The National Tramway Museum, set on a Derbyshire hill at Crich, is one of the most attractive and fascinating in Britain. Rosemary Thacker introduces some of its technical and archival treasures. From its introduction at Birkenhead from the United States in 1860, the tramcar became the first vehicle in Great Britain to provide mass public transport in towns outside London. The first trams were horse-drawn, followed by steam powered engines where coal was plentiful. Other mechanical power was tried with varying degrees of success: cable, coal gas, compressed air, ammonia gas, even clockwork!