Even Agatha Christie's most assiduous detective Hercules Poirot would find it hard to detect any remaining evidence of trams in today's Torquay.This is not so surprising given that the existence of a tram network on the English Riviera was relatively short lived and ended more than eighty years ago.The story begins in 1898 when the first scheme was placed before the new borough council.Although this scheme was quickly withdrawn, the desire to establish a tram system had taken root.To put this in context, at the time road traffic was still dominated by horse drawn vehicles with a few steam powered and petrol vehicles beginning to make an appearance.Proper road surfaces of tarmac did not arrive in South Devon until 1909 and so in winter the roads were extremely muddy.Because of this stone crossings were laid at key junctions such as the bottom of Fleet Street.This meant that women in particular with their long dresses would avoid the worst of the mud.In summer the main problem was dust.To counteract this the roads had to be damped down.In 1901, there were renewed debates about the introduction of tramways.The most contentious issue was whether or not the tramway should have been municipally owned.A postcard poll of Torquay's voters produced a narrow vote in favour of the idea of a tram network (2705 to 2233) but a very definite vote against public ownership (3999 to 352).This meant that the Council now concentrated upon private companies rather than providing the system themselves.There were a number of initial bidders for the system and these naturally required some detailed plans for the provision of power for the system.Electrical supply was a relatively recent arrival in Torquay and a tram network would require significantly more power than was currently supplied.In 1905 following four long years of debate and proposal and counter proposal, the Torquay Tramway Company was given the go ahead to build a tram system which would run from Beacon Quay to Torre Station and to Babbacombe and St Marychurch on circular routes through Wellswood and Ellacombe to Torquay station.It was decided not to adopt the overhead trolley system (mainly because of strong local opposition to having intrusive overhead wires on the seafront) but to have the "Dolter surface contact system".This had self operating studs between the rails which activated electrical power when a "skate" underneath the tram activated them.There was a serious flaw in the design as we shall see in due course but the company went ahead and took 18 months to complete the track ways.The Dolter system was quite extraordinary to modern eyes but it should be remembered that it was in operation in Paris, Folkestone and Oxford to name but a few places.Disruption was enormous during the laying of the tracks with roads closed for weeks on end.Quite sensibly the opportunity was taken to undertake road widening and improvements.One such major undertaking was the building of the high wall below Torwood Mount.The first trams ran from Beacon Quay in April 1907.Passengers could therefore climb aboard a tram on route 2 for example, and travel along Torquay harbour side around the Mallock Memorial Clock Tower and up Torwood Street and onto the Babbacombe Road.They would travel past Torquay Museum on their right and Torwood Gardens on their left before making a sharp right hand turn.The tram would then gently climb towards Wellswood where passengers could alight to explore the delights of Kent's Cavern or attend a service at St Matthias's Church.Passengers who remained on board could travel onwards to see the delights of Anstey's Cove and then to Babbacombe for Babbacombe Downs and finally St Marychurch.Passengers on route 3 would have been able to visit the popular Watcombe Pottery.Three years after the construction of the Tramway, it was decided to extend the service to Paignton but the two councils were in conflict as to which power system should be used.Paignton favoured the overhead system whilst Torquay wanted to retain the Dolter stud system.An arbitration hearing was duly called in order to make a decision.At this point it was revealed that the Dolter system had a number of serious failings.It was revealed that horses had been electrocuted by stepping onto live studs and that there was a problem with studs not releasing after a tram had gone over them which necessitated the tram stopping and the conductor nailing rubber patches over the studs to try and make them safe until a workman with heavy boots could come and kick them back into place.The overhead system was chosen as and the whole network duly converted.Generally the daily tram service would begin at 7.3Oam.The first tram ran from Torre station at 7.40am down to Beacon Quay on route number 4.(Beacon Quay is where Living Coasts is now located.) The trams ran generally through the day at ten or fifteen minute intervals.The service tended to end at about 10.45pm.The last tram for St Marychurch departed Torquay harbour side at 10.50pm and the last tram to Paignton left at 10.45pm.In 1923/1924 the first open top trams were introduced and they proved to be a massive success and more were introduced in subsequent years.Sunday tram services began in may 1924.By 1928 after 21 years of service the trams had carried over 109 million passengers but their time was drawing to a close.The continued growth in other forms of road transport and the relatively narrow roads of the resort meant that a more flexible system of transport was required.Briefly trolley buses were considered but eventually buses were the favoured option and a service run by Devon General Buses was introduced.The last tram ran to the Westhill depot in February 1934 and all trace of Torbay's trams began to disappear.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
The Tramways of Torquay
Even Agatha Christie's most assiduous detective Hercules Poirot would find it hard to detect any remaining evidence of trams in today's Torquay.This is not so surprising given that the existence of a tram network on the English Riviera was relatively short lived and ended more than eighty years ago.The story begins in 1898 when the first scheme was placed before the new borough council.Although this scheme was quickly withdrawn, the desire to establish a tram system had taken root.To put this in context, at the time road traffic was still dominated by horse drawn vehicles with a few steam powered and petrol vehicles beginning to make an appearance.Proper road surfaces of tarmac did not arrive in South Devon until 1909 and so in winter the roads were extremely muddy.Because of this stone crossings were laid at key junctions such as the bottom of Fleet Street.This meant that women in particular with their long dresses would avoid the worst of the mud.In summer the main problem was dust.To counteract this the roads had to be damped down.In 1901, there were renewed debates about the introduction of tramways.The most contentious issue was whether or not the tramway should have been municipally owned.A postcard poll of Torquay's voters produced a narrow vote in favour of the idea of a tram network (2705 to 2233) but a very definite vote against public ownership (3999 to 352).This meant that the Council now concentrated upon private companies rather than providing the system themselves.There were a number of initial bidders for the system and these naturally required some detailed plans for the provision of power for the system.Electrical supply was a relatively recent arrival in Torquay and a tram network would require significantly more power than was currently supplied.In 1905 following four long years of debate and proposal and counter proposal, the Torquay Tramway Company was given the go ahead to build a tram system which would run from Beacon Quay to Torre Station and to Babbacombe and St Marychurch on circular routes through Wellswood and Ellacombe to Torquay station.It was decided not to adopt the overhead trolley system (mainly because of strong local opposition to having intrusive overhead wires on the seafront) but to have the "Dolter surface contact system".This had self operating studs between the rails which activated electrical power when a "skate" underneath the tram activated them.There was a serious flaw in the design as we shall see in due course but the company went ahead and took 18 months to complete the track ways.The Dolter system was quite extraordinary to modern eyes but it should be remembered that it was in operation in Paris, Folkestone and Oxford to name but a few places.Disruption was enormous during the laying of the tracks with roads closed for weeks on end.Quite sensibly the opportunity was taken to undertake road widening and improvements.One such major undertaking was the building of the high wall below Torwood Mount.The first trams ran from Beacon Quay in April 1907.Passengers could therefore climb aboard a tram on route 2 for example, and travel along Torquay harbour side around the Mallock Memorial Clock Tower and up Torwood Street and onto the Babbacombe Road.They would travel past Torquay Museum on their right and Torwood Gardens on their left before making a sharp right hand turn.The tram would then gently climb towards Wellswood where passengers could alight to explore the delights of Kent's Cavern or attend a service at St Matthias's Church.Passengers who remained on board could travel onwards to see the delights of Anstey's Cove and then to Babbacombe for Babbacombe Downs and finally St Marychurch.Passengers on route 3 would have been able to visit the popular Watcombe Pottery.Three years after the construction of the Tramway, it was decided to extend the service to Paignton but the two councils were in conflict as to which power system should be used.Paignton favoured the overhead system whilst Torquay wanted to retain the Dolter stud system.An arbitration hearing was duly called in order to make a decision.At this point it was revealed that the Dolter system had a number of serious failings.It was revealed that horses had been electrocuted by stepping onto live studs and that there was a problem with studs not releasing after a tram had gone over them which necessitated the tram stopping and the conductor nailing rubber patches over the studs to try and make them safe until a workman with heavy boots could come and kick them back into place.The overhead system was chosen as and the whole network duly converted.Generally the daily tram service would begin at 7.3Oam.The first tram ran from Torre station at 7.40am down to Beacon Quay on route number 4.(Beacon Quay is where Living Coasts is now located.) The trams ran generally through the day at ten or fifteen minute intervals.The service tended to end at about 10.45pm.The last tram for St Marychurch departed Torquay harbour side at 10.50pm and the last tram to Paignton left at 10.45pm.In 1923/1924 the first open top trams were introduced and they proved to be a massive success and more were introduced in subsequent years.Sunday tram services began in may 1924.By 1928 after 21 years of service the trams had carried over 109 million passengers but their time was drawing to a close.The continued growth in other forms of road transport and the relatively narrow roads of the resort meant that a more flexible system of transport was required.Briefly trolley buses were considered but eventually buses were the favoured option and a service run by Devon General Buses was introduced.The last tram ran to the Westhill depot in February 1934 and all trace of Torbay's trams began to disappear.
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