Have you ever wondered just where London’s horse trams went? Well, if you have, wonder no longer! Thanks to extensive research by one of their members the Branch Line Society have published an atlas of all horse tram routes in the capital as they were around 1896 and it can be found on the Branch Line Society website.
The first horse trams ran in London in 1860 with a line in Westminster operated by George Francis Train although this was a brief start with the line soon closing as the rails were above the road surface causing obstructions to other road traffic. The real start of horse tram operations came following the 1870 Act of Parliament with lines then opening from Blackheath to Vauxhall via Peckham and Camberwell, to Brixton joining the previous line, Whitechapel to Bow and Kensington to Oxford Street. Whilst electric trams started to run in London in 1901 it wasn’t to be 1915 before the very last horse tram was withdrawn from service. One fully restored horse tram remains in existence – London Tramways no. 284 at the London Transport Museum – but there are a number of other bodies and the London County Council Transport Trust have plans to fund the restoration of one of these to operational condition once the work on London County Council 1 is completed.
1896 was the peak of horse trams running in the capital and this atlas is an excellent way to see just how far they operated across the capital, its hard to believe with modern sensibilities some 120 years later how far they did operate and the thought of how many horses were involved is mind boggling!
The excellent atlas is available through the Branch Line Society’s website and can be accessed here. It has been made possible by the extensive research of BLS member John Yonge and has then be drawn in clear fashion by the Society’s Publications Officer, Martyn Brailsford.
* We are grateful to the Branch Line Society for allowing us to link to this atlas. The BLS is a UK based voluntary association for railway enthusiasts who have an extensive programme of tours, many featuring rarely used track on the national rail network and beyond. They have also in the past covered tramways such as Blackpool and Crich. To find out more visit their website at www.branchline.uk/home.