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According to both Kenneth Gandy (Sheffield Corporation Tramways) and Ted Gray (Tramway Review No 227, September 2011) there were 15 cars in the final procession: the illuminated stores car 349, the restored single decker 46 and the already preserved 189, followed by 12 Roberts cars with 510 being the last in line.

Of these 46, 189 and the two decorated trams 510 and 513 survive. The stores car 349 also went to the Tramway Museum and was used as a mobile generator before being broken up for spares in September 1967: apparently the truck from this car is now underneath Chesterfield tram no. 7.

The Sheffield tram at Beamish is 264, built in 1907

Another tram at Beamish has Sheffield connections. Newcastle 114 was one of the cars bought by Sheffield in 1941, being numbered 317 and working until 1950, according to the history given on the first 3 pages of this document

There were not many second-hand cars. 20 were purchased from London County Council Tramways in 1917-18 with a further 6 ex-LCC cars purchased from Rotherham in 1926. ALl of these had been withdrawn by 1931.

During the second world war 14 cars came from Newcastle in 1941 and 10 from Bradford in 1943. All of these were withdrawn by 1952 except for ex Bradford car 330 which was converted to a railgrinder. The Bradford cars had to be regauged, Bradford using the rather uncommon 4ft gauge.

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The stores car 349 was originally car 271 from the same batch of cars as 264, built in 1907 by the United Electric Car Co of Preston.

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Charles Roberts & Co. built the Coronation cars for Blackpool, very heavy as you say and using a different control system, based on the American PCC type, but modified to get round the patents already set up. It was not a success and along with the weight of the cars their energy usage was considerable!

I was talking to one of the workshop guys at Crich about the recent re-build of 510 and there was no sign of corrosion when they had the side panels off, he said it's built like a battleship!

Nigel L

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Newcastle tram 114 was at Crich for a week in September to celebrate 50 years of electric trams at Crich, I was lucky enough to get to drive it on it's last day at the museum, it wasn't until I read the potted history that I found out about its Sheffield connection!

If anyone is going to the Starlight event at Crich tomorrow (Thursday) I will be driving one of the trams from about mid afternoon until we close, come and say hello.

Nigel L

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Did they put the rubber pads in this time to stop the springs squeaking? :)

Think they must have, it's certainly quieter than it used to be and doesn't creak. Part of the rebuild included replacing resilient pads and parts that had worn out, maybe they took the opportunity to sort out the springing at the same time.

Nigel L

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A ha! That explains how I got them mixed up. It's a shame Crich scrapped that tram. The one at Beamish always looks particularly good. Somehow it's not as tall and thin as a lot of trams built around that time.

Some photos and details of car 349's work as generator car 01 at Crich can be seen in this article

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If I recall correctly the truck from under Sheffield 349 currently resides under Chesterfield 7, I'll check on Wednesday when I'm there again.

In answer to Andy1702's question about the pads in the springs on 510, I checked with the workshops and they were never missing, only not 'resilient' anymore (i.e. had gone solid!). New ones have now been fitted and it is much quieter.

Nigel L

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Once again, thanks for the memories. I remember seeing the horse-drawn tram on static display somewhere near the top of The Moor. I and my friend saw it while on our way home from King Ted's via Pond Street (we would alight from our 54, 55 or 60 at City Hall and walk across the city centre and down LOTS of steps to catch our onward buses at Pond St.), so I would guess we must have made a bit of a diversion to go and see it. This must have been December 1961.

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On 27/10/2014 at 21:28, madannie77 said:

The Sheffield tram at Beamish is 264, built in 1907

Another tram at Beamish has Sheffield connections. Newcastle 114 was one of the cars bought by Sheffield in 1941, being numbered 317 and working until 1950, according to the history given on the first 3 pages of this document

 

Mention of 264 at Beamish reminds me that I finally got to see it in service in April 2017. Magnificent is the word for the refurbishment.

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It also reminds me that there are two preserved Sheffield cars numbered 264. 

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Seeing this and a couple of recent posts with great tram pictures I wonder if there is a way of having an indexed list of trams with pictures where available, but not a jumbled list, for instance, if there was a post  on tram 400, any additions / photo's about the same tram would be added in the same place and be easy to find. I am thinking of something like the pubs list or maps and referring to proper trams and not the new light railway system. Just an idea, I have no idea how this could be done and I am perhaps asking too much.

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I am sure we can come up with something; maybe an index with links to existing  posts and images would be easiest.

I shall have a ponder and maybe get to work on it next year :rolleyes:

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24 minutes ago, madannie77 said:

I am sure we can come up with something; maybe an index with links to existing  posts and images would be easiest.

I shall have a ponder and maybe get to work on it next year :rolleyes:

Thank you.

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Hi

I am trying to find out if any employee records of Sheffield Tramway Company survive? I am trying to trace two of my ancestors who I believed worked there together circa 1880.

One I know for sure did work at STC was George Lyon(s) who was foreman of the Tinsley stables. He was presented with a cup on his retirement as seen in the below clipping from the Sheffield Daily Telegraph 12 April 1883 (kindly provided by Syrup). The other relative I am looking to trace is Joseph Lyon(s) who I believe was George's nephew. Joseph died (unknown) in 1886 and was buried at Heeley Christ Church in Jan 1887.  I like to find out if there were other family members who worked at Sheffield Tramway Company.

 

Regards

 

John O.

image.png.748176629a901c0d429eeea8e6c0394b.png

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I would contact the Tramway Museum at Crich, they have an extensive library of tramway records, and with Sheffield being one of the last systems to close there is a good chance they got most of the records.

Nigel L

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Can anyone tell me anything about the make of the two trams in this Picture Sheffield photograph taken on Exchange Street.

Thanks southside.

Trams on Exchange Street.jpg

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They are Rotherham Corporation trams, two of a batch of 11 built in the early 1930s. They are single ended and were built specifically for use on the Sheffield to Rotherham service, both ends of which had loops.

For short workings from Rotherham to Templeborough a reversing triangle was installed in Temple Street.

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On 16/02/2007 at 13:04, Guest codeyes said:

Used to catch the tram from the bottom of Dykes Hall Road to top of Leppings Lane for about one old penny ( or was it a halfpenny) when I used to go and visit my grandparents....

 

There used to be Trolley Buses in Sheffield as well

No, Sheffield never ran trolleybuses, though I think they did once apply for powers to do so.  Rotherham had an extensive trolleybus system

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The book "Sheffield Corporation Tramways" by Kenneth Gandy and published by Sheffield City Libraries in 1985 gives some information about 'The Closure Report' (March/April)1951.

Briefly, there had been for many years interests who had campaigned for the removal of trams from towns and cities and, after WW2, increasing traffic volumes had heightened dangers to passengers joining or leaving trams in the centre of the carriageway. The rising costs  of tramways operation were also a concern as were the ages of the vehicles. It appears that the  report was approved despite the knowledge that tram passengers were generally satisfied with the system, voting was along party lines.

Ironical to me that global warming has pushed electricity powered vehicles to such prominence, perhaps everyone will eventually wear battery powered shoes!  

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The heyday of the tram was in the 1920's, and from then on there was a steady decline with some systems closing as early as 1925. Ironically it was the First World War that started that decline, motor technology had improved and there were loads of ex Army vehicles around that made the roads busier. These vehicles also spawned the growth in motor buses, so competition increased. Tram systems need regular maintenance and renewal, and when smaller systems needed new rails, overhead or vehicles it made sense to abandon them in favour of buses, either petrol of trolleybuses. Larger systems expanded, and thrived until WW2 when Mr. Hitler put paid to the tramways in Bristol and Coventry after blitz bombing. After the war it was a more rapid decline, and the big cities had more motor traffic, so trams were seen as being in the way. Even when the modern 'Roberts' cars were ordered for Sheffield the writing was already on the wall, and they had a life of less than ten years in some cases. Originally the abandonment programme in Sheffield was due to run from the mid '50's until the early '70's, but it was accelerated and all routes were gone by the end of 1960. Apart from Blackpool, which retained its trams, the last mainland system to close after Sheffield was Glasgow in 1962.

As has been said above, the public were  not consulted about the closure decision, and indeed petitions were received by the council from all over Sheffield. It is interesting to note that one was from the residents of Holme Lane who did not want their route closed. Nearly 30 years later the then residents again sent in a petition to try to STOP the building of Supertram along the same road!

Nigel L

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I have recently been reading Wilkipedia information about the Sheffield trams. They stated that the tram route Sheffield to Rotherham via Templeborough was closed around 1915. I just wondered if anyone remembers this route being open. In late 1956 I used to travel by tram from Sheffield to Rotherham to attend Rotherham Technical College. It was only for a short time before the Rotherham end from Templeborough was closed down, but the Sheffield to Templeboroough continued for a bit longer. The tram terminus in Rotherham was about halfway down the High Street.

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On 15/06/2021 at 02:49, GordonL said:

I have recently been reading Wilkipedia information about the Sheffield trams. They stated that the tram route Sheffield to Rotherham via Templeborough was closed around 1915. I just wondered if anyone remembers this route being open. In late 1956 I used to travel by tram from Sheffield to Rotherham to attend Rotherham Technical College. It was only for a short time before the Rotherham end from Templeborough was closed down, but the Sheffield to Templeboroough continued for a bit longer. The tram terminus in Rotherham was about halfway down the High Street.

I think you may be mistaken there, by 1956 the through service had long been adandoned.

According to "Sheffield Corporation Tramways" by Kenneth Gandy, in 1948 the Tinsley bridge over the LNER line and canal was reconstructed, and the through service was discontinued from 11th December 1948. Trams then terminated at Tinsley and a bus service ran to Templeborough,

In 1949 it was decided not to lay track over the new bridge, and consequently the route was abandoned. Trams continued from Templeborough to College Road in Rotherham until Sunday 13th November 1949 when the Rotherham tramway system closed.

Rotherham used trolleybuses until 1965, but there was never a through service as Sheffield never had operational trolleybus routes.

Nigel L

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