Tramway origins
The first public trams in Lancashire were horse drawn. Notably, an early pioneer was Preston with a horse tramway running as early as early as 1879. Consequently, Steam took over for a time but the engines were crude and slow. There were also fatalities due to runaway engines and failed safety systems. By the Turn of the 20th century most lines had been electrified with Accrington being the last in 1907.
Urban tramways came to Britain from America in the 1860’s. The North West was a pioneer, with a line being built in Birkenhead by 1860. This ran from Woodside Ferry to Birkenhead park, on a 1.5 mile horse drawn route. The line used imported American cars
Horse drawn tramways in the Northwest
By the 1870’s horse drawn tramways were running in Lancashire. The Preston Tramways Company built a 2.5 mile horse drawn tramway in 1879. However horses were not suitable for areas with steeply inclined streets such as Blackburn and Darwen. Hence steam tram engines were tried using various fuel types such as Coke and town gas.
Mechanical traction
Steam Tram engines became available in the late 1870’s. They had to meet certain legal requirements, such as a top speed of 7.5 MPH! Additionally no smoke or steam could be emitted and the machinery had to be concealed from view. There were also automatic brakes and governors that were supposed to prevent runaways on Lancashire’s steep streets. However the safety systems were often ineffective.
Tram-engine accidents in Lancashire.
An early pioneer of steam trams was the Blackburn and Over Darwen Tramways company.
They began steam operation in 1881 shorty followed by Wigan in 1882. Wigan was also the location of a fatal accident involving an early tram-engine made by Wilkinson’s of Wigan.
Late in 1883 an incident of a runaway tram occurred in Pemberton. Notably, the governor failed and the brakes did not apply automatically. This should have happened when the speed exceeded 10mph. As a result the runaway tram attained a speed of 20mph before smashing into another tram. A passenger on this tram was killed.
The first electric trams in Lancashire.
While most towns were still using steam tram engines Blackpool was pioneering electric traction. 1885 saw the opening of Blackpool’s conduit tram system. This initially ran along the promenade. The conduit system proved to be problematic in this location as sand was blown into the conduit. Moreover, this also became wet and led to short circuits.
In 1899 a conventional overhead system was fitted. Lastly, Blackpool was one of the few towns to keep it’s trams long after most towns had adopted buses.
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