Nottingham Corporation Tramways - 1901 - Expansion

Expansion

Following the sanctioning of the Sherwood route by the Board of Trade on 16 December 1900, a service commenced on 1 January, workmen then being transferred to the laying of the track on the Bulwell section, starting from the outer terminus. This service was a great success from the start, a five-minute frequency increasing to three minutes at peak periods, and the fare for the journey of just over two miles was 2d.

A request for a connecting horse-bus service from St Andrew’s Church to Porchester Road at Mapperley until the tram service was opened was not granted.

By 23 April, new lines had been laid down Wheeler Gate, connecting for the first time the northern and southern sections, while work had commenced on relaying the Trent Bridge and Station Street sections. At this time a new electric line was laid from Bulwell as far as Gregory Boulevard at Hyson Green, which was some distance nearer the city than the Old Basford horse tram terminus. Horse buses provided a service connecting with the horse trams while the old rails were pulled up, thus continuing the service to Basford, and on 17 April horse trams commenced operating from Gregory Boulevard to Bulwell Market over the new rails. As further new rails were laid, so the Bulwell end of the service expanded, while the Nottingham end grew shorter. On completion of this work and the depot at Bulwell in June, a through horse tram service was inaugurated on 29 June. This did not last long, for electric cars superseded the horse trams on 23 July, a week after the Board of Trade inspection, the through fare being 3d., with intermediate 1d. and 2d. fares. Electricity at this time was 1½d. per Board of Trade unit.

Some delay was being experienced in obtaining new trams due to the large orders in hand from all over the country, and it was thought that the start of the electric car service to Bulwell would have to be postponed. Fortunately, 16 cars numbered 10 to 25, identical with the first cars except for the three-board type indicators, arrived in July, number 13 making a trial trip to Bulwell on 8 July.

On Saturdays all 25 cars were needed in service and short workings of the Bulwell service were operated between the Market Place and Hyson Green, and to the old horsecar terminus at Church Street, Basford; the service was well patronised, overcrowding being commonplace. The receipts for the Bulwell services for the first week in August were £1,115 (£89.8 thousand as of 2013),, compared with £318 (£25.6 thousand as of 2013),the previous year.

At a city council meeting in May, new electric routes were proposed to Arnold, Hucknall, Carlton, Kimberley, Beeston, Stapleford and to other places in the county, but it was agreed not to construct outside the city boundary for the time being. In July it was decided to obtain powers for the building of the Hartley Road section.

By August 1901 the Arkwright Street and Station Street relaying was well under way, together with the building of a new depot at Trent Bridge, comprising 11 roads with accommodation for 80 cars. For a short period the Trent Bridge horse tram service was cut into two parts while the Midland Railway strengthened their bridge under Carrington Street; the bridge over the adjacent canal was rebuilt at the same time. A further 32 cars of the original type were delivered, but with 2x35 h.p. motors instead of 2x25 h.p. motors.

The council meeting held in September brought forth many new tramway proposals, of which the following were adopted: the conversion of the Forest Road line to electric traction (this had been left out of the original Bill), a line along Victoria Embankment from Trent Bridge to Wilford Bridge, and a line to Sneinton.

The Nottingham Corporation Act 1902 gave powers for the Forest Road line and for a number of short lengths of tramway, principally in the Market Place, to link up constructed or authorised tramways. It also gave powers for the Corporation to operate motor omnibuses in connection with any tramway either during a period when it was impracticable to operate tramcars or as extensions. The layout in the Market Place caused much argument, and one suggestion was for a gyratory system, single line, that every car would have to negotiate when passing through the Market Place.

Owing to a decrease in the number of passengers carried, it was found necessary at this time to curtail the Sherwood Rise horse bus service to operate between Basford and Mansfield Road, and, in October, vehicles were transferred from this service to operate on services to Sneinton and Carlton Road.

September also saw two further batches of new trains arrive. The first numbered 58 to 67, were ordered from the British Electric Tram Car Company, but were built by G.F. Milnes & Co., of Hadley, Shropshire. They were open-topped cars with reversed stairs, had 21E trucks, B.T.H. controllers and 2x30 h.p. Westinghouse motors. The second batch, numbered 68 to 77, were open-topped reversed-stair cars with Brill 22E maximum-traction bogies; the bodies were built by G. F. Milnes, the controllers were B.T.H. and they had 2x30 h.p. Westinghouse motors.

Trent Bridge Depot was completed by 14 September, with lines leading to it along Turney Street and Pyatt Street, and while the relaying was taking place junctions were put in at Trent Bridge and Station Street for the London Road line, although the Bill for this had not yet gone before Parliament.

A start was made in October on the construction of the St Ann's Well Road section, this being the first new electric line, the others having all been either conversions of, or extensions to, horse tram routes. Authorisation was given for the route to be continued to Mapperley, via The Wells Road, but, for the time being only as far as Coppice Road (now Ransom Road) was to be built. The construction of this line brought forth a protest from Bamford’s, the horse bus proprietors, alleging loss of receipts. Earlier in the year, shortly after the opening of the first electric car route, the Council had been asked if they would consider the purchase of Mann’s Omnibus, Horse and Carriage Company Limited, but this was not proceeded with.

The Trent Bridge and Station Street sections were inspected and passed on 15 October, public service commencing on 21 October. The Station Street service was a continuation of the Sherwood service via the Market Place, and was the first cross-city service, but the Trent Bridge cars ran only to the Market Place, with cars every three minutes, increased to two minutes at peak times. Six cars were fitted with Tideswell’s automatic lifeguards as an experiment about this time.

A public notice in the local press on 11 October contained a most ambitious proposal for a light railway between Nottingham and Derby, via Long Eaton and Draycott, together with a line from Long Eaton to Alfreton, via Stapleford, Ilkeston, Heanor and Ripley. At the same time Stapleford Rural District Council was endeavouring to persuade Nottingham Corporation to extend its electric tramways to Stapleford.

A month later another ambitious light railway proposal was put forward for a “Nottingham Suburban Light Railway”, with routes to Carlton, Arnold, Hucknall and Ilkeston. Coupled with this was a scheme sponsored by Sir Bache Cunard (of liner fame) for a “Derby and Nottingham Light Railway” operating mainly on reserved track, via Beeston and Long Eaton. Owing to great opposition by the Midland Railway, both of these schemes were turned down by the Light Railway Commissioners in the following February.

In the meantime, a start was made on the construction of the route to Mapperley, via Woodborough Road.