Potteries Electric Traction Company

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Potteries Electric Traction Company
Potteries Electric Traction Company.jpg
Map of the routes of the Potteries Electric Traction Company
Operation
LocaleThe Potteries
Open16 May 1899
Close1928
StatusClosed
Infrastructure
Track gauge4 ft (1,219 mm)
Propulsion system(s)Electric
Depot(s)see main body for info.
Statistics
Route length32 miles (51 km)
Potteries Electric Traction map
Goldenhill - Longton and Silverdale
Legend
Goldenhill Woodstock Street
Goldenhill Tram Depot
Tunstall High Street
Brownhills Road
Scotia Road
Davensport Street
Smallthorne
Middleport
Burslem Town Centre
Longport Railway Stn
Porthill(Watlands View)
Maybank Tram Depot
Waterloo Rd(Cobridge)
Waterloo Road Stn
Chell Street
to Newcastle
& Stoke(via Shelton)
to Hanley(via Cliffe Vale)
& Stoke(via Hartshill
Hanley(see better map below)
Newcastle Ironmarket
High St
Newcastle
 
to Chesterton
Silverdale
Church St
Leek Road
Lichfield St/Victoria Road
Victoria Place
Fenton
Silverdale High St
to Stoke Town Centre
Fenton Tram Depot
Longton
The Strand
Longton
Commerce St
Longton
Queen Park Road
Meir
Station
Potteries Electric Traction map
Chesterton to Trent Vale / Hanford
Legend
Chesterton (Sandford St)
Chesterton
Loomer Road
to Silverdale
 
Newcastle
High Street Terminus
Newcastle
Ironmarket
to Middleport
to Tunstall/Goldenhill
Hartshill
Cliffe Vale
Etruria Railway Station
Hanley Town Centre
to Hanley
via Stoke Road
Stoke Town Centre
to Stoke
Glebe Street
to Longton
Trent Vale

The Potteries Electric Traction Company operated a tramway service in The Potteries between 1899 and 1928.[1]

History[]

British Electric Traction incorporated a new company on 27 June 1898, called the Potteries Electric Traction Company. Its purpose was to extend the existing tramway through the towns of the Potteries. It acquired the North Staffordshire Tramways Company Limited and arranged to take over the Longton Corporation Tramways.

Construction was awarded to Dick, Kerr & Co. and the overhead work was awarded to R. W Blackwell and Company. The coal-fired power station was constructed by Brush Electrical Engineering Company at the depot at Woodhouse Street, Stoke. Later a second station was opened at May Bank.

On 16 May 1899 the first electric trams ran from Stoke to Longton. By 1902, the company had a fleet of 105 trams and carried 14,438,048 passengers. By 1904 the system had expanded to 32 miles of route.

Fleet[]

  • 1-17 Brush single deck cars 1898
  • 18-27 Brush single deck trailers 1898
  • 28-40 Brush single deck cars 1899
  • 41-70 Electric Railway and Tramway Carriage Works 1900.
  • 71-85 Midland Railway Carriage and Wagon Company 1900.
  • 86-106 Brush 1901 (99, 100 and 106 transferred to Barrow in Furness Tramways 1904/05)
  • 99-100 Second-hand cars from Middleton Electric Traction Company
  • 107 Works car
  • 108 Open railway type car
  • 109-112 Parcels trailers
  • 113-117 Brush 1906
  • 118-119 Second hand cars from Middleton Electric Traction Company
  • 120
  • 121-123 Three second hand cars 1920 from Sheffield Corporation Tramways (Sheffield 58, 122 and 123)
  • 124 Modified iron tip wagon 1922.
  • 125 Second-hand car from the Dudley, Stourbridge and District Electric Traction Company

Accidents[]

Trams were relatively safe, although there were accidents.

In 1923, a runaway tram was destroyed in an accident on Hartshill Bank, the steepest gradient on the system, and 18 passengers were injured.[2]

A year later, a driver was fatally injured in an accident at the Granville level crossings in Cobridge.

Depot[]

As with all tram systems, the PET Company had a number of tram depots located at the end of each line. PET had depots located at Chesterton, Fenton,[3] Goldenhill,[4] Stoke, Maybank.

Closure[]

The system closed in 1928, and in May 1933 the company was renamed Potteries Motor Traction.

The Red Lion Hotel, National Tramway Museum

The Red Lion public house which for years stood outside the tramway depot in Stoke-on-Trent, is now relocated to the National Tramway Museum.

Possible reintroduction[]

It has been proposed as part of the Transforming Cities Fund that Stoke-on-Trent could get a tramway once again for the first time in 90 years.[5][6]

References[]

  1. ^ Klapper, Charles Frederick. The Golden Age of Tramways. Taylor and Francis.
  2. ^ http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Fenton-1962-tramlines-dug/story-12540762-detail/story.html. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ^ http://www.stokemuseums.org.uk/collections/browse_collections/Local_History_Collections/pmt_collection/pmt_garages/001546.html?tab=image[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ http://www.stokemuseums.org.uk/collections/browse_collections/Local_History_Collections/pmt_collection/pmt_garages/001548.html?tab=image[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ https://staffslive.co.uk/2018/10/stoke-plans-welcome-trams-back-city/. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ^ Corrigan, Phil (3 October 2018). "Next stop Stoke-on-Trent! Plans for trams to return to city for first time in 90 years as part of multi-million pound 'transport revolution'".

External links[]

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