Day 17. Helsinki Tram Museum and Pub Tram

On By Little Miss TravellerIn Finland, Helsinki & Espoo July 2016, Northern Europe

Being a lover of transport museums around the world, I couldn’t resist a visit to the Helsinki Tram Museum which is located in the Töölö district of the city in a former tram depot.  Admission to the museum is free and it is open each day between 11.00 am and 5.00 pm.

Open sided tram carriage at the Helsinki Tram Museum
Open sided tram carriage

Starting our tour around the museum, we learnt that tram line construction in Helsinki began in 1890 and by the following year horse drawn trams were running on the 8.5 km network.  In those days there weren’t any stops and passengers just needed to raise their hands at the side of the track to request the tram to stop, resulting in some very long journeys.  Horse drawn trams were pulled by single horses running three hour shifts.  The city is reasonably flat but for steeper uphill sections a second horse was harnessed to help to spread the load.  The displays told us that the museum was formerly the Ruusula Villa which housed horse stables for the tram horses, a wagon shed and saddle workshop.  Following the introduction of electric trams the site was transformed into a modern depot and is now the Tram Museum’s permanent home.

Historic trams at Helsinki Tram Museum
Helsinki teams are still painted in these colours

As with other large cities, the Helsinki tram network expanded as the city grew as trams offered a quick and cheap means of transport.  By the 1930’s the city’s tram traffic hit its peak with 169 motorised trams on the network, carrying over 60 million passengers each year.  Trams sadly fell out of favour in the 1960’s when more households bought their own cars which caused constant traffic jams in the city centre with trams running on the same stretch of road as motor vehicles, some even called for the tram network to be disbanded.  Thankfully, this didn’t happen and road layouts were changed to allow separate lanes for trams to ease traffic congestion.

Old style ticket validator at the Helsinki Tram Museum
Old style ticket validator

It was interesting to note that lines were originally colour coded (we still use this system on the London Underground) as illiteracy was prevalent and if passengers remembered the colour they needed, they could get to their destination without problems.  In the 1920’s numbers and letters were introduced to identify routes – routes to the suburbs were allocated letters whilst all other routes were given numbers.

Heritage Tram, Helsinki
Heritage tram operating in Helsinki on summer weekends

Wandering around the museum hall we were able to clamber on board the lovely old wooden trams, sit in the driver’s cab and pretend we were driving along the city centre cobbled streets feeling we had been transported back to bygone days of the city.

An interesting section of the museum related to payment systems.  The first tickets were re-useable tokens before paper and cardboard tickets came into use.  Tickets were either punched or stamped by the conductors but since 1987 tram drivers have taken sole control of the trams, driving and collecting fares as passengers board from those who do not have pre-paid travel cards.  Children and (big children like me) loved stamping our tickets in the same way it was done in the olden days – so very different from the electronic card readers we use today.  I have kept my old fashioned, stamped ticket and I will use it as a souvenir bookmark to remind me of my visit.

Helsinki Pub Tram
Pub tram where you can buy a beer as you travel along Helsinki’s streets

So, if you are like me and have an interest in historic public transport,  do call into Helsinki’s Tram Museum for a step back in time – I’m sure you’ll enjoy it and return with a feeling of nostalgia as you board one of the city’s modern trams back to the centre of town.

To ride a vintage tram just go to the market square at weekends during the summer months.  Tickets cost €5 and the tour takes around 20 minutes.  If you might wish to take a ride on the beer tram you also need to obtain a ticket.  The beer tram route is 40 minutes so you will have plenty of time to enjoy your glass of Finnish beer whilst rattling around the city streets.  The pub tram can also be booked for private parties, a stag party with a difference, perhaps!

 

If you have enjoyed reading this post you may also be interested in the following:

A walk to Tervesaari island, Helsinki

The Arabia district of Helsinki

 

Advertisement

32 thoughts on “Day 17. Helsinki Tram Museum and Pub Tram”

  1. Thanks for sharing Marion. My Vancouver son would love this museum. And I would love the beer tram. When we were in Melbourne, we rode the historic dining tram for a fabulous 3 course meal with wine and liqueurs included. It was a ton of fun. Allan

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. The Helsinki tram museum is so interesting Allan but despite seeing the beer tram passing by on many occasions, I haven’t experienced it yet, so maybe next time I’m there. I hope to visit Melbourne sometime when it’s possible to travel there as I’m interested to explore the city and ride the trams. Thanks again for commenting. Marion

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  3. Pingback: Day 3. Visiting Frankfurt’s Museums – Love Travelling

  4. Pingback: Day 12. More sightseeing in Stockholm – Love Travelling

    1. I like riding on trams and the Helsinki museum was fun to look round. We haven’t been to the one in Derbyshire but it sounds like a good place to go. It’s quite awhile since we visited Derbyshire actually, we’ve stayed at both Bakewell and Baslow for weekend breaks and enjoyed them both.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  16. Good Sunday Morning.

    Very nice post. You presented this small museum in a marvelous way. Thank You. I have visited tis museum, maybe ten years ago and did find it interesting. Very nice to read that You are interested in transport museums and thus specialized in them.

    In Finland, we have many kind of museums, many smalls, but worth for visits. My favorite museum is in Jyväskylä. There a plane inside it which tells about our wartime history.

    Aviation Museum of Central Finland.

    Have wonderful day!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Good Morning Matti and thank you once again for your encouraging comments regarding my posts. I enjoyed following your link to read about the old plane museum in central Finland. So many possibilities of places to visit! I hope you also have a pleasant Sunday, the morning is overcast and breezy here, but not too bad. M

      Like

      Reply

      1. Think that Brewster 372 is the only one in the world! The young generation has forgotten how we in Finland had to fight for our freedom and thus it presents to me a symbol of freedom. I am senior citizen, it is true, my late father was in war, and my father-in-law, so we have had near contact for those persons who left to us this free country had sad stories to be told. Maybe You now understand me why this museum is my favorite.

        Yet today all over in Finland we respect those we sacrificed their life for country. Someday, I will show how.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.