The Union Construction Company (UCC) was a company set up in 1901 and associated with Charles Yerkes, an American associated with the London Underground at that time. It was part of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (prior to the creation of London Transport in 1933) and was based in Feltham, Middlesex, England.
It stayed moribund until about 1925, and was then activated to renovate trains running on what is now the Central line and, following on from this, it built new London Underground Standard Stock in 1927. It also began a major tram-rebuilding programme for the Metropolitan Electric Tramways (MET).
It became a 'shell' company in 1929, was renamed The Union & Finance Construction Co. Ltd., then built some experimental tramcars for the MET in 1929 & 1930. [1] These became the forerunners of a fleet of 100 double-deck tramcars for London United Tramways (LUT) and MET, well known as the Feltham Tram.
It also built 35 Class A1 and 25 Class A2 trolleybuses [2] for LUT to replace trams in the Kingston area. These bore more than a passing resemblance to the 'Feltham' trams from the front.
In 1933 the London Passenger Transport Board (better known as London Transport) was created by Act of Parliament. The Board was prohibited from directly manufacturing its own vehicles, leading to the demise of the UCC and the placing of all future orders with companies such as Metro-Cammell.
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.
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.
The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for local public transport in London and its environs from 1933 to 1948. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and brand was London Transport.
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.
London United Tramways Company Limited was an operator of trams and trolleybuses in the western and southern suburbs of London, UK, from 1894 to 1933, when it passed to the London Passenger Transport Board.
Metropolitan Electric Tramways Limited (MET) operated electric tram services in suburban areas of Middlesex and Hertfordshire from 1904 to 1933, when its services passed to the London Passenger Transport Board.
The London County Council Tramways was an extensive network of public street tramways operated by the council throughout the County of London, UK, from 1899 to 1933, when they were taken over by the London Passenger Transport Board.
Belfast Corporation Tramways formerly served the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Between 1901 and 1949 Manchester Corporation Tramways was the municipal operator of electric tram services in Manchester, England. At its peak in 1928, the organisation carried 328 million passengers on 953 trams, via 46 routes, along 292 miles (470 km) of track.
Hurst, Nelson and Company Ltd was a railway rolling stock manufacturer based in Motherwell, Scotland. The company also built many railway wagons, as well as trams and trolleybus carosseries for several local authorities.
In 1929 the Metropolitan Electric Tramways (MET) placed into service an experimental tramcar, No. 320, manufactured by the Union Construction Company which was located in Feltham. This tram was of a significantly more advanced design than other experimental cars that the MET had trialled in the previous few years, and was the first of three prototypes that led to the final design of what became known as the "Feltham" trams. Two more experimental tramcars were then constructed: MET No. 330 later the same year, and No. 331 the next. After experience in passenger service was assessed, the best features of each were combined to form the final design.
The Southend-on-Sea trolleybus system once served the town of Southend-on-Sea, in Essex, England. Opened on 16 October 1925, it gradually replaced Southend-on-Sea Corporation Tramways.
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.
West Ham Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in the County Borough of West Ham between 1901 and 1933.
Rhondda Tramways Company operated a tramway service in Rhondda, Wales, between 1904 and 1934.
Llanelly and District Electric Tramways operated a standard gauge tramway service in Llanelli, Wales, between 1908 and 1933. It was the successor to a 3 ft gauge horse tramway, which ran from 1882 until 1908. A complex series of negotiations took place in the early 1900s, resulting in the horse tramway being converted to an electric tramway. Standard gauge horse trams were run initially, until the company completed North Dock power station, which supplied electricity to the tramway. Two of the employees who worked on the construction went on to found Balfour Beatty.
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.
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 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.
Bradford Corporation Tramways were a tramway network in the city of Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England which operated trams from 1882 until 1950 and trolleybuses from 1911 until 1972. The track gauge of the tramways was 4 ft.