Introduction to the Tramways of Blackpool

The Tram depots

Blackpool's Tram Cars

B&F Tram Cars

Site 1

Site 2

Site 3

R.o.B Tramways

Tramways around Blackpool

Including:

Blackpool Corporation Tramways

The Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramroad Company

When the conduit system was abandoned and the overhead wire method was introduced the masts were sited on the right hand side of the road as you looked northwards, the trams having to use 20 feet long trolley poles to reach the wire. This practice was partly due for aesthetics as many people all over the country believed that the wires were an unsightly nuisance, and partly due to the hopes that the tramway could be constructed with reserved track on the seaward side of the road, as at the time the promenade on the sea front had not been constructed and the beach came right up to the pavement at side of the road with the tramway sited in the centre of the latter.

In August 1895 the corporation opened its route to Squires gate, near the present airport, running along Lytham road. This route was to have the steepest climb of the Blackpool routes with a 1:16 to pass over the railway that served Central station. This route was not powered at first so the first conduit tram to leave the depot on a morning would take a horse tram as a trailer and once it reached South Shore where a horse would tow the car to Squires gate and back as a shuttle service. 1896 saw the route leased to the Blackpool, St Anne's and Lytham Tramway Company who took over operation using 15 horse power internal combustion engined trams. In June 1903 the route reopened with overhead power supply operating 40 trams on a route consisting of only 92 houses between South Shore and Andsell.

Map of Blackpools street tramways

When the corporation took over operation of the public transport in Blackpool horse buses were banned from the promenade therefore giving the trams all the passenger traffic though also forming an integrated system by allowing the buses to terminate near tram stops for the easy interchange of passenger traffic. In 1905 the promenade was widened allowing the complete segregation of the tramway. To aid the carrying of materials for the construction of the promenade in 1905 temporary standard gauge rails were laid on sleepers on the road. The contractors operated a 0-6-0ST named 'Annie' to haul the 4 wheel wooden trucks. The widening of the prom gave an extra 100 feet to the front of Blackpool allowing a wider road, separate tramway and separate promenade. Another period of construction that the tramway saw was the building of the Blackpool tower between 1891 and 1894. This is worth mentioning here as the steel girders were actually transported along the tramway causing some damage to the track due to their weight. In 1901 the Corporation decided to extend services by constructing a new route from the Prom to Marton via Talbot square and returning as part of a large loop to Central station which was only about 250yards away from Talbot square. The route was predominantly double track but there were some short single line sections, a depot was also built on whitegate road near the Saddle inn, able to hold 20 cars. The route ran from Talbot square along Talbot road, Abingdon Street, Church Street to Devonshire square then along Whitegate Drive to Oxford square at its eastern end. The line then turned westwards along Cow gap lane (now Waterloo road) turning right at the Waterloo hotel and running along Central drive to the Station.

Blackpool central station

Opening on 23rd May 1901 the route served the more rural communities just outside Blackpool at the eastern end of the town. It is generally considered that it was built ahead of its time as it really did serve a sparsely populated area that did not start to develop until the 1920's, unlike the Blackpool and Fleetwood which was built with the purpose of connecting the 2 resorts. What is now Central drive was actually built around the tramway as the extension was built under the Tramways act of 1870 which seems to specify that tramways had to be built on roads rather than the light railways act which allowed for tramways to be built with segregated track as is the Blackpool and Fleetwood. The route experienced many problems from the outset, the rails which had 1 1/2 inch grooves, supposedly to give a smoother ride on curves, managed to catch the wheels of two cyclists on inspection day when the tram carrying the Board of Trade inspector turned up behind them. Needless to say it was probably highly amusing to the on lookers but the inspector was not very impressed the B.o.T having previously banned 1 1/2 inch groove for this precise reason in favour of 1 inch groove rail. Another difficulty was that the track had not been laid to a consistent gauge, with all the new cars breaking their axles and the curves in to Marton depot were also found to be too tight for the 4 wheeled cars.

A postcard of Gynn square

1902 saw more extensions with the introduction of a route from Talbot square to Layton cemetery. When the trams started operation on the 1 mile long line they brought an end to the former horse drawn bus services. The route served a much industrialised area of the town with a railway goods yard, an abattoir, sanatorium, and Brewery along its route as well as the cemetery. I could make a pun about this route but I won't mention anything about being dead drunk or drinking yourself silly. A line was also added from the promenade up Clifton road to join the 1901 route along Central drive so trams could avoid the heavily congested Talbot road. This resulted in the trams passing either side of a central loading island which is still in evidence today. With the opening of the prom the corporation was able to make improvements to the tramway especially at its southern end at South shore an extension of the tramway took place in 1903 from south pier to south sore to the site of what is now known as Pleasure Beach. This new terminus consisted of 4 terminal roads where 4 trams could load and unload at anyone time thus resulting in a minimum of delay waiting for cars to leave the terminus before another entered. When the corporation decided it was going to extend the promenade further southwards as far as Clifton drive the tramway had to pass over land owned by the Pleasure Beach Company. An agreement was reached between the two parties on the condition that through trams would stop at the Pleasure Beach and terminating trams would show 'Pleasure Beach' on their destination blinds instead of 'South Shore'. The four track system was also improved so that trams would not get in the way of one another.

Talbot Square circa 1920

In 1905 a disagreement arose between the Lytham Company and the Corporation. The Lytham company wanted to operate its trams further in to Blackpool was restricted by its wider cars the trams terminating at South Shore. After much wrangling and safety checks the corporation allowed the Lytham trams to operate to Central station via Central drive, to Manchester square via Station road and Victoria pier via Station road but were excluded from the prom itself the Lytham road route diverging from the promenade route at Manchester square. The Blackpool trams were granted access to Lytham over the Companies route but the opportunity was rarely taken. During the track laying of the 1920's the blue Lytham cars owned by St Anne's corporation since 1920 operated along the prom as far as Gynn square. After the First World war 3/4 of Blackpool's tram routes had to be re-laid due to their worn down condition. The resultant work cause a lot of uproar in the town with the tearing up of track and road surfaces for the track relaying and there were many demands for the tram routes to be scrapped altogether and for buses to be provided instead, as was happening in many other parts of the country. With the renovation of Central drive trams ran in a loop from Marton to Talbot square via Royal Oak and Lytham road and back to Marton, with the Lytham trams, which ran to Gynn square, diverted to the promenade. In 1925 a new route was proposed to Hoo Hill near Layton station but with the opposition the scheme never went ahead a bus service being provided instead.

A Blackpool Standard at Crich

The Marton route had been due for renovation in the 1930's but the 2nd World War started resulting in the route using the double deck standard cars that had been phased out on the other routes by the introduction of the new streamlined trams as part of the Corporations modernisation plan the terminus of the route being at Royal oak from 1936 to closure in 1962. On 19th October 1936 the last trams operated on the Layton route and Central drive routes due to their need for urgent and heavy repairs being seen as far to expensive to warrant keeping the routes open. The finances from the closure meant that the money put aside for these routes could instead be used on the promenade and Fleetwood routes which were the biggest income earners. Buses under corporation ownership replaced the trams with the buses working with the remaining tram routes in an integrated transport network. The corporation had been interested in taking over operation of the Lytham route to St Anne's square as well as extending their own reserved track as far as Starr gate, but the St Anne's council refused and the Lytham tramway was closed on 27th April 1937 with buses taking over services. With the ending of the Lytham services the corporation relayed the Lytham road track despite opposition from the town council, the idea being to have islands in the centre of the road between the running lines but the latter idea was soon turned down. The track along Squires gate lane was kept in situ despite being disused in case it was necessary to store trams away from Blackpool tram depot during the war, the trams being stored at the St Anne's depot.

Clifton street Lytham, circa 1920

By 1945 the route was in a terrible state and rumours were circulating that it may close with the use of buses being considered. On 9th April 1946 a suitably modified single deck railcar tram was tested along the route. The car had 'silent-wheel' bogies and up to date control equipment. The car was an immediate success with the press who had been invited out on it and after a lot of public pressure the tramway was re-laid using continuously welded rail improving the ride quality and limiting noise even more. To operate the route Walter Luff, the tramways manager, had arranged for 12 1939 sun saloon cars to be fitted with the new equipment and suitable modifications. 6 of the 1937 rail coaches were also improved giving a fleet of 18 'silent trams' with the first car entering service on 18th January 1948 with the whole fleet operating by the January of 1952. In 1961 the track on the Lytham route was in a bad state of repair along Lytham road and as the council refused to fund the relaying of new track the route was closed on 29th October 1961 buses again taking over services. Following this the council announced the closure of the Marton route due to an increase in operating costs such as electricity, maintenance and staff wages. These reasons had already resulted in the closure of the Manchester square to Squires gate route having made the Marton route a branch. On 28th October 1962 Britain's last remaining all-street tramway was closed leaving only the promenade and Blackpool to Fleetwood tramways.

The corporation had realised the importance of creating a link to the growing villages to the north of Blackpool that the Blackpool and Fleetwood tramway served so were willing to build a branch from Gynn square to Blackpool north station which at the time was sited at Dickson road allowing the Blackpool and Fleetwood a 21 years lease of the route. The Blackpool and Fleetwood tramway had been developed to attract visitors back to the town which offered steamship rides to the Isle of Man and was also an older resort than Blackpool, the tramway, built under the 1896 Light railways act incorporating parts of the 1870 tramways act to allow running on the street, helped develop many of the villages along its route and also provided a much quicker way to get between the two towns than did the railways of the area at that time. To allow connection between the two tramways at Gynn the corporation built a 3 tier promenade the intention being to lay the tramway on the middle tier away from the road. The local residents objected to this with the tramway having to be built on the road. To avoid single line running and passing loops a special dispensation was granted for the tramway to be laid with the northbound line in the gutter rather than in the middle of the road and with the south bound line in the centre of the road. On 24th May 1900 the 3/4 mile long extension was inspected and granted an operating certificate.

Map of the Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramroad

The route was single throughout with passing places except from Warley road to the Gynn where it was double track. This section had its opening delayed as the Board of trade wanted the road widened to allow for the corporations wider tram cars. Due to the two tramways being at right angles to each other through running was not possible from the prom to Fleetwood though you could get a tram from South shore to Fleetwood via the town centre. When the corporation took over the Blackpool and Fleetwood tramway in 1920 moves were made to connect the two tramways at Gynn allowing through running along the prom for the first time. This was achieved by part of the tramway being removed from the road and laid on the prom with its own reservation. On the North station branch the line was doubled throughout with road widening at Dickson road and Warbeck road to enable this. At north station on Dickson Road the trams changed track by means of a head shunt. Once the connection had been established in 1920 it was common for Blackpool tramway services to go to Cabin but it was not until 1926 that double deck cars were used past here. The former Blackpool and Fleetwood tramway having to be re laid between Cabin and Bispham with heavier flat bottomed rail with check rails to support the double deck cars which the Blackpool Corporation favoured, the Fleetwood tramway only ever having used single deckers, though beyond Bispham only single deckers were used. 1926 also saw trams running from Lytham St Anne's, to the south of Blackpool, via Talbot road to Gynn which became a busy terminal and junction. The Lytham tramway having opened in 1896 as the Blackpool, St.Annes and Lytham Tramways Co, using gas powered tram cars though in 1903 they converted to electric power, closing in 1937.

A postcard of Norbreck

Clevelys to the north of Blackpool was one of the towns that grew up and developed due to the opening of the Blackpool and Fleetwood tramway resulting in 1919 with a battle between the corporation and the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway as the latter did not want any competition for its line from Preston to Poultan Le Fylde and Fleetwood. The L&YR proposed a branch to the town from nearby Thornton in response to which the corporation established a bus service, the first in the town, from Thornton station to Clevelys tram stop services commencing in 1921. In 1927 the corporation also started to carry freight on the tramway from the docks at Fleetwood, where there was a connection to the main line with interchange sidings along the tramway, to Thornton gate to the north of Clevelys where some mineral sidings had been purpose built. To operate the freight service a steeple cab locomotive was purchased though by 1949 freight runs had ceased. The locomotive is now preserved at Crich National Tramway museum in Derbyshire. The area around Rossall is predominantly farm land through which the tramway runs parallel with Rossall road to Broadway which was constructed in 1931 to provide a more direct route to Fleetwood by road. The tramway along this section is also relatively new as it was opened in 1925 to make way for the new road and also reducing the distance of the tramway and the time it would take to get to Fleetwood having originally described an unnecessary curve. As the tramway approaches Fleetwood the tramway runs on segregated track as it has since leaving Cabin but it is now paralleled by Radcliffe road and Copse road at the latter there was the former Blackpool and Fleetwood tramway depot which saw many different uses in its time. This was also the point that the spur to the docks came out and connected with the tramway having passed around the back of the depot.

The Steeple cab locomotive at Crich

At Ash Street the tramway returns to on street running being the oldest section of street tramway remaining in Britain. The tramway passes down Lord street and North Albert street where when built the poles supporting the overhead wire were sited down the centre of the road, but in 1927 they were brought together with the street lamps and situated at the sides of the road with the track being repositioned. The original terminus of the tramway was at Bold Street near the North Euston hotel where there was also a 2 road tram shed which could hold 4 cars. When the ferry loop was opened in 1925 the trams terminated by Fleetwood station on the waterfront a stones throw from the Isle of Man ferry terminal, resulting in the closure of Bold street depot. The principle service from Fleetwood until 1963 was that to North Station in Blackpool with a promenade service operating less frequently. When the North station branch closed in that year all services were diverted to the promenade, double deckers only being rostered to work the Fleetwood main line regularly from 1972 having first been introduced for services to Fleetwood in 1958.