A tram roundabout or grand circle is a circular rail junction for trams in the shape of a roundabout. A tram roundabout is able to provide the equivalent any-to-any connection of a grand union, but with a simplified tramway track configuration using one-way traffic, fewer turnouts and reduction in level junctions, at the cost of slightly more space. Trams may continue as one-way traffic in an endless loop around the tram roundabout junction.
A circular roundabout design is often used to allowing passing around a centrally-placed monument, or fountain, or small park.
On 8 September 1968, one week before closure of Liverpool Corporation Tramways, tram car 245 completed three complete laps of the St. Oswald Street tram roundabout whilst being filmed.[2]
Трамвайное кольцо на пересечении улиц Ленина и Луначарского в Екатеринбурге / Tramway circle on the crossing of Lenina and Lunacharskogo streets in Yekaterinburg
On Sunday, 8th September [1957], the LRTL hired car 245 for a final tour of the remaining routes, including three complete circuits of the roundabout at St. Oswald Street, where the cine-photographers gyrated in the centre of the grass as the tram went round and round like a clockwork toy. … On the evening of Saturday, 14th September, 1957, tramway operation in Liverpool came to an end.
