Woolwich and South East London Tramways

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The Woolwich and South East London Tramways Company operated horse-drawn trams in south east London as part of the larger London tram network . The company operated from 1881 to 1905 routes with a total length of about seven kilometers in Woolwich , Plumstead and Greenwich .

history

In 1879 a Woolwich and Plumstead Tramways Company was founded, which on August 26, 1880 was granted a concession to build and operate a horse-drawn tram from Woolwich to Plumstead. Shortly thereafter, it was bought by the Woolwich and South East London Tramways Company , which began building the route. The Cape gauge (1067 mm) was chosen as the track width due to the narrow roads and tight curves of the planned route . The line was next to the Highgate Hill Tramway , a cable tram in the north of the city, the only narrow-gauge tram company in London.

Although the line was completed in April 1881, the opening was delayed until June 4th of that year because the vehicles were delivered too late. The route began at the intersection of Powis Street / Hare Street in Woolwich and ran through Powis Street, Beresford Square, Plumstead Road and Plumstead High Street to the church in Plumstead near St. Nicholas Road. A branch line began in Woolwich High Street at the Woolwich Ferry (corner of Nile Street) and ran through High Street and Beresford Street to Beresford Square, where it met the other line. The track system was single-lane with a switch. No cross sleepers were installed, but the rails rested in a longitudinal steel trough that was cast in cement. The depot of the railway was in Plumstead in the Cage Lane (today Lakedale Road) immediately south of the Plumstead High Street. Even today the street Old Tramyard (old street station) reminds of this depot, whose buildings are still used for other purposes.

At the beginning of July 1881, operations on the branch route to the ferry were temporarily suspended. At the end of October 1881, regular operations also ended on Powis Street and the cars coming from Plumstead mostly ended in Beresford Square.

In 1881 the railway company received a second line concession for a railway from Greenwich to Woolwich, which was built in the summer of 1882 and opened on November 21 of that year. It began at the terminus William IV (King William Lane) of the London Tramways in Greenwich and led through Trafalgar Road, Lower Road (now Woolwich Road), Albion Road (now Woolwich Road), Woolwich Road, Woolwich Church Street and Woolwich High Street to the ferry. The former branch line to the ferry was now operated again and became part of the main line. The line was single track with a double track section in Church Street and Woolwich High Street. However, due to the width of the street, the two main tracks had to be built so close to each other that it was not possible for two railways to meet everywhere. It was not until 1893 that the road could be widened in this area and the track spacing increased.

Most of the cars drove from Greenwich to Plumstead, only a few cars ended up on Powis Street in Woolwich. In 1883, the railway company applied for the original route through Powis Street to be extended to Church Street, but this was rejected by the community. Operations on Powis Street soon ceased. In normal operation, a car drove the entire route every eight minutes. For the heavy midday traffic to and from the Woolwich Arsenal , express cars were used from Plumstead, which ran without intermediate stops. The passengers had to jump up or down during the journey. When the Bexley tram was built in 1903 , the line in Plumstead was extended by a few meters so that the tracks reached the end of the Bexley tramway. A track connection was not possible due to the different gauge.

After years of legal dispute over the purchase price, the London County Council acquired the railway with effect from June 1, 1905 and incorporated it into the London County Council Tramways . Shortly afterwards, work began on re-gauging and electrifying the line, but this dragged on until 1914. The branch line to Powis Street in Woolwich was not re-gauged, but closed in 1908 at the latest. Unusually, the middle section from Chapel Street to the Woolwich Ferry was gauged last. In the last few years of the narrow-gauge horse railway, the wagons were therefore transported on standard-gauge flat wagons to the depot that had already been re-tracked. The tram line from Greenwich to Plumstead was one of the last to be closed in London and was in operation until 1952.

vehicles

Due to the narrower track gauge, smaller vehicles than other London companies were used on the railway. The last total of 32 double-deckers had 32 seats.

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).