Chester Tramways Company

Last updated

Chester Tramways Company
Operation
Locale Chester
Open10 June 1878
Close1 January 1902
StatusClosed
Infrastructure
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Propulsion system(s)Horse
Statistics
Route length 2.38 miles (3.83 km)

Chester Tramways Company operated a horse-drawn tramway service in Chester between 1878 and 1901. [1]

Contents

History

The Chester Tramways Company was incorporated in 1878 with powers to construct a standard-gauge 2 miles 30 chains (3.8 km) tramway from the General Station to Curzon Street in Saltney. [2] Construction started in 1878 and on 28 May 1879 the route was inspected by Major General Charles Scrope Hutchinson R.E. of the Board of Trade and declared fit for operation.

Services started on 10 June 1878 with a route from Chester railway station and the Castle. This was extended to Curzon Street, Saltney on 21 June 1879. The initial purchase of 8 Eades Patent Reversible tramcars was soon found unsatisfactory, and these were replaced by eight cars constructed locally by Mr Kerneen. [3] The fleet increased slightly over the years, and eventually numbered eleven tramcars.

The company was required by the Chester Tramways Act 1878 (41 & 42 Vict. c. clxxiv), to pay to the Dee Bridge Commissioners an annual sum for the use of Grosvenor Bridge. The Improvement Act of 1884 gave the company the option of either contributing £1,000 towards freeing the tolls, or paying £85 per annum to Chester Corporation until 1899 [4] The fares were set at 3d (equivalent to £1.29in 2021) [5] inside or 2d outside irrespective of distance, but the inside fare was reduced to 2d (equivalent to £0.96in 2021) [5] once the bridge toll was abolished on 1 January 1885. [6]

The tramway company sold car number 5 to Hughes & Lancaster who converted it to run on compressed air and tested it on the streets of Chester, but it did not prove satisfactory. [3]

The operation of the tramway was not initially an overwhelming commercial success. In addition to the tramway it also operated a fleet of 19 horse buses. This required the company to maintain a stable of 76 horses, each with an average life of around 6 years. The average price of a horse was £33 (equivalent to £3,800in 2021). [5] A permanent staff of six men and a boy were employed just to look after the horses. The financial position changed around 1885 when John Gardner was appointed manager and the company managed to pay a dividend to the shareholders. [7]

Notable people

General Managers

Closure

Under the Chester Corporation Act of 1901, the council took up its option to purchase the assets of the company. It did this for a cost of £18,000 (equivalent to £2,078,977 in 2021), [5] and services continued as Chester Corporation Tramways.

Related Research Articles

There have been two separate generations of trams in London, from 1860 to 1952 and from 2000 to the present. There were no trams at all in London between 1952 and 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nottingham & District Tramways Company</span>

Nottingham and District Tramways Company Limited was a tramway operator from 1875 to 1897 based in Nottingham in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nottingham Corporation Tramways</span>

Nottingham Corporation Tramways was formed when Nottingham Corporation took over the Nottingham and District Tramways Company Limited, which had operated a horse and steam tram service from 1877.

The Swansea Improvements and Tramway Company operated street trams in and around Swansea in Wales from 1878 to 1937.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derby Tramways Company</span>

The Derby Tramways Company operated horse-drawn tramway services in Derby from 1880 to 1904.

Lincoln Tramways Company operated a horse-drawn tramway service in Lincoln, England, between 1882 and 1905.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northampton Corporation Tramways</span>

Northampton Corporation Tramways operated the tramway service in Northampton between 1901 and 1934.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wallasey Corporation Tramways</span>

Wallasey Corporation Tramways operated an electric tramway service in Wallasey between 1902 and 1933.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chester Corporation Tramways</span>

Chester Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Chester between 1903 and 1930.

Gloucester Tramways Company operated a horse-drawn tramway service in Gloucester between 1879 and 1904.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tramways in Exeter</span>

Tramways in Exeter were operated between 1882 and 1931. The first horse-drawn trams were operated by the Exeter Tramway Company but in 1904 the Exeter Corporation took over. They closed the old network and replaced it with a new one powered by electricity.

The York Tramways Company and its successor the City of York Tramways Company provided a horse-drawn tramway service in York between 1881 and 1909.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dundee and District Tramways</span>

Dundee and District Tramways operated a tramway service in Dundee between 1877 and 1899.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wigan Corporation Tramways</span>

Wigan Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Wigan, England, between 1901 and 1931. The first tramway service in the town was run by the Wigan Tramways Company, whose horse trams began carrying passengers in 1880. They began replacing horses with steam tram locomotives from 1882, but the company failed in 1890 when a Receiver was appointed to manage it. The Wigan & District Tramways Company took over the system in 1893 and ran it until 1902. Meanwhile, Wigan Corporation were planning their own tramway system, obtaining an authorising Act of Parliament in 1893, and a second one in 1898. This enabled them to build electric tramways, and in 1902, they took over the lines of the Wigan & District Tramways Company.

Wolverhampton Tramways Company operated a tramway service in Wolverhampton between 1878 and 1900.

The Belfast Street Tramways operated horse-drawn tramway services in Belfast from 1872 to 1905. Its lines later formed a major part of the Belfast Corporation Tramways.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stockport Corporation Tramways</span>

Stockport Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Stockport, England, between 1901 and 1951. It was preceded by a horse tramway from Levenshulme to Stockport, which opened in 1880, and was ultimately run by the Manchester Carriage and Tramways Company. A second independent horse tramway opened in 1890, running to Hazel Grove. In 1899 the Corporation bought the first line, electrified it, and leased it back to the operating company. Their powers to buy the Stockport and Hazel Grove Tramway, authorised by the same Act of Parliament, were not exercised until 1905.

The Staffordshire Potteries Street Railway operated a horse-drawn tramway service between Hanley and Burslem from 1862 to 1880.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dudley, Sedgley and Wolverhampton Tramways Company</span>

The Dudley, Sedgley and Wolverhampton Tramway Company operated a tramway service between Wolverhampton and Dudley from 1883 to 1901.

The Leicester Tramways Company operated a horse-drawn tramway service in Leicester from 1874 to 1901.

References

  1. ↑ The Golden Age of Tramways. Published by Taylor and Francis.
  2. ↑ Gill 1952, pp. 137.
  3. 1 2 Gill 1952, pp. 138.
  4. ↑ The London Gazette, 19 November 1880, 5848
  5. 1 2 3 4 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 11 June 2022.
  6. ↑ Gill 1952, pp. 139.
  7. ↑ Gill 1952, pp. 140.
  8. ↑ "Presentation to the Chester Tramway Company's Late Manager" . Chester Courant. England. 8 July 1885. Retrieved 30 November 2022– via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ↑ "Presentation to a Tramway Official" . Liverpool Daily Post. England. 20 June 1885. Retrieved 30 November 2022– via British Newspaper Archive.

Sources

Works cited
  • Gill, Dennis (1952). "Chester Tramways 1879 - 1930". The Tramway Review. 1 (7).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.