Trams: All that's left is a memory

It had double track all the way to the Borough boundary at Moses Gate where it joined the former Farnworth UDC/SLT tracks to the Black Horse and Walkden respectively. Unfortunately, the latter was already in urgent need of repair by 1939, but, owing to the outbreak of war and cutbacks on track maintenance, its condition rapidly deteriorated.

Hence, from 1940 onwards, the four-wheelers lurched terrifyingly from side-to-side as they raced down Bolton Road towards the Walkden terminus. Obviously, it was never a good idea to have a large meal before setting forth on an old Walkden warrior. Small wonder that those of my pals who travelled to school each day from Walkden made such good use of Mrs Taylor's Tuck Shop during the morning break!

Several of the cars on this route began life in 1899 as open-topped four-wheelers; one of them, Bolton No. 8, survived until the 1940s. Though the route was officially closed in November 1944, the track and overhead wiring remained in situ as far as Moses Gate until 1946. It was occasionally used by Football Specials to Burnden Park on Saturdays, and to Moses Gate on Sundays.

You can readily imagine a certain tram driver's disbelief when in September 1946 -- en route to Burnden Park -- he was obliged to stop his car on Manchester Road near the Technical College because the track suddenly disappeared! Apparently, the Highways' Department had failed to notify the Tramways' Department of their intention to lift a section of what they regarded as redundant track.

I also admired the way in which the Authority maintained its "static hardware" -- such as trampoles. The majority of Bolton's poles were the standard three-section weldless type. Indeed, the only side-poles I recollect seeing in the 30s were in Trinity Street and Station Street, opposite and alongside Trinity Street station, as well as in Newport Street and the single-track approach to the Tonge Moor terminus, although, judging from old photographs, side-poles were also in evidence on Deansgate, Bradshawgate and Chorley New Road, Horwich, in the early 1900s.

From the 20s onwards, Bolton's poles were painted dark green on a light grey primer/undercoat. The standard poles were embedded six feet into the ground and were almost 27 feet high from pavement level to the ball and spike finial. The ball and spike finials were painted red and were not just ornamental. They also prevented rain from running down the inside of the poles and rusting them, as well as dissuading birds from perching on the tops of the cast-iron poles and fouling them in the process. The poles on the more recent extensions in the 20s, eg Church Road, Westhoughton and Montserrat, were not capped by ball and spike finials; they had plain push-fit spherical tops and lacked the ornate cast-iron bases of the older poles. At ground-level, all the older poles had such bases -- again painted red and fluted and embossed with the Bolton coat-of-arms.

The advent of World War Two saw the cast iron bases crudely broken up by sledgehammer and the fragments removed for melting down as part of the national "war effort". The reason -- albeit tenuous -- being that the name "Bolton Corporation Tramways", also embossed on the base, might have helped any airborne invaders determine their whereabouts! Hence, all signs denoting place names were removed or obliterated! Consequently, the newly exposed area at the base of all denuded trampoles was painted silver to a height of about five feet above the ground. Alas, the poles never regained their pre-war glory, although, with the advent of sodium vapour lighting in the mid-30s, they did sterling service for years afterwards as lamp-standards by superseding the old gas-lamps from circa 1936 onwards.

The tramways themselves also left their marks on Bolton's roads and streets for several years after they were finally abandoned. One had only to took at the cobbled surfaces of virtually every main thoroughfare in the town to see where the tram tracks had previously existed. Granite setts -- 4ins cubes in the town centre and measuring 6ins x 3ins x 3ins on the outer routes -- were fitted between the lines and extended to 18ins on either side.

These were in marked contrast to the larger cobbles which covered the remainder of a road's surface, and constituted the extent of the highway for which the Tramways' Department was responsible -- rather than the Highways' Department which looked after the rest of the road. It wasn't until the late 40s and early 50s that asphalting of the main roads took place, by which time most of the tram tracks had been lifted and only the cobbled surfaces remained.

By the time I was demobilised at the end of 1946, all but one of Bolton's tram routes had already been abandoned. Indeed, it was more than apparent that the once effective system was in its death throes. The trams themselves had been neglected for a number of years and appeared shabby and unkempt. The one surviving route -- the "T" to Tonge Moor -- had only until March 29, 1947, before it too succumbed. That was the day when Bolton's last tram, No. 440, suitably decorated to mark the occasion and witnessed by many enthusiasts who ignored the rain, made the final journey to Tonge Moor and back.

From then on, Bolton's trams -- unlike the war -- became a fond memory!