Harrow Road and Paddington Tramways

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Harrow Road and Paddington Tramways Company operated horse-drawn trams in West London . The company operated standard-gauge lines with a total length of 4.7 kilometers from 1888 to 1906 . The line was bought in 1904 by the Metropolitan Electric Tramways and later became part of the London tram network .

history

The railway company was founded on June 25, 1886. She received the concession for the construction and operation of two horse-drawn railway lines. The main line began at the Lock Hospital Bridge on Harrow Road (at Amberley Road) and led through Harrow Road and Harlesden Green (now Harlesden High Street) to Harlesden , Royal Oak (corner of Manor Park Road). A branch line ran from Harrow Road through Chippenham Road, Shirland Road, Malvern Road and the now partially built-up Cambridge Road to the corner of Carlton Road (now Carlton Vale). Both lines went into operation on July 7, 1888. For the most part, they were single-track with evasion. Only the short section from east of Chippenham Road to west of Fernhead Road in Harrow Road, as well as the section through Chippenham Road were double-track. Planned extensions of the main route to Edgware Road and Stonebridge Park were only used later by the electric tram.

At the beginning of 1890 it became clear that the originally planned extension of the branch line to Cricklewood did not materialize. The regular line service on the little-used branch line was therefore discontinued. According to the concession, the authorities could request the dismantling of the tracks if no paying passenger was carried on the line for more than three months. This would have meant the loss of the concession for the route. In order to avoid this, the railway company traveled the route every three months with a single horse-drawn tram, which always carried a paying passenger. In the spring of 1895, however, the line from the Chippenham Hotel (corner of Chippenham Road / Shirland Road) to Carlton Vale, which was outside the then city limits of London, was dismantled and the three-month shuttle car only drove to the city limits. The double-track line in Chippenham Road was kept operational in this way until 1912 before it was finally closed.

On July 22, 1904, the Metropolitan Electric Tramways Company (MET) acquired the railway in order to electrify it and connect it to its north London route network. Until August 16, 1906, the line to Harlesden continued to be operated by the Harrow Road and Paddington Tramways, before the MET took over management of its own and began construction work on electrification that same month. In 1933 the line was added to the London tram network , which it shut down in 1936/37 and converted into a line for trolleybuses.

Depot

The railway's only depot was in Kensal Green on Trenmar Gardens. The approach was via a triangular track from Harrow Road through this side street. The depot had three hall tracks, two of which led to a turntable at the end of the hall. The third hall track ended bluntly. Today the depot area is built over with residential buildings.

vehicles

The rolling stock of the railway was subject to frequent changes. At the beginning there were twelve two-horse, double-decker horse-drawn tram cars available. In 1895 the fleet had grown to 19 cars, but by 1897 three cars had been scrapped or sold. In 1901, 21 cars were available. After the main line was electrified, all but one of the horse-drawn tram cars were scrapped. Horse tram 1 remained in the MET's inventory until 1912, so that it could travel the Chippenham Road route every three months.

literature

  • CS Smeeton: The Metropolitan Electric Tramways. Vol. I - Origins to 1920. Light Rail Transit Association, Broxbourne 1984, ISBN 0-900433-94-9 (English).