Burnley Corporation Tramways | |
---|---|
Operation | |
Locale | Burnley |
Open | 16 December 1901 |
Close | 7 May 1935 |
Status | Closed |
Infrastructure | |
Track gauge | 4 ft (1,219 mm) |
Propulsion system(s) | Electric |
Depot(s) | Queensgate, Burnley |
Statistics | |
Route length | 13.05 miles (21.00 km) |
Burnley Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Burnley between 1901 and 1935. [1]
In 1900, the assets of the Burnley & District Tramways Company were purchased by Burnley Corporation for the sum of £53,000 (equivalent to £6,100,770 in 2021). [2] This had operated standard gauge steam hauled trams since 1881. The corporation rebuilt the tramway to 4’ gauge, as this was in use by neighbouring systems, and there were plans to link to these systems. The tramway was powered by direct current electricity at 530/565 volts supplied from Burnley power station. [3]
The first converted route to Padiham opened on 16 December 1901, and the second in 1902 to Nelson, which permitted through running onto Nelson Corporation Tramways tracks.
In July 1903 a route to Rosegrove opened, and in February 1904 to Towneley Park and Summit. In 1910 new routes to Gannow Lane and Lane Head were opened.
Extensions were made in 1910 on the Towneley Park route as far as Rock Lane. The Summit line was extended to Rossendale Road. In 1912, the Lane Head route was extended to Harle Syke.
In 1924 the company name changed from Burnley Corporation Tramways to Burnley Corporation Tramways & Omnibuses.
The company amassed a fleet of 72 vehicles:
On 21 December 1923 a coal lorry collided with a tram No 10 on Briercliffe Road. [4] This sent the tramcar backwards down the road. The tramcar derailed and crashed into a house and shop on the corner of Sedbergh St. The conductor, William Simpson, and a 14-year-old schoolgirl, Ethel Pomfret were killed. Seven other passengers were injured.
Burnley, Nelson and Colne became a combined transport undertaking on 1 April 1933. [5] The new organisation closed down the remaining tramway services in Burnley on 7 May 1935.
Derby Corporation Tramways was the tram system serving the city of Derby, England. It opened on 27 July 1904.
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Huddersfield Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Huddersfield, England, between 1883 and 1940. It initially used steam locomotives pulling unpowered tramcars, but as the system was expanded, a decision was taken to change to electric traction in 1900, and the first electric trams began operating in February 1901. The system was built to the unusual gauge of 4 ft 7+3⁄4 in, in the hope that coal wagon from neighbouring coal tramways, which used that gauge, could be moved around the system. This did not occur, but two coal trams were used to delivered coal to three mills.
The tramways in Plymouth were originally constructed as four independent networks operated by three different companies to serve the adjacent towns of Plymouth, Stonehouse and Devonport in Devon, England. The merger of the 'Three Towns' into the new borough of Plymouth in 1914 was the catalyst for the three companies to join up under the auspices of the new Plymouth Corporation. The network was closed in 1945, partly as a result of bomb damage during World War II.
The Great Grimsby Street Tramways Company was a tramway serving Grimsby and Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire, England. It was a subsidiary of The Provincial Tramways Company. They opened a horse tramway in 1881, running from the Wheatsheaf Inn in Bargate to the border with Cleethorpes, with a branch along Freeman Street, and extended the line into Cleethorpes in 1887. It followed the trend of many British systems, and was converted to an electric tramway in December 1901. Small extensions were made to the system at both ends, but the basic plan of the system remained the same throughout its life.
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Trams existed in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo from 1899 to 1960.
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