The pulley wheel shown in the photo here has emerged from recent tramwork excavations on Leith Walk.
Archaeologists will determine its significance, but to Spurtle observers it looks like evidence of the former cable-drawn Edinburgh tram system.
From 1899, it ran as far north as Pilrig Street, whereupon passengers would transfer to the more efficient electrically powered trams operated by Leith Town Council.
This ‘Pilrig Muddle’ was an inconvenience powered largely by civic intransigence, and lasted for 20 years until Edinburgh caught up with the current technology in 1922.
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