Tram Ride through Sunderland (1904)

Sunderland
1 Jan 1904
Silent
2m

The thrill of a ride through central Sunderland to the sea at Roker.

'Phantom ride' films, shot from a moving vehicle, were an enduringly popular part of the Victorian and Edwardian film repertoire. This wintery journey around Sunderland, though not quite the thrillingly new experience it might have been to its first audiences, survives as a memorial to a city almost totally unrecognisable today. Sunderland's tram system, inaugurated in 1900, closed in 1954.

It's worth watching the film through to its conclusion when the tram arrives at its final stop at the Roker seafront. Clearly invigorated by the sea air, two men (probably Mitchell and Kenyon's showmen collaborators) dance an energetic waltz around the forecourt of the Roker Hotel, before enjoying an impromptu game of 'catch' among the beach-pebbles, waves lapping in the background.

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From the collection

On the Move

Britain in the early 20th century was a society in a hurry - and transport was changing fast.

The era of mass transportation launched by the Victorians gathered pace in the Edwardian age. Mitchell & Kenyon’s films feature countless trains, buses and trams, as well as horse-drawn coaches and bicycles, though cars are still a rarity.

People where the duo’s stock-in-trade, but transport could also take a leading role. Films feature boats, ferries and ocean liners, but much more common - and frequently magical - are those which take us on a journey by train or, especially, by tram, gliding through space and time into the heart of the towns and cities of our ancestors.