Metropolitan Street Tramways

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The Metropolitan Street Tramways Company operated horse-drawn trams in south London as part of the larger London tram network . The company operated standard gauge lines from 1870 to 1873 with a total length of nine kilometers from Westminster Bridge and St George's Circus past Kennington Park to Brixton and Clapham .

history

As early as 1861/1862 there was a horse-drawn tram built by George Train from Westminster Bridge to Kennington Park . Because of the rails used, which protruded over the road surface and thus became a danger for other road users, this line had to be dismantled again. However, the development along the route justified a tram, so in 1869 the Metropolitan Street Tramways Company applied for a concession for this and other routes. In the end, on July 12, 1869, only three routes that had been built by 1871 were approved. On August 10, 1870, the company received a second concession for several sections, of which only one was built, namely the extension to Westminster Bridge. On May 2, 1870, the company opened its first line, which was the first tram in London, apart from Trains that had been disused.

The routes were opened as follows:

Metropolitan Street Tramways Company route openings
date route
May 2, 1870 Kennington, The Horns (Kennington Park Road / Brixton Road) - Brixton Road - Brixton, Gresham Road
October 5, 1870 Kennington Road / Westminster Bridge Road - Kennington Road - Kennington Park Road - Kennington, The Horns
Brixton, Gresham Road - Brixton Road - Brixton, Acre Lane
October 22, 1870 Westminster Bridge - Westminster Bridge Road - Westminster Bridge Road / Kennington Road
December 7, 1870 Kennington Park Road / Brixton Road - Clapham Road - Stockwell, Swan (Clapham Road / Stockwell Road)
May 1, 1871 Stockwell, Swan - Clapham Road - Clapham High Street - Clapham Common, The Plow
August 21, 1871 Brixton, Acre Lane - Brixton Hill - Brixton, Water Lane
September 11, 1871 St. George's Circus - Lambeth Road - Lambeth Road / Kennington Road

The railway depot was in Brixton. The exact location is not known, but it is believed to be a property on Canterbury Road (now Canterbury Crescent), as it is known to have been in operation here in the 1880s. On July 28, 1873, the London Tramways Company was authorized to buy up the Metropolitan Street Tramways and the Pimlico, Peckham and Greenwich Street Tramways , which ceased to exist. Some of the licensed but not yet executed routes were then built by the new operator. The routes of the Metropolitan Street Tramways later became a core part of the southern London tram network and were in operation until 1951 (Clapham) and 1952 (Brixton).

vehicles

The vehicles were two-story with an open upper deck. Different types were used which were supplied by at least four different manufacturers, namely Starbuck Car and Wagon Co. Ltd. from Birkenhead, the Metropolitan Railway Carriage and Wagon Co. Ltd. from Birmingham, a company in Denmark and the John Stephenson Car Company in the USA.

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).