With so many companies offering personalised tram scrolls and replica bus rolls we thought we should show you what the originals actually look like.
Melbourne has the largest electric tram system in the world which has been in operation since 1906 and boasts 250 kilometres of tram lines.
Tram scrolls were displayed on the front, rear and side of the tram to show passengers the end destination of the tram. The front and rear scrolls were white text on a black background to make it easy to see the destination from afar. The typeface that was used on Melbourne trams has not changed greatly in the past 100 years and is still used on older trams which do not have the digital display. The font used is from the same family of fonts, although up to 5 styles of type are actually used, they are all derivations of the original font, simply more or less condensed to fit into the display window. All destinations are displayed at a uniform height, filling the destination window. Melbourne scrolls tend to be centred with a centre line showing where the driver or conductor should roll the scroll to as they are unable to see from their position inside the tram.
Tram and Bus Scrolls offer you the choice of an original style tram destination roll, including any customisation that you would like to make for free. You can change any of the places/names, or background colours on the tram scroll page that you choose. For more options and full personalisation vist our custom made page.
We also offer more contemporary styles
Sydney trams are now making a re-emergence after disappearing from the streets in in 1961, having operated as electric trams from 1898. Trams are now in operatio
n between Leichhardt and Haymarket although the tram scrolls have been replaced by digital displays. At one time Sydney had the second largest tram network in the Commonwealth with up to 1,600 cars in service.
Sydney tram scrolls were perhaps the most distinctive in the World. Instead of numbered lines, destinations were shown often in combination with a colour coded symbol. The exact reason for the symbols is slightly unclear. There are arguments that say they were designed that way so that signalmen shunting the trams onto the correct tracks could see the destination from afar and manually shunt the tram in the correct direction. It is also reckoned that in an age where so many people were illiterate, the distinctive symbols helped those with poor reading skills to identify and board the correct tram.