Bolton trams - 50 years on

In 1958, he joined a major British oil company in Iraq as a training specialist, eventually returning to the UK in 1965. He then worked for four years as a senior training adviser with the first Industry Training Board in Britain and subsequently spent over 13 years as the regional education and training manager for NEGAS, part of the British Gas Corporation. He retired in 1983 and now lives in the Yorkshire Dales.

But, as with many people brought up in Bolton, he has fond memories of the trams, and earlier this year this article (second and third parts will appear on Saturday and next Tuesday) was published in the respected magazine Tramway Review and was well received by tram enthusiasts.

It is a miscellany of personal reminiscences of trams, both informative and humorous and with drawings by Mr Markland, until their demise in 1947, and I am sure that the memories will also take you back to those days . .

Click HERE for several more pictures

The first tram I saw

IT was early in 1928 when I first saw a Bolton Corporation Tramways' single-decker. There it was, minus an upper deck, standing on Bradshawgate at the corner of Silverwell Street. What a shock; I didn't believe it!

Little did I know that it was one of only three single-decker combination cars used exclusively by BCT on their shortest route -- the "A" to Darcy Lever. I also didn't appreciate that each of the three single-deckers would shortly be withdrawn from service to be converted into eight-wheelers, fully enclosed on both decks and retaining their original fleet numbers; namely, 104, 105 and 106. Barely five years' old at the time, I didn't even know where Darcy Lever was!

During the years 1928-36, four of Bolton's original 14 routes were abandoned. The routes in question being Darcy Lever, Bury, Swan Lane and Great Lever. They were the only routes I'd never used owing to the fact that not only was I too young to travel alone in the early 30s, but also that my parents had rarely, if ever, travelled on the four routes themselves.

Happily, once I became a teenager and, simultaneously, an avid follower of Heaton Cricket Club, I began to visit those Bolton League cricket grounds where Heaton happened to be playing; as there was a local club at virtually the end of every tram route, it wasn't long before I'd travelled the length of all 10 of Bolton's remaining routes.

However, despite being a relatively seasoned tram passenger, it wasn't until 1937 that I first spotted Bolton No. l. A four-wheeler complete with a balcony-top cover, it was travelling smoothly along Bradshawgate en route to Tonge Moor.

Bolton's fleet numbers were located on each tram's end-panels just above its headlamps. Originally, the numerals were gold-leafed transfers having "serifed" numerals with a gradated blueish silver shadow. However, it was in 1937 when I first noticed that they were being superseded by similar gold-leafed transfers but with "serifed" numerals having a gradated reddish silver shadow. The modified numbers can be seen on Bolton 66, the restored tramcar currently based in Blackpool.

Despite that minor modification, the numerals' main characteristics, especially their size, always remained unchanged.

Advertisements stopped appearing on the sides of Bolton's cars in the early 20s. Despite living on the busy -- albeit cobbled -- Chorley Old Road "O" route, I cannot recollect ever having noticed such blandishments on the eight-wheelers as they laboriously climbed the steady gradient towards New Hall Lane.

Obviously, I wasn't the most perceptive five-year old, otherwise, I'd have already observed that any remaining open-topped cars, both bogies and four-wheelers, were being fitted with balcony and closed-top covers during the 20s. Such improvements not only helped mollify tram drivers but also those passengers who'd previously braved adverse weather conditions while sitting in the open.

Mind you, I was always impressed by Bolton trams' bright reddish maroon and cream liveried bodywork. It was far more presentable than the dullish maroon and cream of Bury's cars, not to mention the frequently mud-splattered, red-liveried South Lancashire Tramway Company's cars occasionally spotted at the Wholesale Market terminal station on Great Moor Street -- until the Company's service to Leigh via Atherton was withdrawn in 1933.

By the time I was nine, I knew beyond doubt that the highest numbered car in Bolton's fleet was 150, though I must confess that I was completely nonplussed

when a fellow pupil at Church Road Council School, told me he'd seen number

151. I never forgave him for having wound me up in that way, as it took me the best part of three months to establish that there just wasn't such a number in Bolton's fleet.

Secretly, though, I wished there had been! After all, in 1931, Bolton, was the fourth largest County Borough in England. Only Croydon, West Ham and Sunderland were larger. Surely that fact alone warranted Bolton having a truly impressive tram system? Why couldn't we have a full (ie double-tracked) grand union junction like the one at Cross Lane in neighbouring Salford? Sadly, we had to make do with -- at least, until 1930 -- two half (ie single-tracked) grand union junctions -- one at Deansgate/Knowsley Street, the other at Newport Street/Great Moor Street.

Though Bolton's overall total of tramcars eventually reached 162, it was very unusual for more than 100 to be in use at any one time. Indeed, by 1940, the total number of cars in service was only 78. It was then that, in order to avoid confusion with the bus fleet numbers, the surviving cars were renumbered, their original numbers being increased by 300.

In the good old days when attendances at Burnden Park often exceeded 40,000 -- the record being 69,912 in 1933 -- Football Specials were routed directly to the football ground. The Specials ran on virtually every route and a number of rarely used junctions were utilised to speed their journeys through the town centre. In those days, a tong line of trams drawn up outside the football ground on Manchester Road was a common sight on match days.

The "S" to Church Road route, having been extended from Brownlow Fold (Elgin Street) to Church Road (Smithills) in May 1924, was the most tortuous of the 14 routes which radiated in all directions from the town centre. This route traversed seven different streets, each quite short, and had no double-track anywhere, apart from eight essential passing-loops. As such, it could be described as a "second division" route and certain very sharp corners precluded it from being used by anything other than single-truck four-wheelers. It was also the penultimate route to be extended; the ultimate extension being made to the Westhoughton "E" route in December 1924.

On the other hand, the Chorley Old Road route was in the "premier league", with double track virtually all the way to Doffcocker, where a relatively short single-track extension to Montserrat was added in June 1923. It's also worth mentioning that the gradient at the Montserrat terminus was one of the steepest in the system, while the interlaced trackwork near the Whitecroft Road/Chorley Old Road junction was a feature rarely found elsewhere. In fact, the only other interlaced track I'd come across was located on BLackburn's Wilpshire route, though I believe an example had also existed in Bury.

Bogies, mainly the fully-enclosed 139-150 series newly delivered in 1927, were used exclusively on the Chorley Old Road route, whereas poor old Church Road latterly had to make do with second-hand four-wheelers bought from the Sunderland District Tramway Company in 1924.