TRAMS # 1.

LEEDS CITY TRANSPORT no 399--1925.

Although tramcars tended to cost a lot more than motorbuses when new, they normally lasted a lot longer in service and even after withdrawal some of them continued to earn their keep for their operators in some other capacity. One such example is Leeds 399 which was built by Leeds City Transport at its Kirkstall road works UK in 1925. The batch of which 399 formed part constituted the first totally enclosed tramcars to enter the Leeds fleet, though the basic bodywork closely resembled the traditional open balcony cars that had operated in Leeds with only minor variations since 1908. At the time it entered service ( in April 1926 ) Leeds trams were painted in chocolate, primrose and white and 399 was the last car to emerge from the paint shops in this its current livery. This colour scheme was soon to be replaced by a new princess blue and white livery, however , and 399 itself was repainted in this guise in 1928.

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LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL TRAMWAYS no 106 --1903.

106 is a London County Council `B` class tramcar dating back to 1903 and it represents the typical standard four wheel open topped design that was built by established manufacturer Dick Kerr during the early electric era. This type of tramcar was a standard off the peg product ( known as the Preston design ) and was supplied to operators all over the country including Leicester, whose number 76 would also have looked remarkably similar when first delivered. During its early years 106 obtained its power from an underground conduit system by means of a plough that picked up the current from an additional slot rail rather than an overhead power line. Like the rest of its class, no 106 was subjected to a number of modifications in the years following its introduction. One of the earliest on the orders of the metropolitan police involved the replacement of the original type of staircase, known as reversed stairs with a type known as a direct staircase. One of the problems with the original design is that the staircase almost completely obscured the drivers nearside rearward vision, which made it very difficult to see anything that might be approaching from behind on that side.

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GLASGOW CORPORATION TRANSPORT no 22 ---1922.

Glasgow 22 provides an interesting example of a traditional four wheeled tramcar. As one of Britain's largest tramcar operators, Glasgow Corporation had extensive workshops of its own and over time developed a series of tramcars that because they shared a number of distinctive features came to be known as standards. The Glasgow standards constituted one of the most numerous and successful types of tramcar in the country.

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SHEFFIELD CORPORATION no 510 -- Sheffield's last tram 1950.

When the era of affordable, convenient, comfortable and reliable public transport that they ushered in finally came to an end, a century or so later, many of Britain's remaining tramways marked the occasion by arranging a last tram week which frequently unleashed a wave of public affection and nostalgia. To mark the occasion of Sheffield's last tram week, two of its newest tramcars ( 510 & 513 ) were specially decorated for the occasion and together with an older illuminated tramcar, formed part of the closing procession of assorted tramcars on Saturday 8th October which was watched by thousands of Sheffield citizens despite the pouring rain.

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DERBY CORPORATION  no 1 --- 1903.

Derby 1 was built in 1903 at nearby Brush Electrical Engineering Co Ltd, of Loughborough UK, just down the road from Derby itself. A horse tramway had existed in Derby since 1880 but after taking it over in 1899, Derby Corporation set about improving and electrifying the four foot gauge network, which by 1908 had been extended to 14 miles in length. Delivered to Abington Street depot in December 1903, it was first used as a crew training vehicle and to test the infrastructure before the formal opening of the system on 27th July 1904. The tram then continued in regular service until 1933, by which time a top cover and vestibules had been added in 1928. It spent the latter part of its life on the Nottingham Road and Kedleston Road routes and was recorded as having covered 660, 390 miles by the time it was pensioned off in September 1933, ten months before the last Derby tram route was replaced by a trolley bus system.

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BLACKPOOL and FLEETWOOD TRAMROAD no 2 --- 1898.

When the Blackpool and Fleetwood tramway opened in 1898 it was more like a north American inter urban service as the two separate towns had relatively little habitation between them, very different from todays urban sprawl. For many years the tramway itself was physically separate from its southern neighbours in Blackpool. As a relatively high capacity single deck toast - rack car, Blackpool and Fleetwood no 2 was well suited for such a service and must have offered excellent views of the extensive coastal scenery. In its early days the operation of the tramroad more closely resembled a railway than a conventional street tramway, signalling involved the use of red and green flags and the tramcars themselves originally carried American style oil lamps in place of the more typical electric headlights.

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DOUGLAS HEAD MARINE DRIVE no 1 --- 1896.

This is the only Manx tramcar in the museums collection and also the oldest electric tramcar to be equipped with a trolley pole. The tram was originally commissioned for Douglas Southern Electric tramway, which ran along the very dramatic Douglas Marine Drive that was excavated along a ledge on the sheer cliff face between Douglass Head and Port Soderick a distance of 3.5 miles. The tram was built by Brush in 1896 to an unusual design, being a double deck ` toast - rack ` an open top car with short canopies. Although the body was English, it was placed on a ` lord Baltimore ` truck that was imported from the United States.

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