Liverpool Corporation Tramways | |
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![]() Liverpool Corporation Tram at Woodside, Birkenhead | |
Operation | |
Locale | Liverpool |
Open | 16 November 1898 |
Close | 14 September 1957 |
Status | Closed |
Infrastructure | |
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) |
Propulsion system(s) | Electric |
Statistics | |
Route length | 90 miles (140 km) |
Liverpool Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Liverpool between 1898 and 1957. [1]
At the peak of Britain’s first-generation tramways, it was possible to travel by tram all the way from Pier Head at Liverpool to the Pennines in Rochdale by tram.
In 1897, Liverpool Corporation bought the Liverpool United Tramway and Omnibus Company and obtained a Private Act of Parliament, the Liverpool Corporation Tramways Act 1897. [3]
A modernisation scheme followed immediately with electrification of services taking around 5 years.
The first electric service left Dingle on 16 November 1898. By 1901, the 101 million passengers were carried by the electric tramcars.
The last tram, (Car 293 No. 6A), ran from Liverpool's Pier Head to Bowring Park on 14 September 1957.
The car was bought by the Seashore Trolley Museum of Kennebunkport, Maine, U.S. and shipped via Boston, Massachusetts in 1958. As of 2017, it is currently at the back of a shed at the Museum, and in poor condition.
Horse car 43 is a static exhibit at the Wirral Transport Museum in Birkenhead.
Car 293 survives at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine, United States of America.
Car 245 was restored to operational condition in 2014, by members of the Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society at the Wirral Transport Museum in Birkenhead, [4] and is operational at the Wirral Tramway.
Car 762 is operational at the Wirral Tramway.
Car 869 (known as a "Streamliner" or "Liner" in original Liverpool service, and "Green Goddess" in later Glasgow service) is part of the operational fleet at the National Tramway Museum at Crich in Derbyshire.
Brush Traction was a manufacturer and maintainer of railway locomotives in Loughborough, England whose operations have now been merged into the Wabtec company's Doncaster UK operations.
Seashore Trolley Museum, located in Kennebunkport, Maine, United States, is the world's first and largest museum of mass transit vehicles. While the main focus of the collection is trolley cars (trams), it also includes rapid transit trains, Interurban cars, trolley buses, and motor buses. The Seashore Trolley Museum is owned and operated by the New England Electric Railway Historical Society (NEERHS). Of the museum's collection of more than 350 vehicles, ten trolley and railroad cars that historically operated in Maine were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 as Maine Trolley Cars.
The Liverpool Tramways Company was operated horse-drawn tramway services in Liverpool from 1869 to 1898.
A double-decker tram or double-deck tram is a tram that has two levels or decks. Some double-decker trams have open tops. Double-deck trams were once popular in some European cities, like Berlin and London, throughout the British Empire countries in the early half of the 20th century including Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington in New Zealand; Hobart, Tasmania in Australia and in parts of Asia. They are still in service or even newly introduced in Hong Kong, Alexandria, Oranjestad, Blackpool, Birkenhead, Franschhoek, Auckland and Douglas, mostly as heritage or tourist trams.
The Kingston upon Hull tramway network was a network of 4 ft 8+1⁄2 instandard gauge tram lines following the five main roads radially out of the city centre of Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Two of these lines went west, and two east. The fifth went to the north, and branched to include extra lines serving suburban areas. Additionally a short line linked the city centre to the Corporation Pier where a ferry crossed the Humber Estuary to New Holland, Lincolnshire.
Wirral Transport Museum is a museum situated approximately 0.5 miles (800 m) from the Mersey Ferry service at Woodside, Birkenhead, England.
Birkenhead Transport was a bus operator in Birkenhead. It commenced operating on 12 July 1919 with a service from Rock Ferry to Birkenhead Park station, this service was extended to Moreton in the August of that year. The buses supplemented an earlier tram service.
Glasgow Corporation Tramways were formerly one of the largest urban tramway systems in Europe. Over 1000 municipally-owned trams served the city of Glasgow, Scotland, with over 100 route miles by 1922. The system closed in 1962 and was the last city tramway in Great Britain.
Southampton Corporation Tramways were in operation from 1879 to 1949. They were initially horse-drawn, but latterly powered by electricity.
Dundee Corporation Tramways formerly served the City of Dundee in Scotland. The corporation had financed the construction of a horse tramway in 1877, but had then leased it to the Dundee and District Tramways Company. They had replaced most of the horse trams with steam tram locomotives pulling trailer cars from 1884, but in 1897 the corporation decided that it would run the tramway system itself. After some negotiation and the payment of compensation, they took over the system in 1899, with a view to electrifying it. Electric trams started running in 1900, and the changeover was completed in 1902.
Wirral Tramway is a heritage tramway opened in 1995 by the Wirral Borough Council and Hamilton Quarter partnership and was operated by Blackpool Transport Services until 2005 when the council took over the licence to run the tramway.
The Atlantic Shore Line (ASL) was an electric trolley line providing passenger and freight service to many towns in York County, Maine, in the United States. The ASL was the second-longest trolley line in Maine, encompassing over 87 miles (140 km) of track.
Dundee and District Tramways operated a tramway service in Dundee between 1877 and 1899.
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.
At the peak of Britain’s first-generation tramways, it was possible to travel by tram all the way from Pier Head at Liverpool to the Pennines in Rochdale by tram.
The Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramroad operated a tramway service between Blackpool and Fleetwood from 1898 to 1920.
Halifax Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England between 1898 and 1939. After considering lifts and inclined planes to assist trams in negotiating the steep hills to the south of the town, they obtained permission to build a conventional system in 1897, and the first three routes opened in 1898. By 1905 there were 37 miles (60 km) of track and 96 tramcars, supplied by two manufacturers. In 1921, an additional route was added to the system, and the Corporation embarked on a programme of building their own tramcars, some of which replaced existing vehicles, while some extended the fleet. During the 1930s, the trams were gradually replaced by motor buses, either run by the Corporation or by private companies, and the last tram ran on 14 February 1939.
The Wirral Street Car is a proposed tramway from Bidston Dock to Woodside Ferry Terminal to provide transport links for the Wirral Waters development. The line will use pre-existing rolling stock as well as incorporating both the disused Birkenhead Dock Branch and the Wirral Tramway that already operates as a heritage service from the Wirral Transport Museum to Woodside Ferry Terminal.
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.
Blackpool Heritage Trams are a mixed fleet of restored vehicles that run on the Blackpool Tramway, which runs from Blackpool to Fleetwood on the Fylde Coast in Lancashire, England. The line dates back to 1885 and is one of the oldest electric tramways in the world. It is operated by Blackpool Transport (BT) and is the last surviving first-generation tramway in the United Kingdom. Excluding museums, it is one of only a few tramways in the world to still use double-decker trams.
The Manchester Street Railway was a light interurban railway that ran from Manchester to Nashua, New Hampshire.