Neath Corporation Tramways

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Neath Corporation Tramways
Operation
Locale Neath
Open1897
Close8 August 1920
StatusClosed
Infrastructure
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Propulsion system(s)Gas
Statistics
Route length 4.03 miles (6.49 km)

Neath Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Neath between 1897 and 1920. [1]

Contents

History

Neath Corporation took over the tramway services previously provided by the Neath and District Tramways Company. Unlike other local authority tramway modernisation programmes, Neath Corporation opted for town gas powered tramcars, The British Gas Traction Company supplied the tramcars, which stored town gas under compression in cylinders.

British Gas Traction Company was a subsidiary of Luhrig Company, and obtained the gas engines from Gasmotoren-Fabrik Deutz of Köln. The tramcars were manufactured under licence by the Lancaster Railway Carriage and Wagon Company.

The track was relayed by Krauss of Bristol, starting in March 1898. [2]

On 29 August 1899 the inspector from the Board of Trade, Colonel Sir Francis Marindin passed the system for public usage. [3]

After encountering financial difficulties, the line was leased to the Neath Gas Traction Company, which changed its name in 1902 to the Provincial Gas Traction Company.

Closure

Further financial difficulties in the First World War resulted in the corporation taking direct control, and it was closed in the face of motor bus competition in 1920.

Tramcar number 1 is preserved at the Cefn Coed Colliery Museum.

Related Research Articles

The British Gas Traction Company was incorporated on 13 July 1896 with an initial capitalisation of £250,000. Its major shareholders were Russell Cummins and John Fletcher Moulton M.P. The company was set up to operate gas-powered trams, which it worked initially on the Blackpool, St. Annes and Lytham tramway, the first such tramway in Britain. The early success of the vehicles led to the company being invited to operate similar schemes in other parts of the country, including a newly constructed three-mile stretch of tramway in Trafford Park. The Trafford Park service opened on 23 July 1897, but it was suspended only a few days later after two women were injured when one of the trams left the rails, and the service did not resume until 8 April 1898. The trams were powered by town gas, and had a maximum speed of 12 miles per hour (19 km/h); their distinctive exhaust smell quickly earned them the nickname "Lamp Oil Express".

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References

  1. ↑ The Golden Age of Tramways. Published by Taylor and Francis.
  2. ↑ Neath Gazette, 31 August 1899
  3. ↑ Neath Corporation Tramways 1897-1920, Gordon Tucker, Tramway Review, Vol 14. No 107, Autumn 1981
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