History of Edinburgh the meantime the Old Town continued to decay into an increasingly dilapidated, overcrowded slum with high mortality rates, and was practically segregated socially from the rest of the city. This was especially true where the sub-division of tenements offered the cheapest lodgings in narrow alleyways that formed the backdrop to the infamous 'West Port Murders' of Burke and Hare. In 1865 Alexander Smith wrote of one of the poorest districts, The Cowgate is the Irish portion of the city. Edinburgh leaps over it with bridges: the inhabitants are morally and geographically the lower orders. They keep to their own quarters,
Trams in Edinburgh Princes Street and Leith Walk, to Bernard Street, Leith, replacing a horse-drawn carriage service. Edinburgh Northern Tramways began the first cable-hauled tram services in January 1888. The Levenhall to Port Seton section was replaced by motor buses. Expansion in the 1930s added routes Gorgie to Stenhouse, Braids to Fairmilehead and North Gyle to Maybury. At the time of closure, the total tram route was 47 miles long. The Corporation's last electric tram ran on 16 November 1956. After six years in which the controversial scheme suffered from long delays and over-spending, the new Edinburgh Trams system finally began operation on