We have recently been contacted by Elaine Clarke who has discovered a discarded old album of photos which included images of tram lines being laid in a mystery location. The album also contained pictures of Wentworth Castle suggesting a possible location of the Sheffield/Doncaster area however the photos don’t have any obvious landmarks allowing an easy identification. The photos are included below and if anyone can help to identify the location Elaine would be grateful – you can either leave a comment or alternatively email gareth@britishtramsonline.co.uk and we will pass all suggestions on.
Both Photographs courtesy of Elaine Clarke
I don”t think they are of Sheffield as they don”t match Nursery Street , Neepsend Lane or Holme Lane single line sections .
No idea either. Elf and safety how many modern day offenses.
Dave
Before my time, but hills in the background suggest possibly SHMD. Were there trams in Glossop at one time?
The track gauge is interesting as it looks wider than normal, maybe 5’0″? That could suggest an Irish connection.
It would be five feet three in Dublin, four feet nine and a half in Belfast, two foot eleven and a quarter in Cork. How wide apart the rails look depends how tall the photographer was. Probably standard gauge. Long skirts rule out Dearne and District perhaps, laid in the 20s.
There was a small tramway in Glossop from 1903 to 1927. I’m not sure of the track gauge, but most of the smaller electric tramways tended to be narrow gauge (3′ 6″)
I remembered I had a copy of British Bus Tram & Trolleybuses number 12 by W G S Hyde & Eric Ogden, which covers the SHMD Joint Board. A quick look in this book showed similarities in architecture and street furniture to the above photos. I can not pin point any exact locations, but a more eagle eyed observer may be able to. Ashton-under-Lyne shows similarities also. The chimney pots in particular look very similar. As a native of Stockport the pictures look very northern, but I may of course be completely wrong!
If anyone is wondering what SHMD stood for it was:
Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley & Dukinfield.
This was absorbed into Greater Manchester Transport in the 70s
Their livery was mainly green with cream lining out
Sorry folks, seeing SHMD buses on a daily basis you forget that the initials may be alien to others. In the early sixties the buses began to have the name written in full rather than just the initials.
The most significant feature is that it’s single and loop, which suggests one of the smaller systems. I’d say definitely standard gauge. The large number of sightseers is a bit puzzling. It also looks as if the road was already “made up” and had to be ripped up for the tram tracks, which suggests it’s a later extension. No sign of any overhead in the pictures.
No sign of any overhead wiring or supporting poles. Maybe it was an early horse tramway. There is a gas lamp on the left of the upper photo so maybe electricity was yet to be installed.
I’ve commented under the second photo but I think it might be Barnsley, from Eldon Street North down to Old Mill Lane. It’s pretty much changed these days but the road in the background could also be a clue. The short rows of slope-roofed houses look like the remaining row on Canal Street. Old Mill Gas Works is also in the right place as is the loop, coming from Barnsley (see LRTL ‘Tramways of South Yorkshire and Humberside’). Could the first photo be Barnsley also? The gas lamp bases in both photos are the same.
I’ve done a bit more hunting and the gas lamp bases are the type used in Barnsley, so I think it’s Barnsley. You can see it all using street view and google maps and also the old ordnance maps from the National Library of Scotland online. The tram route being built in picture 2 in Barnsley was the Smithies route. The main street picture is more difficult as there has been so much redevelopment in Barnsley since the 1960s.
I would agree about Barnsley. In the photo No 1 enlarged you can make out the Carters Arms pub on the right and it appears to be selling Clarksons beers. There is a listing for a Clarksons Brewery in Barnsley around the turn of the 19th/20th centuries.
Looks like you have solved the mystery, Mike. It has been bugging me for years, so many thanks.
Look up Barnsley in Wikipedia, there is a postcard of a tram in Cheapside dated 1904. The architecture looks very similar. I think Mike is right.