London Tramways
The London Tramways Company (LTC) was a public transport company in London . The company operated standard-gauge horse - drawn tram lines from 1873 to the end of 1898 and, from 1892, a cable tram in south and south-east London with a total route length of 39.2 kilometers (as part of the larger network of the London tram network ), and several horse-drawn bus routes in the center of the city.
history
On August 10, 1870, the London Tramways Company was entered in the commercial register. She asked for trams to be built in south London. However, concessions for the most important main roads had already been granted to other companies. The LTC therefore tried in the following years to buy up these companies, which it was only approved on July 28, 1873. It took over the Metropolitan Street Tramways and the Pimlico, Peckham and Greenwich Street Tramways with their routes from the southern center to Clapham , Brixton , Camberwell and New Cross as well as with the east-west route from the east side of the Vauxhall Bridge via Kennington Oval , Camberwell, Peckham , New Cross, Deptford to Greenwich and Blackheath and the isolated line from Victoria Station to the west side of Vauxhall Bridge, completed in October 1872 but not yet opened , totaling 30 km. The line to Victoria Station went into operation on October 20, 1873. Simultaneously with the routes, LTC also took over the as yet unfulfilled concessions of both companies, one of which it implemented by December 28, 1874, namely the cross connection from Kennington Park via Kennington Park Road, Newington Butts, Elephant and Castle , Newington Causeway, Borough High Street and through Great Dover Street to Bricklayers Arms . In 1888 the line to Clapham was extended via Balham to Tooting , Tooting Bec Road. From July 28th of the year the trains ran to Clapham, Nightingale Lane, and finally to Tooting Bec Road from December 15th of that year. Beyond this end point, the trains ran from December 16, 1890 to Tooting, Totterdown Street.
In addition to the horse-drawn tram network, the LTC also operated a number of horse-drawn bus routes that ran from the tram terminus over the Thames bridges to the city center. On July 24, 1891, the LTC also leased a horse-drawn railway line from Waterloo Station through Waterloo Road to St. George's Circus from the South London Tramways .
The route to Brixton was hilly, so that additional horses had to be harnessed on some inclines. The LTC therefore made an early effort to introduce a mechanical drive. Attempts with a steam railcar on the route to Victoria Station were unsuccessful in 1873. In 1884, a cable tram opened on Highgate Hill in north London and the LTC took a liking to the system. She decided to switch the train to Brixton. At the same time, the line was to be extended over Brixton Hill and Streatham Hill to Streatham , Telford Avenue, where a new depot with the drive machines for the cable was built. The city-side end of the cable route was on Brixton Road at St. Mark's Church. In contrast to the San Francisco Cable Cars , for example , the gripper arm with which the train was attached to the permanently running cable was not built into the wagon itself, but instead of the horses, a small wagon on which the driver sat was stretched in front of the horse-drawn wagons and operated the gripper arm. The horse-drawn tram cars could therefore continue to be used without any modifications. On December 7, 1892, the second London cable tram went into operation. Despite protests from residents who complained about the noise of the cable running under the street, the system proved its worth, so that on November 23, 1895 a second cable went into operation, which the railways from Telford Avenue on to Streatham Hill and through Streatham High Road to the library on Pinfold Road.
Under the Tram Act of 1870, London County Council was able to purchase the first LTC trams in 1892 at their current value. Since the LTC would have had to operate a torn network of the remaining routes, they resisted the purchase and after years of negotiation the case was brought to an arbitration court. It was decided that London County Council had to buy the entire operation, which took place on January 1, 1899. The LTC was then dissolved. On April 5, 1904, the cable tram to Streatham was shut down and shortly thereafter reopened as an electric tram. The rest of the route network was also electrified from 1903 to 1906 and was largely in operation until 1952.
Line network
tram
The lines were marked with colors. Some colors were assigned twice. The main routes were usually traveled by at least three lines that ended in the center at different end points.
| colour | route | Depots |
|---|---|---|
| chocolate | Blackfriars Bridge - St George's Circus - Elephant & Castle - Bricklayer's Arms - New Cross - Deptford - Greenwich | Queen's Road Peckham, Leo Street |
| light green | Waterloo Station - St George's Circus - Elephant & Castle - Bricklayer's Arms - New Cross - Deptford - Greenwich | Bowles Road, Leo Street |
| blue White | Westminster Bridge - St George's Circus - Elephant & Castle - Bricklayer's Arms - New Cross - Deptford - Greenwich | Greenwich (Park Road) |
| White | Camberwell Green - Walworth - Elephant & Castle - Borough, St George's Church - Bricklayer's Arms - Old Kent Road / Asylum Road | Camberwell Green, Bowles Road |
| red | Blackfriars Bridge - St George's Circus - Elephant & Castle - Walworth - Camberwell Green - Peckham - New Cross Gate | Rye Lane Peckham, Queen's Road Peckham |
| yellow | Waterloo Station - St George's Circus - Elephant & Castle - Walworth - Camberwell Green - Peckham, Rye Lane | Camberwell Green, Rye Lane Peckham |
| green | Westminster Bridge - St George's Circus - Elephant & Castle - Walworth - Camberwell Green - Peckham - New Cross Gate | Rye Lane Peckham, Queen's Road Peckham |
| yellow | Old Kent Road / "Lord Wellington" - Bricklayer's Arms - Borough, St George's Church - Elephant & Castle - Kennington - Brixton - Streatham | Bowles Road, Streatham (Telford Avenue) |
| dark blue | Blackfriars Bridge - St George's Circus - Elephant & Castle - Kennington - Brixton - Streatham | Kennington (Upper Kennington Lane), Streatham (Telford Avenue) |
| red | Westminster Bridge - Kennington Road - Kennington - Brixton - Streatham | Kennington (Upper Kennington Lane), Streatham (Telford Avenue) |
| green | Victoria Station - Vauxhall Bridge (north side) | Victoria (Vauxhall Bridge Road) |
| green | Vauxhall Bridge (south side) - Kennington - Camberwell Green | Camberwell Green |
| dark green | Blackfriars Bridge - St George's Circus - Elephant & Castle - Kennington - Clapham - Balham - Tooting | Clapham (Plow), Clapham (High Street), Balham (Marius Road) |
| red | Waterloo Station - St George's Circus - Elephant & Castle - Kennington - Clapham - Balham - Tooting | Clapham (Plow), (Clapham High Street), Balham (Marius Road) |
| brown | Westminster Bridge - Kennington Road - Kennington - Clapham - Balham - Tooting | Clapham (Plow), Clapham (High Street), Balham (Marius Road) |
The main workshops of the railway company were located in the depot in Walworth (Penrose Street). Cars of all lines as well as the horse-drawn bus fleet were serviced here and could be used from here if necessary. A small storage hall also served as a regular depot for all lines.
Bus transport
The horse buses were stationed in four depots, namely in Chicheley Street (near Westminster Bridge), Lawson Street (corner of Great Dover Street) and Ewer Street (in Southwark) and in the Victoria tram depot (Vauxhall Bridge Road). They initially ran on the following lines:
- Vauxhall Bridge (north side) - Vauxhall Bridge (south side) (Victoria depot)
- Victoria Station - Vauxhall Bridge - Kennington Lane - Elephant & Castle (Victoria Depot)
- Westminster Bridge - Whitehall - Charing Cross Station (Chicheley Street Depot)
- Waterloo Bridge - Beach (Chicheley Street Depot)
- Blackfriars Bridge - Ludgate Circus (Chicheley Street Depot)
Other lines and the two depots on Lawson Street and Ewer Street were added later.
Night traffic
Although there had already been plans to introduce continuous night traffic with the London Tramways, this project was only implemented by the London County Council from February 1899. This affected four tram lines and also two bus lines.
literature
- John R. Day: London's Trams and Trolleybuses . London Transport, London 1977, ISBN 0-85329-082-2 (English).
- ER Oakley: London County Council Tramways, Vol. 1 - South London . London Tramways History Group, Bexleyheath 1989, ISBN 0-9513001-0-5 (English).
- John Reed: London Tramways . Capital Transport Publishing, Harrow Weald 1997, ISBN 1-85414-179-1 (English).