One of the surprising aspects of this series has been just how much old tram track there is still lying in open sight, especially when you consider how long ago it was that first generation tramways were abandoned. While some track is deliberately displayed as a historic artefact with plaques and signs much of this track is just there with no fan fare – and so it is in Huddersfield.
Trams first started to run in Huddersfield in 1883 with the system going through steam operation, then horses before settling on electric power in 1901. Unlike many tramways in the country it started off being operated by the Corporation (the first in the country to do so) and they would run it all the way until the final trams would run in 1940. At its peak the total length was just shy of 40 miles.
Whilst no trams would survive the end of the tramway the below photo shows that there is still some track. Located in the coal yard of Hillhouse sidings this was reached by a single track which left the track along Bradford Road and then went down Whitehouse Lane and across Alder Street to enter the yard along the curve in the foreground of the photos. The only trams which used this section of track were the two coal trams which took fuel to mills on the Outlane route on the tramway.
Two views showing the short section of curved track in Huddersfield. The second image shows the distinctive coal chutes with their inverted V. The track which curves in the foreground led to a headshunt , with a line running back alongside the chutes. One of the mill’s chute was at the extreme left-hand end, so close to an end wall that the two trams had to have very narrow platforms for the drivers. (Both Photographs by Dave Jones, 2nd September 2020)
I believe this is actually the Hillhouse Coal Yard. The wooden staithes in the background of the second photo are a listed structure.
This is where the Coal trams were loaded from railway wagons (on the staithes above). The freight only tramway branch to the coal yard connected to the Fartown route on Bradford Rd, not the Bradley route which ran along Leeds Road at the other side of the Railway and the Canal.
This tram track was used by the two coal trams. The track went alongside the coal staithes seen in the background. The coal trams then proceeded up the Outlane rout delivering coal to three mills. The last mill at Outlane was beyond the terminus by a few hundred yards. There is the loop at Edgerton which shows its self when the tarmac wears thin. Tony Stevenson
Thanks to all who have corrected the information in the original article. It should now be somewhere more approaching the facts now!