Liverpool Corporation Tramways

Liverpool Corporation Tramways
Liverpool Corporation Tram at Woodside, Birkenhead
Operation
LocaleLiverpool
Open16 November 1898
Close14 September 1957
StatusClosed
Infrastructure
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Propulsion system(s)Electric
Statistics
Route length90 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.

[2]

History

By 1957, the once-extensive Liverpool tramway system had been reduced to just two routes, the 6A to Bowring Park and the 40 to Page Moss Avenue. These routes finally closed in September. All were in a run-down and dilapidated condition, sad to see. Here is a 'Baby Grand' 4-wheel tram on the Bowring Park route.
Routes in 1947

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

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.

Surviving trams

Liverpool 869 seen at the National Tramway Museum.

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.

References

  1. ^ The Golden Age of Tramways. Published by Taylor and Francis.
  2. ^ Waller, Peter (7 November 2022). Lost Tramways of England: Bolton, SLT, Wigan & St Helens: 15. Graffeg Limited. ISBN 978-1-80258-225-3.
  3. ^ Munro, S. Alasdair (1967). "Tramway Companies in Liverpool, 1859-1897" (PDF). Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. 119: 207.
  4. ^ "Liverpool No.245 Restoration Progress Report" (PDF). mtps.co.uk. Retrieved 22 June 2015.

Further reading

  • The Leaving of Liverpool (2021) Martin Jenkins and Charles Roberts
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