Horse trams The
first generation of
trams in
London started in March 1861 when a
horse tramway began operating between
Marble Arch and
Notting Hill Gate. This was followed a month later by a route along
Victoria Street in
Westminster. These first lines were operated by an American entrepreneur,
George Francis Train. Initially, there was strong opposition as, although it was popular with its passengers, the first designs had rails that stood proud of the road surface and created an obstruction for other traffic. This came to a head in 1861 when Train was arrested for "breaking and injuring" the
Uxbridge Road and his plans were put on hold. Eventually Parliament passed legislation permitting tram services, on the condition that the rails were recessed into the carriageway and that the tramways were shared with other road users. Costs of maintenance of the tramway and its immediate neighbouring road carriageway would be borne by the tram companies, thus benefiting the ratepayers, who had been bearing the full cost of highway repairs since the abolition of
turnpikes. Fares were set at 1d (1 penny) per mile, with half-price early and late workmen's services. After a demonstration line was built at
the Crystal Palace, the first lines authorised by the
Act of Parliament in 1870 ran from: •
Blackheath to
Vauxhall via
Peckham and
Camberwell •
Brixton joining the Camberwell line at
Kennington •
Whitechapel to
Bow •
Kensington to
Oxford Street The new tram companies all adopted the same standard gauge, with the intention of being able to link up services at later dates. Horse tram lines soon opened all over London, typically using two horses to pull a 60-person car. They proved popular as they were cheaper, smoother, roomier and safer than the competing
Omnibus or
Hackney carriages. Replacement by electric vehicles commenced in 1901; the last horse-drawn trams were withdrawn in 1915.
Powered trams There were several early attempts to run motor-powered trams on the London tramlines: John Grantham first trialled an experimental steam tramcar in London in 1873 but withdrew it after it performed poorly. From 1885, the North London Tramways Company operated 25
Merryweather and
Dick, Kerr steam engines hauling long-wheelbase
Falcon Engine & Car Works trailers, until its liquidation in 1891. Although several towns and cities adopted steam trams, the problems associated with track weight, acceleration, noise and power held back their general acceptance in London. Between 1881 and 1883, a small number of
trams powered by compressed air were trialled on the Caledonian Road tramway. In 1884, a cable tram was introduced for
Highgate Hill, the first cable tramway in Europe, which was followed by a second cable line to draw trams up
Brixton Hill to
Streatham. Both these systems were replaced within 15 years by electric trams. The electric tram took some decades to establish itself in London. After the storage battery was invented, an electric tram was tested on the West Metropolitan Tramways line between Acton and Kew in 1883
Underground trams There were plans to run an underground tram line between South Kensington and the Albert Hall but it was withdrawn in 1891 and a pedestrian only route, the South Kensington subway, was built instead. The
Kingsway tramway subway did go ahead - this started in 1902 going from Theobalds Road to the Victoria Embankment. In the 1930s, the arched tunnels were removed to accommodate double decker trams. The last tram using the subway system ran on the night of 5/6 April 1952.
First electric trams After the slow start, electric trams rapidly became very popular; by 1903, there were 300 electric tramcars in London, which carried 800,000 passengers over
Whitsun weekend in 1903. The
London County Council Tramways first electric line opened in May 1903 between Westminster Bridge and Tooting and the LCC sold 3.3 million tickets in its third year of business, five times the traffic carried by its horse trams. The LCC saw the electric trams as a way of driving social change, as its cheap, fast service could encourage workers to move out of the crowded inner city and live healthier lives in the suburbs. By 1914, the London tram operators formed the largest tram network in Europe Passengers had to make a hazardous journey into the middle of the street before they could board a tram. The merged tram services were held back from introducing new, quieter and more comfortable track and vehicles, in favour of trolleybus services and tubes provided under the
New Works Programme. Although the trams returned gross annual revenues of £850,000 (equivalent to £ in ),, the net surplus was £128,000 (equivalent to £ in ), after costs were taken by the LCC, partly to repay the debt of £18m resulting from the merger.
Abandonment At this time, trams were starting to be considered out-dated and inflexible and the phasing-out and replacement by diesel buses or
trolleybuses started in earnest around 1935, when a large proportion of the trams and of the tracks and ancillary equipment were nearing the end of their useful life. Replacement continued until hostilities stopped the conversion programme in June 1940, leaving only the South London trams and the routes that went through the Kingsway subway into North London. After
World War II, shortages of steel and electrical machinery were cited as reasons for not investing in maintenance, while the LCC reported that the service ran at a loss. On 15 November 1946 the London Passenger Transport Board announced that the remaining trams in London would be replaced by diesel buses, stated as being "eminently flexible and much cheaper". (London Transport Tramways Handbook, Willoughby and Oakley 1972). The market for trams became smaller as other tramways were being forced to close at that time, as the 1948
nationalisation of electricity suppliers removed access to cheap electricity for those undertakings which owned their local power company.
Alexander Valentine, one of the five full-time members of the
London Transport Executive, saw trams as a major cause of
road congestion, which would be relieved by the introduction of buses, with the aesthetic benefit of doing away with overhead wires and their noisy operation. A report in
The Economist in 1952 suggested a more comprehensive list of reasons for their demise, including: • the 1870 Tramways Act, which placed a great financial burden on the operator for road maintenance even though it was not responsible for all the wear; • London had streets that were too narrow, unlike continental cities; • London's housing developments were too far away from tram routes; • authorities were prejudiced against trams (
Lord Ashfield, chairman of the
LPTB, was a constant opponent of trams No general improvement in traffic flow was seen after the trams were withdrawn. During the closure cycle of London's tram system, almost 100 of the most modern trams known as the "Feltham" class and dating from 1931 were withdrawn and sold to
Leeds where they continued in service until the abandonment of that city's trams in 1959. Some London tramcars have been preserved on static display at London's
Transport Museum (in Covent Garden) and in working order at the
National Tramway Museum at Crich, Derbyshire. A working London tram can also be seen and ridden on at the
East Anglia Transport Museum in
Carlton Colville near
Lowestoft,
Suffolk. == Current trams ==