Nottingham Corporation Tramways - 1904 - Maximum Speed Increases To 12 M.p.h.

Maximum Speed Increases To 12 M.p.h.

This year saw welding of rail joints for the first time, on 8 January. The Thermit process was used and its introduction followed a visit by a deputation sent to Glasgow to inspect this process.

At the February council meeting, great opposition was raised to the proposed construction of a line along Forest Road at an estimated cost of £13,000, and so the scheme was dropped. One good thing which came out of this meeting was the approval for top-covering two trams experimentally, at a cost of £85 each. Cars 33 and 94 made their appearance on 9 March with Bellamy-type roofs. This type of roof was the idea of C. R. Bellamy, the Manager of Liverpool Corporation Tramways, and consisted of a box-like structure over the main saloon, without covers over the canopies at each end. On the whole they were well received and increased receipts were taken on the cars, with the result that similar modifications to further cars, believed to be four in number, were made.

Towards the end of 1903 an application had been made to the Board of Trade to revise speed limits. The findings were notified during March, a maximum speed of 12 m.p.h. being approved.

A further report on fares was made by the Manager, this time on the question of cheap early facilities. He was against the issue of certain workmen’s returns on account of the difficulties experienced on other systems. Consequently return tickets at single fare where the latter exceeded 2d. were introduced.

In April, the curves at the corner of Parliament Street and Queen Street were relaid with normal rail, the extremely high check rail being removed as it was a source of danger to cyclists and other road users.

At the April council meeting proposals were made for routes in the Sneinton area, and two were adopted, one via Bath Street and Manvers Street to Colwick Road, and the other to Trent Bridge via London Road. These were incorporated in the Nottingham Corporation Act 1905. The Colwick Road route was an amended version of that previously arranged via Sneinton Road and Sneinton Hollows to Colwick Road. Owing to the extremely narrow streets in the Sneinton area, Bath Street had to be widened, and it was necessary to encroach on the cemetery to achieve this, the bodies being interred elsewhere. On Manvers Street 65 houses had to be pulled down, the main reason for this being Aldworth’s strong objection to single lines with passing loops. Nearly two years were to elapse before these two routes came into being.

In May, the conductors’ maximum wage was increased from 5¾d. to 6d. an hour.

At the June council meeting the question of operating along Forest Road was again raised, and this time it was finally rejected.

More peak-hour cars were put on between the Market Place and Hyson Green, together with other short workings. One councillor suggested that a clock be installed at Trent Bridge, to put an end to the present haphazard arrangement of guessing the time, and thus secure more regular running. The motion was adopted.

A proposal was accepted that the Basford terminus should be moved from its present position at Church Street to Lincoln Street, put into operation in February 1906.

Another motion carried at the meeting was for trams to have full topcovers instead of the Bellamy type. Car 8 was the first car to be so treated and all the Bellamy-type roofed cars were fully topcovered by 1908.

In July, agreement was reached for children under three years of age to be carried free of charge, while from three until their tenth birthday they would be carried at half the adult fare where this exceeded 1d.

A proposal was made to apply for Parliamentary powers to construct a line along Canton Road, but as a similar scheme had been included in the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Tramways Company Bill, this was amended to a proposal to construct connecting lines comprising a single line along Handel Street and curves into Canton Road from Bath Street.

Powers were also sought at this time for the operation of motorbuses, and, in November, the Brush Traction Electric Engineering Company of Loughborough was approached to see if it were willing to operate two of its motorbuses in Nottingham for a trial period of three months. This it declined to do.

In November, Hucknall Urban District Council suggested the construction of lines from Hucknall to link with the Nottingham lines at Bulwell, but nothing further was heard of the proposal.