A PUBLIC transport era came to an end exactly 100 years ago today.

On July 10, 1904, the last Bury steam tram ran as far as the Swan Inn at Woolfold.

This was to accommodate a party of revellers from the pub who had been away for the day and needed to get home from Bury railway station.

The tram then steamed into history as it returned to Bury without passengers.

An account in the Bolton Evening News explains that the tramway undertaking had recently "passed under the control of the local authorities in Bury."

It continues: "Reconstruction and electrification are being pushed forward rapidly and as the last section, that to Tottington, is being taken in hand today, the steam car service is to be withdrawn."

Steam trams operated from 1883 to 1904 on 33.25 miles of lines constructed to connect towns including Bury, Rochdale and Oldham.

Local tram enthusiast Derek Shepherd tells me the trams were pulled by small locomotives manned by a driver and a fireman who kept the boiler supplied with coal.

"There must have been smell and noise," he said. "They were cumbersome contraptions to run."

But steam trams were never seen on the streets of Bolton.

cars were horse-drawn until electrification in January, 1900.

Mr WGS Hyde, who is the archivist at the Heaton Park Tramway Museum, wrote a book in 1979 about the Manchester, Bury, Rochdale and Oldham Steam Tramway.

It was a commercial enterprise - backed by money men in London - which ran until progress brought in the electric cars.

Mr Hyde describes the journey of the last steam train in Bury.

"It was a special put on to convey a party from Bury to Woolfold," he said. "Evidently the customers of the Swan Inn had arranged a day out but their train had returned to Bury station too late to connect with the last tram, so engine number 34 and car number 41 were brought from Bury depot and made a final last trip to convey the revellers home."

Mr Hyde adds: "So ended the steam trams in Bury.

"They were withdrawn without any ceremony and their going was quite overshadowed by the glamour and the publicity given to the new electric cars."

The Bury electric tram system closed in February, 1949.

Pictures:

Top - Final journey: Lionel Horridge of Princess Road, Lostock, brought in the picture above, which belonged to his father George. The picture was taken outside the Swan in 1904 - just before the steam tram went out of service. George Horridge, who ran the family print business of Horridge and Cornall, travelled on the route and kept the picture on his bedroom wall for many years.

Bottom - Accident: The trams did not always run according to plan. On February 12, 1941, two trams collided on Folds Road, injuring 31 people. Fortunately, none of them were seriously hurt. Derek Shepherd says this was the only Bolton car to be knocked over in this way. It was later rebuilt and put back into service because of a wartime shortage.