the tram network of Oslo on the first Sunday of every month.
Portugal
Heritage trams provide all of the service on some of routes of the Lisbon tramway network, and in Porto a long-closed section of tramway in the historic Batalha section of the town center was reopened in 2007 for use by historic trams.Russell, Michael (Dec. 2007). "The return to Batalha". Tramways & Urban Transit, p. 490. LRTA Publishing. There are now three such heritage routes in Porto, as well as a tram museum. In Sintra, there is a seasonally operated heritage tramway.
Romania
STB in Bucharest maintains an extensive fleet of heritage trams on its tram system.
Russia
In Saint Petersburg, on Vasilyevsky Island the former Vasileostrovsky tram depot, which closed in the 1990s after the city's extensive tram network was curtailed amid increasing automobile traffic, was converted into the Museum of Electrical Transport. Apart from operating excursions, the museum organizes museum-fleet rides along downtown tracks (including some sections no longer in use for regular tram service) during a number of public festivals and on some summer weekends. A heritage tram of the type that used to run from the inner city nearly to the nearby front line during the World War II siege of the city is installed as a war and tram memorial, not far from Avtovo metro station. A modern replica of a late-19th-century horsecar stands in front of Vasileostrovskaya metro station.
Spain
In Spain, a new heritage tramway was opened in A Coruña (La Coruña) in 1997. However, it has not operated since 2011. Tramvia Blau in Barcelona, also known as the Tibidabo tramway, has been in operation since 1904 but still uses trams built in 1904–15, and thus has become a heritage line; however, the line has been closed temporarily for reconstruction since 2018. Similarly, the tramway connecting Sóller with Puerto de Sóller, on the island of Mallorca, has been in operation since 1913 but still uses tramcars from the 1910s and 1920s. Therefore, it is a heritage line.
Sweden
In Malmö, a technical museum operates an in-street heritage tram line in the summer months. In Stockholm, a section of former route 7 was reopened in 1991 as a heritage tramway, using vintage cars.
There is another tram museum in Malmköping. Museispårvägen Malmköping runs along a short stretch of the former Mellersta Södermanlands Järnväg (MlSlJ) between Malmköping and Hosjö.
In Gothenburg, a heritage line is operated by the local tram association, Ringlinjen. The line is known as Lisebergs linjen. It runs alongside the regular trams between the central station and Liseberg amusement park. All trams on the line are vintage trams from the city. Ringlinjen also operates a tram museum in an old depot.
Switzerland
Historic trams operate at the Blonay–Chamby Museum Railway.
Turkey
Two separate heritage tramways operate in Istanbul; T2 on the European side of the Bosporus and T3 on the Asian side. The former opened in 1990 between Tünel (funicular station) and Taksim metro station, and the latter in 2003 in the suburb of Kadıköy.
A heritage tram line opened in 1999 in Antalya, serving the Antalya Museum, the historic city centre, Hadrian's Gate, and ending at the eastern end of Işıklar Street. Another one opened in 2011 in the city of Bursa.
United Kingdom and Crown dependencies In the United Kingdom the majority of tram lines were closed before the heritage movement began to flourish, the tracks and trams scrapped. Although trams have returned to several British cities since the 1990s, they are modern transportation systems (also known as light rail), not heritage operations. There are, however, three notable heritage tram operations in the UK and Crown dependencies.
The National Tramway Museum at Crich, near Matlock, is located in an old limestone quarry in Derbyshire, and has a collection of preserved trams. Strictly speaking, this would be considered a tramway museum with an operating tram line, rather than being a heritage tramway. Among the heritage railways on the Isle of Man, at least the Manx Electric Railway & Snaefell Mountain Railway both qualify as a heritage tramways as well.