Nottingham Corporation Tramways - 1907 - New Services To Colwick Road and Wilford Road

New Services To Colwick Road and Wilford Road

The first trial car was run over both the above routes on 6 March. Major Pringle inspected them on behalf of the Board of Trade on 13 March and, following the official opening of the Colwick Road section the next day, a service commenced between the Market Place and Colwick Road during the afternoon. The London Road route opened the following day, 15 March, this route being linked up with the one to Wilford Road. At the same time the Sherwood Station Street service was extended via London Road and Pennyfoot Street to Colwick Road. A week later the Colwick Road and Basford services were linked together.

New cars were purchased from Milnes Voss for these extensions, numbered 106 to 115, and they entered service on 28 March. These vehicles were a new departure for Nottingham, having normal staircases and top-covered bodies. The trucks were Mountain and Gibson 2IEM type, having M&G equipment and controllers. In addition to the usual slipper brake, hand brake and rheostatic brake, they had a magnetic runback brake. All had with wooden block slipper brakes, as were several of the earlier cars, and a fitter had to be kept in the Market Place fitting new blocks every two or three journeys for they quickly wore out, particularly on the Mapperley service.

The drivers liked these wooden brake blocks, saying that they gave a good purchase on the rail, but this class of car on the whole was greatly disliked and, shortly afterwards, the wooden blocks were replaced by cast-iron ones.

The Hockley portion of the motorbus route had been causing some difficulty and in March the service was altered to operate between Milton Street - Parliament Street junction and Thorneywood Lane junction on Carlton Road, via Parliament Street and Bath Street.

In April 1907, barely a month after it had started, the Station Street to Colwick Road service was discontinued, and the cars from the Sherwood to Station Street route continued via London Road to Trent Bridge. This meant that all cars from Sherwood ran to Trent Bridge, alternating via Arkwright Street and via London Road. At about this time the terminal line at Trent Bridge was moved from the centre of the road to the kerbside outside Hickling’s Cafe, and a new terminal line was put in for the London Road cars. For the first four or five weeks of running all London Road cars had to use the existing Trent Bridge terminus, causing much congestion.

Colwick Road residents objected greatly to the loss of their Station Street service, so a circular one was introduced from Colwick Road to Colwick Road, via Station Street, the Market Place and Bath Street, alternate cars going different ways. This service also proved unremunerative and was withdrawn in October.

Fares at this period averaged 1.6 miles for 1d.

Top covering of cars proceeded at a steady rate. By May 1906, 24 cars had been dealt with and work on a further 12 was in hand. A year later, in June 1907, 12 more were fitted. In November, the fitting of a sanding device on all cars at a cost of 55/- per car was agreed upon.

The centre poles on Derby Road were replaced by side poles and span construction at a cost of £350-£375; Milton Street was similarly treated later in the year. This work was extended to include Mansfield Road, Castle Boulevard and Lenton Boulevard early in 1908, these schemes costing some £1,547.