Trams (transit vehicles)

Low-speed carts, cars, or other vehicles that are used for the conveyance of passengers, or occasionally of light loads of goods, relatively short distances, and that use overhead cables or tracks of parallel rails. The rails were originally flat planks of wood; later, lengths of stone or plates of iron that form wheel-tracks for vehicles were used. The tracks may be raised above or flush with the road surface. Trams may be manually or automatically operated, and typically use electricity supplied by the overhead cable or the rails. To refer specifically to manually operated, electrically powered, public passenger rail vehicles running regularly on exclusive right of way along streets, use "streetcars."