| Derby Corporation Tramways | |||||||||||||
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 Derby Corporation tram waiting outside Derby railway station | |||||||||||||
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| Locale | Derby, Derbyshire, England | ||||||||||||
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Derby Corporation Tramways was the tram system serving the city of Derby (then a town), England. It opened on 27 July 1904.
The company was formed by the corporation which took over the assets of the Derby Tramways Company, which had provided horse-drawn tramway services since 1880.
The initial lines electrified were the London Road and Osmaston Road routes. Six decorated cars travelled over these routes on 27 July 1904 carrying the Mayor and Corporation with various officials. The electric tramway service was officially opened by the Mayor of Derby in a ceremony at the tramshed on Alvaston Road. [2] The scheme entalied an expenditure of between £80,000 and £90,000 (equivalent to £10,890,000in 2023) [3] to (equivalent to £12,250,000in 2023). [3]
The remaining routes along St Peter's Street, Babington Land, Normanton Road, Burton Road, and also along Bateman Street, Douglas Street and Dairy House Road were electrified and opened on 8 September 1904 after inspection by Major Pringle of the Board of Trade on 7 September 1904. The same date also saw the opening of the new tramway offices in Victoria Street. [4]
The work to extend the electric tramway at a cost of £4,000 (equivalent to £540,000in 2023) [3] from St Peter's Street to Market Head commenced on 2 January 1905 [5] with a contract awarded to J.G. White and Co. This was inspected by Major Pringle on 24 February 1905 and opened the same day for traffic. [6]
An extension along Kedleston Road constructed by William Griffiths and Co was opened on 29 July 1905 [7] and the extension along Walbrook Road linking the Pear Tree and Upper Dale routes opened on 5 September. [8]
In January 1907 it was agreed to extend tram routes along Ashbourne Road and Uttoxeter Road. [9] A contract was awarded to Blackwell and Co. with the aim of having the routes opened by the August Bank Holiday but the contractor ran into difficulty and these routes were not opened until 28 November 1907. [10]
An extension along Nottingham Road opened on 8 February 1908 [11] and one on Burton Road opened on 30 July 1908. [12]
The four foot gauge tramways were replaced by Derby trolleybuses. The conversion began in 1932. [13]
As the service was converted to trolley-bus operation, the corporation started disposed of tramcars with the first 27 being sold for scrap at £10 each. Fourteen tramcars were sold in July 1933 to Messrs. Grahamsley's Ltd of Newcastle for £175. [14] Bodies from tramcars were utilised for summer-houses, and others were turned into week-end bungalows on Derby allotments. Two cars were acquired by Derby Education Committee for dressing rooms at school tennis courts at Homelands, Normanton. Parts of other cars were used to build poultry houses in the Brailsford district.
As the service closed it was reported that £296,000 had been expended on permanent way, cars and electrical equipment. The tramcars had run a total of 36.5 million miles, and 445 million passenger had been carried. This had resulted in £2,396,720 in fares during the 30-year period of operation. [15]
The final passenger service operated on 29 June 1934 and the last tram ran over the system on 2 July 1934 on a ceremonial run when P.W. Bancroft, general manager, chose one of the companies longest serving employees, William Spencer, to drive. As the tram approached the depot, William Spencer surrendered control to the Mayor who drove it into the yard. [16]
There were two depots for the tramcars
Tramcar n°1 is the only Derby tramcar preserved and is owned by the National Tramway Museum in Crich, Derbyshire. After many years of display at Crich, the car is now on loan to the Great Northern Classics venture, located appropriately in the former Derby tram depot at Osmaston Road, where it will be displayed alongside classic motor vehicles and help to provide apprentices with valuable heritage engineering skills. [19]
The National Tramway Museum is a tram museum located at Crich, in the Peak District of Derbyshire, England. The museum contains over 80 trams built between 1873 and 1982 and is set within a recreated period village containing a working pub, cafe, old-style sweetshop and tram depots. The museum's collection of trams runs through the village-setting with visitors transported out into the local countryside and back and is operated by the Tramway Museum Society, a registered charity.
Sheffield Tramway was an extensive tramway network serving the English city of Sheffield and its suburbs.
The Chesterfield and District Tramways Company and its successors ran a tramway system in the Derbyshire town of Chesterfield, England. The first horse-drawn line opened in 1882, and in 1897, the system was taken over by Chesterfield Corporation, who extended and electrified it in 1904 and 1905. Additional tramcars were purchased, but two had to be scrapped after a disastrous fire at the depot in 1916. The system suffered from a lack of maintenance as a result of reduced staffing levels during the First World War, and the trams were replaced by trolleybuses in 1927.
Birmingham Corporation Tramways operated a network of tramways in Birmingham from 1904 until 1953. It was the largest narrow-gauge tramway network in the UK, and was built to a gauge of 3 ft 6 in. It was the fourth largest tramway network in the UK behind London, Glasgow and Manchester.
Mansfield & District Light Railways was an electric tramway network operating in Mansfield from 16 July 1905 to 9 October 1932. The tramway company was a subsidiary of Midland Counties Electric Supply Company, who in turn were owned by Balfour Beatty.
Reading Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Reading in the English county of Berkshire between 1901 and 1939.
Leeds Corporation Tramways formerly served the city of Leeds, England. The original trams were horse-drawn, but the city introduced Britain's first overhead-powered electric trams in 1891, and by 1901, electrification had been completed. The tramway opened on 29 October 1891.
Leicester Corporation Tramways was a tramway system in Leicester, England from 1901 to 1949.
The Derby Tramways Company operated horse-drawn tramway services in Derby, England from 1880 to 1904.
Northampton Corporation Tramways operated the tramway service in Northampton between 1901 and 1934.
Chester Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Chester between 1903 and 1930.
Wolverhampton Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Wolverhampton between 1902 and 1928.
The Worcester Electric Traction Company operated a tramway service in Worcester between 1904 and 1928.
Coventry Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Coventry, England, between 1912 and 1940.
The Potteries Electric Traction Company operated a tramway service in The Potteries between 1899 and 1928.
The Cheltenham and District Light Railway operated an electric tramway service in Cheltenham between 1901 and 1930.
The Dudley, Stourbridge and District Electric Tramways Company operated an electric tramway service between Dudley and Stourbridge and also other lines in the neighbourhood between 1899 and 1930.
Dundee and District Tramways operated a tramway service in Dundee between 1877 and 1899.
Wolverhampton Tramways Company operated a tramway service in Wolverhampton between 1878 and 1900.
Tramways in Derbyshire | |
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(Closed systems) | |
