Editing Tram (section)

==Etymology and terminology==
[[File:Go by Streetcar sign - Portland Oregon.jpg|thumb|A sign in [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]] that reads "go by streetcar". Trams are often called streetcars in North America.]]
The English terms ''tram'' and ''tramway'' are derived from the [[Scots language|Scots]] word {{lang|sco|tram}},<ref>{{cite web|url = https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/tram_n_2 |title = tram, n.<sup>2</sup> |work = A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)|publisher = Dictionary of the Scots Language}}</ref> referring respectively to a type of truck ([[goods wagon]] or freight [[railroad car]]) used in [[coal mining|coal mines]] and the tracks on which they ran. The word ''tram'' probably derived from [[Middle Dutch|Middle Flemish]] {{lang |dum|trame}} ("beam, handle of a barrow, bar, rung"). The identical word {{lang|fr|trame}} with the meaning "crossbeam" is also used in the [[French language]]. Etymologists believe that the word ''tram'' refers to the wooden beams the railway tracks were initially made of before the railroad pioneers switched to the much more wear-resistant tracks made of iron and, later, steel.<ref>{{harvnb|Duden|2001|p=859}}</ref> The word ''tram-car'' is attested from 1873.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=tram |title=Online Etymology Dictionary |publisher=Etymonline.com |access-date=8 March 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150510061427/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=tram |archive-date=10 May 2015}}</ref>

===Alternatives===
[[File:Boarding train at desert of maine.jpg|thumb|A trackless train is also called tram in U.S. English.]]
Although the terms ''tram'' and ''tramway'' have been adopted by many languages, they are not used universally in English; North Americans prefer ''streetcar'', ''trolley'', or ''trolleycar''. The term ''streetcar'' is first recorded in 1840, and originally referred to [[horsecar]]s.

The terms ''streetcar'' and ''trolley'' are often used interchangeably in the [[United States]], with ''trolley'' being the preferred term in the eastern US and ''streetcar'' in the western US. ''Streetcar'' is preferred in [[English Canada]], while ''tramway'' is preferred in [[Quebec]]. In parts of the United States, internally powered [[bus]]es made to resemble a streetcar are often referred to as "trolleys". To avoid further confusion with [[trolley bus]]es, the [[American Public Transportation Association]] (APTA) refers to them as "[[trolley-replica bus]]es". In the United States, the term ''tram'' has sometimes been used for rubber-tired [[trackless train]]s, which are unrelated to other kinds of trams.

A widely held belief holds the word trolley to derive from the ''troller'' (said to derive from the words ''traveler'' and ''roller''), a four-wheeled device that was dragged along dual overhead wires by a cable that connected the troller to the top of the car and collected electrical power from the [[overhead wire]]s;<ref>{{harvnb|Post|2007|p=43}}</ref> this [[portmanteau word|portmanteau derivation]] is, however, most likely [[folk etymology]]. "Trolley" and variants refer to the verb ''troll'', meaning "roll" and probably derived from [[Old French]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=trolley|title=Online Etymology Dictionary|work=etymonline.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912101708/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=trolley|archive-date=12 September 2015}}</ref> and cognate uses of the word were well established for handcarts and horse drayage, as well as for nautical uses.<ref>{{harvnb|Middleton|1967|p=60}}</ref>

The alternative North American term 'trolley' may strictly speaking be considered incorrect, as the term can also be applied to cable cars, or [[conduit car]]s that instead draw power from an underground supply. Conventional diesel [[bus|tourist buses]] decorated to look like streetcars are sometimes called ''trolleys'' in the US ([[tourist trolley]]). Furthering confusion, the term ''tram'' has instead been applied to open-sided, low-speed [[trackless train|segmented vehicles on rubber tires]] generally used to ferry tourists short distances, for example on the [[Universal Studios Backlot Tour|Universal Studios backlot tour]] and, in many countries, as tourist transport to major destinations. The term may also apply to an aerial ropeway, e.g. the [[Roosevelt Island Tramway]].

===Trolleybus===
Although the use of the term ''trolley'' for tram was not adopted in Europe, the term was later associated with the ''[[trolleybus]]'', a rubber-tired vehicle running on hard pavement, which draws its power from pairs of overhead wires. These electric buses, which use twin trolley poles, are also called ''trackless trolleys'' (particularly in the northeastern US), or sometimes simply ''trolleys'' (in the UK, as well as the [[Pacific Northwest]], including [[Seattle]], and [[Vancouver]]).