You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (May 2024) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 1,563 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Tramway de Versailles]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template {{Translated|fr|Tramway de Versailles}} to the talk page.
The first modernisation was the opening of a steam tram between Versailles and Saint-Cyr-l'École on 20 November 1889. The second happened in October 1895 when the SVTE (Société Versaillaise de Tramways électriques) took over the network, electrified it and purchased 29 electric tramways from the Postel-Vinay works.
The network went from three to six lines and served:
In 1907, line C was extended to Porchefontaine and line D to République.
During the 1950s the network was formed only of lines A, B, C and E. It was seriously amputated at the dawn of World War II and closed on 3 March 1957 during a glorious celebration with 200 000 inhabitants, the mayor of Versailles, Maurice Chevalier and the baptism of the replacing buses.
29 electric Postel-Vinay tramcars (1896), transformed in 1922 and renumbered 1 to 9. They were open-ended and painted in yellow and white. the tramcars were staffed by two men, a wattman, who drove the trams, and a ticket inspector, who was in charge of collecting fares, the trolley pole and point levers. The tramcars were modernised after World War I and their open ends closed as well as the replacing of the two motors by one more powerful.
2 Carde double-decker tramcars (1908).
4 large capacity tramcars (1927), numbered 53 to 56 and capable of transporting 55 seated passengers.
11 transformed Postel-Vinay tramcars in 1933, numbered 10 to 20.
The tramcars received their definite livery in the 1940s and were painted in blue and light grey.
Tramcars in preservation
Tramcar n°1 is preserved at the AMTUIR in Saint-Mandé. It was the first tram "rescued" by the museum on 16 March 1957. It was acquired by the museum from EDF thanks to contributions by amateurs.