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Albert Hancock tram driver


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My dad Albert Hancock was a driver, mainly on the 17/24 Tinsley - Millhouses route from mid 30s to 1959. His conductress, I'm told, was Edie M.......an.
I have his 1950s safe driving medals. He used to tell me about not being able to get his tram through the town centre on the night of the Blitz. He must have seen lots, taking men to work in the east end at all hours. He was very proud of his uniform and looking smart. Cold work driving those trams - he was a big man, 6' 3". I seem to have seen a photo of him in his tram in a book at some point, but don't know now where it is. 

I recall his big gauntlets when he came home, solid, leathery, heavy, and his MASSIVE coat. I also recall a tale about "The Pork Pie Special" which brought My Davy (grocer fame) into town. Wish I could remember more!

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Do you know what,I never knew trams carried route numbers. I used the old trams quite a lot and all I ever looked for was its destination board and what it said...like " Sheffield Lane Top". "City via Attercliffe".

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Trams in Sheffield never had route numbers, only written destinations blinds. Sometimes you would see a small metal place with a number in the lower windscreen, but that only indicated which duty the tram was operating, probably so inspectors or regulators could see if it was running to time.

Early trams carried route letters, but that was phased out in the early 1900's. The Millhouses route in did become the 17 or 24 when buses took over.

Nigel L

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What a interesting story I remember the Sheffield Trams Very Well they were amazing mode of public transport especially when there were big crowds at football matches as after the match there would be hundreds of supporters wanting transport home however because a team could carry about 80 passengers I think they soon shifted the people, I used to stand at the front of the tram watching the tram driver who often wore a huge pair of leather gauntlets and there was a special smell around a tram , in the sixties some of the newer teams were quite smart , we had a Bakery Shop and Bakehouse at 739 Chesterfield Road and I remember so well one day there was a severe snow fall & within a hour or so even the main roads were becoming impossible to drive on , then a single decker tram came rumbling along it was full of salt and road grit and a couple of men were chucking it on the road, in nearby Rotherham they had Electric Trolley Busses and of course Blackpool was famous for its Trams lots of single deckers, My Girlfriend Hazel South of 182 Lupton Road in the sixties used to go to the Tram Museum in Derbyshire is it at Critch 

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Yes the museum is at Crich, closed at the moment of course, but should be open later in the year, restrictions permitting. Plenty of Sheffield trams there.

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The number 24 only went as far as Millhouses Terminus where there was a turning circle and public toilet, I see that Ranulf Court has been built on top of the terminus now. (53.343373345213486, -1.501130141366758)  There used to be a paper/sweet shop in Terminus Rd, One summer I did a paper round from there.  The number 17 continued along Abbeydale Rd and turned up Dobcroft Rd.  Four days a week I purchased a 2d ticket from Bannerdale Rd (where Carterknowle school was) to either Millhouses centre or the terminus.  On one day I had to pay 3d, and continued up Dobcroft Rd to the piano teacher's house.  At least the walk back from her house was all down hill!

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On 09/02/2021 at 15:59, Lemmy117 said:

Trams in Sheffield never had route numbers, only written destinations blinds. Sometimes you would see a small metal place with a number in the lower windscreen, but that only indicated which duty the tram was operating, probably so inspectors or regulators could see if it was running to time.

Early trams carried route letters, but that was phased out in the early 1900's. The Millhouses route in did become the 17 or 24 when buses took over.

Nigel L

Hi Nigel 
Thanks for your correction re the numbers. It was probably remembered wrongly by me after the old trams had finished, in association with my school journey from 1961 by bus: as I sometimes used to go on the no. 17 from Page Hall round Attercliffe  straight though town to Abbeydale, instead of changing from the 75/76 in town to the 17/24. I remember the turning circle at Millhouses. I think a girl in our class lived at a Baker's there? I always envied her, living at a bakery!

I also think about my poor dad coming home after a shift.. we never had a car - he never could "drive" - and I assume he had to walk home from the tram depot after a shift? Can anyone enlighten me.. hardly any cars then.. did the trams run 24 hours? He was fit and strong anyway. Thanks for your interest. 

 

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PS My dad was so proud of the old trams... he used to say "They are the life blood of this city".. and of course they were at the time he drove them, to get folks to work etc. (Sigh!) 

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A few stats taken from Sheffield Transport Departments souvenir brochure published to commemorate the closure of the system on 08/10/60

In the systems life the maximum no of depots was...8

The maximum number of trams was in 1940 with 444 ( on closure there were just 60)

In 1940 there were 13,946,546 vehicle miles run ( the maximum ever)

Maximum traffic receipts were in1950 when fares amounted to...£1,370,171.

The last two routes run were...Millhouses and Beauchief and Vulcan Road.

After the damage suffered in the Blitz trams were obtained from Newcastle (14) and Bradford (10)

In 1906 a driver was paid...six pence threefarthings an hour by 1946 this had increased to two shillings one penny per hour ( Old proper currency!)

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20 hours ago, Page Hall-er said:

 

I also think about my poor dad coming home after a shift.. we never had a car - he never could "drive" - and I assume he had to walk home from the tram depot after a shift? Can anyone enlighten me.. hardly any cars then.. did the trams run 24 hours? He was fit and strong anyway. Thanks for your interest. 

 

The trams didn't run 24 hours, but not far off. He could have got the tram home if his shift finished earlier than the last tram, and there were a few trams run for crews, picking them up or dropping off, and engineering trams ran at night, so quite a few options.

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