 The company can trace its history back to the Edinburgh Street Tramways Company of 1871 , also involving at various times the tramway companies of Leith , Musselburgh and Edinburgh North . The City Council ( Edinburgh Corporation Tramways Department ) took over operation of the tramways in 1919 , at which time most of the system was cable operated . Electrification of the tram network was completed in 1923 , but the first motor buses had arrived in 1919 . 
