A TASTER of the trams is a surreal experience.
The annals of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe are littered with dramas, controversies and scandals.
But while more than 2000 shows vied for attention across Scotland’s capital yesterday, a new chapter in the city’s real-life saga unfolded.
A handful of journalists were offered a sneak preview of the multi-million pound production which has already had more than its fair share of behind-the-scenes turmoil.
Even before reaching this stage, The Great Edinburgh Tram Project has had an ever-changing cast of key characters, an out-of-control budget and more twists than a classic whodunnit.
The producers would have us believe the dastardly villains have been banished for good, while a veteran leading lady has been called in to salvage the show.
Like any classically-trained actress, Lesley Hinds has switched roles with effortless ease from the bete noire of the tram project to their most passionate champion in less than six months.
She was like Charlie as he toured Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory as she happily posed for pictures aboard the test tram where much of yesterday’s preview took place.
After a more than a decade reporting on this drawn-out production, it was a strange feeling to finally be boarding a tram, albeit it for a ten-minute journey around the depot at Gogarburn – the only part of the project to be finished, more than five years after work got under way.
The vehicle, one of 20 currently being “rail-tested” at the site, set off at a snail’s pace and never reached a higher speed than six miles per hour on our journey to and from the depot building.
With only a handful of “passengers” aboard, it was hard to believe that one day more than 250 passengers would be boarding the same vehicle at Edinburgh Airport.
It got more surreal as I was ushered into the driver’s cab to get a feel of the controls – and even a ring of the bell to alert jaywalking passengers of their impending doom.
A backstage tour of the Edinburgh International Festival’s theatres at Ingliston had nothing on this.
The climax of the show came when we were able to see another tram whizzing along the full test track at Gogarburn at the dizzying speed of 25 miles per hour, just over half of the full-speed it will reach on off-road sections.
Right on cue, the clouds parted and the sun beamed down on Gogarburn. It’s just a shame it will be another two years before the storm clouds over this project will finally be able to part and the curtain truly raises.