The first horse tram service began in 1880 and consisted of only one route, which started from the GWR Station. It ran via Southgate Street, High Street and Walcot to Grosvenor. The horse stables and depot were situated at the rear of the Porter Butt Hotel, London Road.
On 2nd January 1904, electric traction began using the standard gauge of four feet eight and a half inches/1435mm. To get the tramway up and running, R.D.McCarter, an American, was appointed as the Company's first General Manager and Engineer. His duties were taken over in 1908 by W.E.Hardy.
There were 40 cars in total of Milnes' construction: 1-34 double deck and 50-55 single deck. The latter were often known as whippets. Cars 1-18 and 50-51 were used for the opening, and the remaining trams were delivered in August of the same year. The reason for the six single deck cars being ordered was to enable trams to run under the low railway bridge in Westmoreland Road on the route to Oldfield Park.
Unusually for a city layout, there were two different one-way systems. One was relatively simple, being out via Broad Street and in via Walcot Street. The other amazingly ran around the city centre in an anti-clockwise manner from Dorchester Street, GWR Station, Guildhall/Abbey and back through Cheap Street, Stall Street and Southgate Street.
The service ceased on Saturday, 6th May 1939 with Car 22 doing the honours. Driven by the Mayor, Captain Adrian Hopkins, and assisted by Chief Inspector Hale at the helm, she left promptly from the Guildhall at midnight with one hundred passengers on board. Special tickets were issued and put in souvenir wallets. Sadly, she made history by becoming the last passenger car to operate, fighting the crowds on the way back to the only depot, in Walcot Street. Nearly all the trams were broken up at the Glasshouse sidings opposite St. Martin's Hospital, Midford Road, with the remainder being scrapped at the depot.
Luckily the depot survives today, used as a market on Saturdays and a car park dnring the week. Apart from this building, little remains to remind us of a once well maintained fleet and an efficient service that crossed the city so faithfully for 35 years.
Track Layout
Click on map above to see full version!
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Electric tram routes
The routes were as follows -
- Bathford - Guildhall - Combe Down
- GWR Station - Kingsmead Square -Upper Bristol Road - Newton St.Loe
- GWR Station - Kingsmead Square -Upper Bristol Road - Weston
- Guildhall - Lower Bristol Road - Twerton
- Guildhall - Old Bridge - Oldfield Park (Cynthia Road)
