Awesome Museums, Themed Restaurants & Amazing Routes: This List Is For All The Tram Addicts Out There

Find out what the oldest tram network of Asia was like at Smaranika. Located in the Esplanade CTC campus, this museum is housed within a tram from a revamped from 1938! The interiors have been polished and adorned with all kinds of memorabilia.

Entry is only INR 5 {tokenised against a classic old-school tram ticket}, and you get half an hour to look around at the old pictures of horse-drawn trams, staff uniform, coin exchanger machine, ticket designs down the years, and much more. After you are done, have a grub break at the cafeteria attached to the museum. The food’s nothing great but it’s the atmosphere that counts.

Your next meal out should be at the Tram Deepo, a tram-themed restaurant near the Ice Skating Rink at Ballygunge. They are known for their spacious and unique tram-inspired interiors, along with their food and hookah menu.

There’s also Benu Bon Chhaya, located in a park on the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, Baishabghata Patuli Township. The park has an actual tram where people can order food and eat in.

Ditch the idea that trams are boring, because Kolkata Tramways has graffiti trams too! ‘Tram Tales’, an event organised by Aditya Sengupta and Kheya Chattopadhyay showcased trams in a variety of quirky, interesting perspectives, and had even painted trams with a wide range of offbeat graffiti! The graffiti trams can be seen in the Gariahat Tram Depot – some of them still operational on the streets of the city. Read more about the initiative here.

Take your camera and set out on a tram ride. Kolkata Tramways offers some very scenic routes where you can travel amidst old heritage sites, historical buildings, and the lush green of the Maidan. If you want a tour of old Calcutta, try tram route 36/8, which starts from Kidderpore, and goes via B.B.D. Bag, Chitpur, and ends at Esplanade and Bagbazaar.

For heritage and nature, try route 30, which goes from Kalighat to Howrah Station and takes you through the lush spaces of Maidan and the famous Strand Road.

There’s also a scenic route on the southern side – route 25 from Gariahat to Esplanade – that takes you through iconic places like Elliott Road and Lenin Sarani.

Kolkata Tramways also runs its own heritage tour on a tram which starts from the Esplanade terminus, through BBD Bagh {Dalhousie Square}, Writer’s Building, the General Post Office, the Tank Square, St. Andrews Church, Chitpore Road {passing through old neighbourhoods and communities}, Nakhodia Mosque, the house of Rabindranath Tagore, and many more to reach the Belgachia tram depot. The tram retraces its path from here and connects to Bidhan Sarani, passing the old Star Theatre, Presidency College and the coffee house on College Street, Lenin Sarani and Carey’s church. Check out the route here.