This exhibition focuses on images of transport and provides a pictorial survey of transportation solutions from the early 1800s onwards. It gives a unique insight into social history and how transport has altered the nature of people's work and leisure.
Our collection contains many images of water-borne transport mainly situated around the coastal towns of the Firth of Forth such as Granton, Newhaven, Leith and Portobello. These include pictures of working vessels like paddle steamers and ships as well as leisure craft like rowing boats.
Horse-drawn transportation features heavily within out collection both in our photography and other artworks such as drawings, paintings and etchings. Horses are represented pulling every sort of wheeled transport all the way from a simple cart to a horse-drawn bus.
Motorised transport first appears in our photographic images from the 1920s onwards and our images chart the changing trends in motor cars, bikes, buses and trams.
The image library for the collections of Edinburgh Libraries and Museums and Galleries