Old Sheffield trams

[tare19 10]

talk of trams, what memories! i remember bike wheel getting stuck, in line, putting pennies on line to bend them, lived at firth park then, it was great to sit upstairs at the front, curved window used to go from firth park to pitsmoor

[Tooeg 10]

i remember running down the tram flippng all the seats so they faced the other way when we got to the terminus at walkley library.

[Arfer Mo 10]

the sheffield corporation (sheffield city council) took over the tramway system in july 1896. The corporation's goal was to expand and mechanise the system. Almost immediately a committee was formed to inspect other tramway systems to look at the improved systems of traction. Upon their return the committee recommended the adoption of electrical propulsion using the overhead current collection system.

 

The national grid was not as developed as it is now and so the corporation set out to provide the required current. The corporation were to become their local domestic and industrial electricity supplier were the additional load would be sold. A power station was built for the sheffield corporation tramways on kelham island by the river don between mowbray street and alma street. Feeder cables stretched from there to the extremeties of the system, covering over forty miles of route.

 

Over the years eight depots were built throughout the city to service a fleet of about 400 trams.

 

Tinsley tram depot was built in 1874 and was the first depot built in sheffield for the "sheffield tramways company". It was originally built for horse trams but was converted for electric trams in 1898–1899 after which it was capable of accommodating 95 tram cars. Following the abandonment of the tramway system in 1960, the tinsley depot was sold and was subsequently used as a warehouse. Much of the original 1874 building still exists and the entire depot is listed as a historically significant building. The sheffield bus museum trust has used part of the depot as a museum since may 1987.

 

Heeley tram depot (53°21′31.5″n, 1°28′28″w) was the depot for horse trams only, the line to it was never electrified. The depot was built by the sheffield tramways company in 1878. When the tram system was abandoned in 1960, the depot was sold and subsequently used as a car repair shop until 2005. The building has been sold and flats will be built incorporating the structure, as it is a listed building

 

a small tram shed was built at the nether edge terminus , which opened in 1899. The nether edge line as well as two other small sections was abandoned due to the narrowness of the streets the tram travelled on. This caused problems and was unsuitable for efficient service. The sheffield corporation concluded that trams were better for city service.

 

The queens road works opened in 1905. Many of the trams used on the sheffield tramway were built at queens road. The building survived for many years following abandonment, but was demolished in the 1990s.

 

Construction of the shoreham street depot started in about 1910 on the site of an 18th century leadmill. Following the abandonment of the tramway the depot was used as a bus garage for many years until it finally closed in the 1990s. Much of the building has since been demolished and redeveloped as student flats, although those parts that surround the entrance at the junction of shoreham street and leadmill road are still standing and in good condition.

 

The crookes depot, which was located on pickmere road , was started in 1914, but not completed until 1919. It closed on 5 may 1957 and has since been demolished.

 

The tenter street depot opened in 1928 and was the last tram depot to remain in operational use. As well as the tram depot there was a bus garage on the upper level that was accessed from hawley street.

 

The depot at holme lane closed on 23 april 1954. The facade of the building still stands, although the rest of the building has been demolished and a medical centre built in its place.

 

There are few remnants of the, once extensive, tramway. The tram sheds at tinsley and heeley survive, as do parts of those at holme lane and shoreham street. In many places the tram tracks were not removed, the road was resurfaced over the tracks, and the tracks still survive (albeit covered). An example of tracks covered in this way was uncovered and made a feature of the moor pedestrian precinct. Around the city there are about ten or so of the "overhead" poles still standing(2006), such as the matching pair in firth park, where you can also see a small section of track in the middle of the traffic island. Poles also survive at manor top, woodseats and abbeydale road. In places where the trams ran on a reserved track, such as on abbeydale road south and abbey lane at beauchief, the reservation has been converted into a dual carriage-way.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sheffield_tramway#the_electric_tram_era

 

hi that was a very comprehensive , historic , and interesting read thank you arthur

[saxon51 10]

i remember running down the tram flippng all the seats so they faced the other way when we got to the terminus at walkley library.

I was partial to doing that as well. There was always one bugger that jammed though whilst I was in mid flight.

[hillsbro 30]

In case it's of interest to anyone, the latest (September) issue of the Yorkshire nostalgia magazine "Down Your Way" has a four-page article on Sheffield's old trams, with particular emphasis on "Last Tram Week" in 1960. The magazine costs £2.25 from W.H.Smith and larger newsagents and is always a good read.

[hazel 11]

I went to school on the tram and later went to work on the tram from about 1949 to about 1959-60

 

For school I got on at Intake and went into town, the tram continued on until it reached the end of Crookes. Some of the trams started at Woodhouse Rd.

 

We used to sit in the front bay of the upstairs and do our homework which should have been done the night before but we had probably been to the Rex picture house instead. We were the scholarship kids who went to the various schools around Sheffield. The tram went through Manor Top down City Rd, Duke St and up Commercial St. West St and on past the University. The tram was noisy with it's bell always ringing as the children got off and I was told it had a cow pusher on the front that pushed out of the way anyone who stepped in front of it.

 

When I started work I caught, from the same stop, the tram going to Templeboro or Vulcan Rd which took me to the bottom of Prince of Wales Rd when half the people on it got off most of them Davy United workers.

The rest were mostly steel workers who stayed on to Attercliffe etc.

 

I changed jobs and again went to work on the tram Intake to Crookes going from one end of the line to the other, some only going as far as School Rd others going further to where the Blood Transfusion Service head quarters were.

The tram that went to Walkley went to Handsworth and I seem to remember that when they were replaced by buses the bus kept to the tram routes.

 

Just thought you may be interested in the worms eye view.

 

hazel

[willybite 10]

I went to school on the tram and later went to work on the tram from about 1949 to about 1959-60

 

For school I got on at Intake and went into town, the tram continued on until it reached the end of Crookes. Some of the trams started at Woodhouse Rd.

 

We used to sit in the front bay of the upstairs and do our homework which should have been done the night before but we had probably been to the Rex picture house instead. We were the scholarship kids who went to the various schools around Sheffield. The tram went through Manor Top down City Rd, Duke St and up Commercial St. West St and on past the University. The tram was noisy with it's bell always ringing as the children got off and I was told it had a cow pusher on the front that pushed out of the way anyone who stepped in front of it.

 

When I started work I caught, from the same stop, the tram going to Templeboro or Vulcan Rd which took me to the bottom of Prince of Wales Rd when half the people on it got off most of them Davy United workers.

The rest were mostly steel workers who stayed on to Attercliffe etc.

 

I changed jobs and again went to work on the tram Intake to Crookes going from one end of the line to the other, some only going as far as School Rd others going further to where the BloodTransfusion Service head quarters were.

The tram that went to Walkley went to Handsworth and I seem to remember that when they were replaced by buses the bus kept to the tram routes.

 

Just thought you may be interested in the worms eye view.

 

hazel

 

I worked for the city engineers dept just prior to the takeover of the tram system in sheffield, and i remember not all lines were dug up as i was working on the crookes run and they were tarmaced over this was outside the weston park museum.Also i remember in between the two lines every so often there were manhole covers but when they were opened up there was a vertical 12"pipe down to the top water sewer you woudn't get a man down and when i asked my mate what use they were he said they were lamp-holes to take rain water from the lines.One funny thing around this time we were working in millhouses park when the flood water flattened all the tennis courts we used to catch a tram from millhouses ,i always got off on the moor but others went to town,getting off at c & a in high street, one of the lads as soon as we set off would drop off the others had to always wake him up in high street as he lived on the woodthorpe,this time they didn't and he finished at tinsley.

 

ps when i was 12 to 15 years old we at school had to travel to Hunters bar school for our woodwork class and we caught the tram on the Moor and we were to sometimes catch the new ones the same as the last tram to run in Sheffield the fare at the time was 1d we were given a red 1d token.

Edited October 22, 2009 by willybite

[rubydazzler 11]

i remember running down the tram flippng all the seats so they faced the other way when we got to the terminus at walkley library.

If we managed to catch the earlier tram to school, we'd stay on a stop to the Millhouses terminus and do that! Great fun, but the conductors for some reason, used to go mad at us for it!

 

Strange coincidence but Texas just asked about paintings of trams and I found this link http://www.peterowenjones.co.uk/about.asp Some great and very evocative paintings of trams on the shop and gallery section of the site. They took me right back to childhood winter afternoons, when you saw the tram swaying toward you through the murk with all the lights blazing out into the gloom.

 

I think the lines are still there under most of Chesterfield Road which is the reason for the road being so much higher in the middle than at the gutters - allegedly!

[Texas 10]

The coincidences continue rubyd'. I was going to use the Peter Owen Jones painting for reference regarding the livery of trams thro' the years. The one in his painting is blue, my memory of trams is of cream with blue lining, and the coat of arms on the side. I can just about remember some with a very dark livery, possibly black, with large numbers in red and gold, I think. That would be in the 30's. What colors were trams throughout their time in use in Sheffield? Anybody know.

[hillsbro 30]

...I can just about remember some with a very dark livery, possibly black, with large numbers in red and gold, I think. That would be in the 30's. What colors were trams throughout their time in use in Sheffield? Anybody know.

 

This Forum thread goes into the different shades of blue of trams as well as buses. The preserved tram No 189 is in a very dark shade of blue - it can be seen here, with tram No 264 in the lighter blue for comparison. I remember the dark blue trams with large gold numbers, shaded in red being in service, and so some of them must have been in use in the mid-1950s.

[bus man 10]

Sheffield trams were blue apart from a very brief period in the 1950s when they tried with green but the public rebelled

[bazmcc 10]

Hi , If you look on YOU TUBE and print Last Sheffield Tram, it will show you a vidio of the last tram