In Pictures: Portsmouth 84 at Milestones Museum

It’s the fully intact tram which is closest to British Trams Online headquarters but barely gets mentioned (indeed I’ve personally only ever seen it once in a visit many years ago!) so its time to change all that! The tram we are talking about is the sole surviving Portsmouth tram, no. 84.

The tram was converted from a horse car in 1903 having originally been built in 1880 for use on the North Metropolitan Tramways Co. Ltd in London. As can be seen below it was a double deck open topper and operated on the strange 4ft 7 3/4in gauge tramway before being withdrawn and used as a railgrinder until the system closed in 1936. Eventually rescued for preservation the tram was restored to its passenger tram condition and has been on display at the Milestones Museum on the outskirts of Basingstoke, Hampshire since 1st December 2000 when the museum opened to the public.

Sitting on a piece of track in a street scene this is 84 in pride of place at Milestones.

The lower deck interior of 84.

A close-up of the controller. (All Photographs by Bob Hodges)

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6 Responses to In Pictures: Portsmouth 84 at Milestones Museum

  1. Gordon Casely says:

    So 4ft 7and3/4in is a “strange gauge”? Not across the huge Clyde Valley systems, it wasn’t! Glasgow used it so that railway ooperations between dockyards and main line might use tramlines for convenience.

    Were there other systems apart fro Glasgow and Portsmouth employing the 4-7 3/4 gauge?

  2. Mike Baron says:

    Another 4ft 7 3/4ins gauge tramway system was that of Huddersfield Corporation. At this gauge, ordinary railway wagons could use the tram lines by running on their flanges – I read that railway flanges are deeper than tramway ones. This gauge was chosen in Huddersfield as it allowed the passage of coal trucks over a small part of the system.

  3. tony stevenson says:

    Huddersfield trams ran on 4 foot 7 and 3/4 inch. Railway wagons never used the tramway but two coal trams were built to carry coal from the coal drops at Hillhouse to three mills on the Outlane route. If you go on line to Google and type in Huddersfield trams you will find a few photographs of these interesting trams. Tony Stevenson.

  4. Bigalasdair says:

    It’s worth mentioning that the City of Portsmouth Preserved Transport Depot at Portchester also displays a 1903 vintage Portsdown & Horndean Light Railway tramcar together with other preserved ex Portsmouth Corporation vehicles.

    Big Alasdair

  5. Frank Bagshaw says:

    I believe Huddersfield Corporation Tramways also operated on 4ft 7 and 3/4 inch gauge.

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