Accrington Corporation Steam Tramways Company

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Accrington Corporation Steam Tramways Company
Operation
Locale Accrington
Open 5 April 1886
Close 31 December 1907
Status Closed
Infrastructure
Track gauge 4 ft (1,219 mm)
Propulsion system(s) Steam
Depot(s) Ellison Street
Statistics
Route length 7.02 miles (11.30 km)

Accrington Corporation Steam Tramways Company operated a steam-powered passenger tramway service in Accrington between 1886 and 1907. [1]

Accrington town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England

Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about 4 miles (6 km) east of Blackburn, 6 miles (10 km) west of Burnley, 13 miles (21 km) east of Preston, 20 miles (32 km) north of Manchester city centre and is situated on the mostly culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to "Accy", the town has a population of 35,456 according to the 2011 census.

Contents

History

The Accrington Corporation Tramways Act of 1882 authorised a joint venture between the Corporation and a private company to construct tramways in Accrington. The infrastructure was leased by the Corporation to the company for 21 years. Construction began two years later on a system of three routes:

Church, Lancashire village in United Kingdom

Church is a village in Hyndburn, Lancashire, England; situated a mile west of Accrington. The local travel links are located less than a mile from the village centre to Church and Oswaldtwistle railway station and 27 miles (43 km) to Blackpool Airport. Also, the main road running through the village is the A679. The village has a population of 3,990 according to the 2001 census, increasing to 5,186 at the 2011 Census.

Clayton-le-Moors industrial township two miles north of Accrington in the Borough of Hyndburn in the County of Lancashire, England

Clayton-le-Moors is a small industrial town two miles north of Accrington in the Borough of Hyndburn in the County of Lancashire, England. It is usually referred to locally as simply 'Clayton'. The town has a population of 8,522 according to the 2011 census.

Baxenden railway station served the village of Baxenden in Hyndburn. It was situated on the line from Bury Bolton Street to Accrington, which was opened in August 1848 by the East Lancashire Railway. The station gave its name to the nearby Baxenden Bank, a two-mile section towards Accrington that included gradients as steep as 1 in 38.

An extension to the Baxenden route to the Commercial Hotel Haslingden opened on 27 August 1887. In November 1887 the route was extended to the Haslingden/Rawtenstall boundary at Lockgate allowing services to Queens Square in Rawtenstall. The sections of track in Haslingden and Rawtenstall were owned by the respective Corporations but leased to the company.

Fleet

All of the locomotive engines were supplied by Thomas Green & Son. An initial order of 9 in 1885 was supplemented with further orders until the last order in 1898. Three second hand engines were obtained in 1901 from Blackburn Corporation which gave a total steam fleet of 22.

Thomas Green & Son

Thomas Green & Son, Ltd. were engineers who manufactured a wide range of products at the Smithfield Foundry, Leeds, United Kingdom.

The initial fleet of 10 trailers were ordered from Falcon Engine & Car Works. Further trailers were acquired in subsequent years.

Closure

Around 1899 the company entered into a provisional agreement with the British Electric Traction company for the latter to purchase the tramway. [2]

British Electric Traction

British Electric Traction Company Limited, renamed BET plc in 1985, was a large British industrial conglomerate. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Rentokil in 1996, and the merged company is now known as Rentokil Initial.

However, in 1907, Accrington Corporation had formed Accrington Corporation Tramways and it purchased the system within its boundary for £2,227 (equivalent to £216,205 in 2016). [3] The company maintained the steam trams service during the electrification project.

Accrington Corporation Tramways operated an passenger tramway service in Accrington between 1907 and 1932.

Eight locomotives and seven trailer cars were operated by Haslingden Corporation until 1908 between Baxenden and Lockgate.

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References

  1. The Golden Age of Tramways. Published by Taylor and Francis.
  2. The Electrical Journal, Volume 43
  3. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 6 November 2017.