Bexley Tram
The Bexley tram ( English : Bexley Urban District Council Tramways ) was a small municipal tram network that was operated from 1903 in the British parish of Bexley , since 1965 part of the London borough of the same name . It was integrated into the London tram network in 1933 and shut down in 1935.
history
At the end of the 19th century, the London suburb of Bexley was planning to build a horse-drawn railway network. When the concession for the construction and operation of the route was granted in 1901, the electric tram had already found its way into many companies in the greater London area and so this type of drive was also chosen in Bexley. The two lines were built in standard gauge and opened on October 3, 1903. The main route began in Plumstead by the church, where it was connected to the Woolwich and South East London Tramways (part of the London Tramway from 1905), and ran through Plumstead High Street, Wickham Lane, Upper Wickham Lane, Welling High Street, Park View Road, Crook Log, Broadway to Bexleyheath , where the terminus was on Gravel Hill. A branch line ran from Bexleyheath, Markt via Mayplace Road West, Erith Road to Northumberland Heath , Colyers Lane, on the outskirts of Erith . The Erith tram connected here from 1905 and the Dartford tram in Bexleyheath (Gravel Hill) from 1906 . The route network had a length of 8.5 kilometers. The depot of the railway was in Bexleyheath, at the height of today's Highland Road, shortly before the terminus of the main line. It was initially able to accommodate 18 trams and was later expanded. The Bexley tram was operated by the Bexley Urban District Council as a municipal company.
The subsequent line in Plumstead towards London was initially narrow-gauge, so that no track connection could be built. However, it was converted to standard gauge in 1908 and a joint operation could now be set up. The London Railways now used a short stretch of the Bexley tram in Plumstead when the London route was extended to Abbey Woods on July 26, 1908. At the same time, the main line of the Bexley tram was extended beyond Plumstead on London tracks to Woolwich.
A company agreement had existed with the Erith tram since July 1908, which allowed the Erith car to drive through to Bexleyheath, Markt. Since they could not agree on the user fee, the agreement was terminated in 1909 and passengers had to change at Northumberland Heath. From January 3, 1916 the car drove from Erith under the line number 98 again to Bexleyheath and the Bexleyheath – Northumberland Heath line of the Bexley tram was discontinued.
In fact, there was an operating partnership with the Dartford tram from August 1917 after a fire had destroyed the entire fleet of Dartford Railway and Bexley had then taken over the management of this network. The railways of the line, now designated with the number 96, could travel from Woolwich via Plumstead, Welling and Bexleyheath to Dartford from April 1, 1921. Until then, you had to change trains in Bexleyheath. The two tram companies were now run by a joint administration.
On July 1, 1933, the Bexley tram, like all trams in the London area, was taken over by the London Passenger Transport Board , which provided for the changeover to operation with trolleybuses. First, on November 10, 1935, the branch line to Northumberland Heath was shut down and replaced by a trolleybus line. On November 24, 1935, the main line of the Bexley tram followed.
Fleet
For the opening of the Bexley tram, twelve double-decker railcars (No. 1 to 12) were available. They were initially painted chestnut brown and cream, around 1920 the color was changed to chocolate brown / cream. The original cars had 52 seats. The car bodies came from the Electric Railway and Tramway Carriage Works , bogies from Brush Traction and the engines from Dick Kerr. Four more almost identical cars (No. 13 to 16) were added in 1904. In 1915, Bexley had to borrow five trams from London to meet the war-related increased transport needs to the ammunition factories along the route. They were returned in 1917 and replaced by six other rental cars, also from London, which were purchased shortly afterwards. They were then given the numbers 17 to 22. Five more cars (No. 23 to 27) were also bought from London in 1917. When a fire destroyed the Dartford tram depot in August 1917, Bexley brought twelve more vehicles from London, six of them on loan, and ran operations in Dartford with them. The remaining six cars were bought and integrated into the fleet with the numbers 28 to 33. The six borrowed cars were returned to the London Tram in 1919/20.
With the takeover of the tram by the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933, the existing 33 cars were transferred to the London tram fleet.
literature
- John R. Day: London's Trams and Trolleybuses . London Transport, London 1977, ISBN 0-85329-082-2 (English).
- John Reed: London Tramways . Capital Transport Publishing, Harrow Weald 1997, ISBN 1-85414-179-1 (English).
Web link
- Trams arrive in Bexley (Bexley Historical Society, English)