JUNE 1962, and a Glasgow tram makes its way past what was reckoned to be the only tree in Argyle Street.
The trams were on the verge of bowing out after many decades of service and their imminent disappearance occasioned lots of nostalgia and quiet regret.
“I have a sad, sinking feeling,”” observed tram conductor Robert Paterson as his ‘caur’ trundled along Argyle Street on September 1 on one of its final runs. He “echoed the thoughts of all Glaswegians,” said the Evening Times.
A Parisian student, Jacques Doerflinger, 17, who had spent a tramspotting holiday one spring in Glasgow, returned to the city, having been assured of a place on one of the trams taking part in the final procession on September 4. He visited the Evening Times’ office, raiding the files of the art department for photographs to complete his collection.
Trams were his hobby, and in his spare time he was a volunteer at the Paris tramway museum, which happened to have an old Glasgow tram in its 52-strong collection of the vehicles.
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