Waller Peter - Regional Tramways: Wales, Isle of Man and Ireland, Post 1945

P ETER W ALLER

Regional Tramways: Wales, Isle of Man and Ireland

First published in Great Britain in 2018 by

Pen & Sword Transport

An imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire - Philadelphia

Copyright Peter Waller, 2018

ISBN 978 1 47386 190 9

eISBN 978 1 47386 192 3

Mobi ISBN 978 1 47386 191 6

The right of Peter Waller to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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CI Cras Iompair ireann

DUT Dublin United Tramways

ERTCW Electric Railway & Tramway Carriage Works

GNR(I) Great Northern Railway (Ireland)

L&CBER Llandudno & Colwyn Bay Electric Railway

M&G Mountain & Gibson

M&T Maley & Taunton

MER Manx Electric Railway

NTM National Tramway Museum

PAYE Pay As You Enter

UDC Urban District Council

UEC United Electric Car Co Ltd, Preston

UTA Ulster Transport Authority

T his is the fourth in a series that is intended, ultimately, to cover all the tramways of the British Isles. Its focus is primarily on those tramway systems in Ireland, the Isle of Man and Wales that operated after 1945. However, it also provides an overview of tramway development from the horse-tram era onwards. Following the introduction, there are individual chapters dealing with each of the first-generation tramways that survived into 1945 with a map that shows the system as it existed at 1 January 1945 and a fleet list of all the trams operated after that date. The volume also includes one second generation tramway the LUAS system that operates around Dublin.

The majority of illustrations in the book are drawn from the collection of Online Transport Archive; in particular, I would like to express my gratitude to Barry Cross, John Meredith, the late Phil Tatt, Ian Wright all of whose negatives or collections are now in the care of OTA and the National Tramway Museum in whose care the collections of W.A. Camwell, D.W.K. Jones and R.B. Parr now reside. Martin Jenkins has been a great help in trying to track down certain images and providing comment. A number of individuals have also assisted with information; in particular I am grateful to the late John Gillham, the late Reg Ludgate, Peter Rowledge and Richard Wiseman. Every effort has been made to try and ensure complete accuracy; unfortunately, the records available are not always consistent and, with the passage of time, the number of those with detailed knowledge is unfortunately gradually declining. Likewise, every effort has been made to ensure the correct attribution of photographs. It goes without saying that any errors or fact or attribution are the authors and any corrections should be forwarded on to him care of the publishers.

A note on Welsh place names; where the names formed part of an historical company name, these have been left as originally spelt. Where the name forms part of the general narrative, the more usual spelling has been used Llanelli rather than Llanelly, for example except in the cases of Cardiff and Swansea where the traditional names have been used rather than Caerdydd and Abertawe.

Peter Waller ,

Shrewsbury,

March 2017

A s each of the constituent parts of this volume were covered by separate legislation, the introduction is divided into four parts, covering Guernsey, Ireland, the Isle of Man and Wales.

The island of Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, is a Crown Dependency; not part of the United Kingdom but a remnant of the Duchy of Normandy. Although the islands defence and foreign affairs are controlled by the UK, its domestic laws are determined locally.

Following approval by the local authorities for its plans to construct a tramway from St Peter Port to St Sampsons, the Guernsey Steam Tramway Co was registered in London on 29 May 1878. The standard gauge, three-mile line opened with a fleet of two locomotives and six trailers on 6 June 1879. The fleet was expanded by a further four locomotives and one trailer in the early 1880s. The original company, however, failed, with operation ceasing in January 1889; its assets were acquired by the Guernsey Railway Co Ltd. Following reconditioning and the purchase of a further locomotive, the line reopened on 2 December 1889.

The new owners were keen to electrify the route and, employing Siemens as the contractor, electric operation commenced on 20 February 1892. Initially Siemens operated the electric services under contract whilst teething problems were ironed out; the company took over full operation in October 1893. Steam operation continued to supplement the initially erratic electric service and the final steam trams were withdrawn in the late 1890s. The electric trams, of which nineteen eventually saw service, were to survive through until 9 June 1934 when they were replaced by buses.

One of the Guernsey Street Tramways original Merryweather locomotives of 1879 is pictured with fully-enclosed first-class carriage No 2 (built by Starbuck in 1879) and an open toastrack car. The latter were nicknamed locally as umbrella cars. Barry Cross Collection/Online Transport Archive

Guernsey Railway Co Ltd No 10 was one of the cars supplied by the Falcon Engine & Car Works Co of Loughborough, one of the predecessors to Brush, for the lines electrification. It was to survive through until the line closed in June 1934. Barry Cross Collection/Online Transport Archive

IRELAND

Following the Acts of Union of 1800/1, the whole island of Ireland formed part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until 1922. Although the construction of tramways in Great Britain was covered by the Tramways Act of 1870, powers for the building of tramways in Ireland were covered by separate legislation the Tramways (Ireland) Act of 1867 although it was not until five years later that the first horse tramways to be constructed under the act were actually to open although the Dublin Tramways Co had a private Act in 1871.