Glasgow Corporation Tramways

A "Coronation" tram in Argyle Street, Glasgow, in June 1962, three months before the final closure of the system

Glasgow trams in 1962, shortly before final withdrawal of services (Cunarder on the left, Coronation in middle row)

Glasgow Corporation Tramways were formerly one of the largest urban tramway systems in Europe. Over 1000 municipally-owned trams served the city of Glasgow, Scotland. The system closed in 1962 and was the last city tramway in Great Britain (prior to the construction of new systems in the 1990s).

Creation

The Glasgow Street Tramways Act was enacted by Parliament in 1870. This legislation allowed Glasgow Town Council to decide whether or not to have tramways within Glasgow.¹ In 1872, the Town Council laid a 2½-mile route from St George's Cross to Eglinton Toll (via New City Road, Cambridge Street, Sauchiehall Street, Renfield Street and the Jamaica Bridge).

The Tramways Act prohibited the Town Council from directly operating a tram service over the lines. The act further stipulated that a private company be given the operating lease of the tram-lines for a period of 22 years.² The St George's Cross to Eglinton Toll tram line was opened on 19 August 1872 with a horse-drawn service by the Glasgow Tramway and Omnibus Company³. The Glasgow Tramway and Omnibus Company operated the tram-line and subsequent extensions to the system until 30 June 1894.

In declining to renew the Glasgow Tramway and Omnibus Company operating lease, Glasgow Town Council formed the Glasgow Corporation Tramways and commenced their own municipal tram service on 1 July 1894.

Track gauge

Glasgow's tramlines had a highly unusual track gauge of 4 feet 7¾ inches (or 1416 millimetres). This was to permit Standard gauge railway wagons to be operated over parts of the tram system (particularly in the Govan area) using their wheel flanges running in the slots of the tram tracks.

Electrification

The electrification of the tram system was instigated by the Glasgow Tramways Committee, with the route between Springburn and Mitchell Street chosen as an experiment. With a fleet of 21 newly built tramcars, the experimental electric route commenced on 13 October 1898 and was considered a success. The city-wide horse-drawn tram service was withdrawn at the end of April 1902.

An additional 400 new trams were built and fitted with electrical equipment, with the Glasgow Corporation Tramways workshops at Coplawhill, Pollokshields heavily involved in the construction of the new trams. Following the closure of the tram system, the workshops were converted into the Glasgow Museum of Transport in 1964. Following the Museum's relocation to the Kelvin Hall in 1987, the buildings were subsequently adapted to become the Tramway Theatre.

To provide the electrical supply, a generating station was built on the banks of the Forth and Clyde Canal, near Springburn. The Pinkston Power Station opened in 1901. The Pinkston Power Station and substations located at Coplawhill, Dalhousie, Kinning Park, Whitevale and Partick also powered the Glasgow Subway. The power station operated for 57 years, until it was handed over to the South of Scotland Electricity Board in 1958 and ceased operating in the early 1960s.

Following electrification, Glasgow trams were initially fitted with trolley poles to take electricity from the overhead wires. The trolley poles were later replaced with bow collectors.

Rolling Stock

"Room and Kitchen" cars

Glasgow's first purpose-built electric trams were 20 single deck vehicles with a central entrance, entering service in 1898.

Standard

These four-wheeled, double-deck tramcars were the mainstay of the Glasgow tram fleet from electrification until the late 1950s (due to the imminent closure of the system). The first versions of these trams had rounded front panels and open tops (later enclosed).

The "Kilmarnock Bogies"

An order for 50 new trams was placed in the mid 1920s; they were delivered in 1927-1929. They were fairly similar in appearance to the later Standard trams, but with eight wheels (two four-wheeled bogies). The tramcars was constructed by four different manufacturers to a common design, but all used bogies made by the Kilmarnock Engineering Company (hence the nickname). These eight-wheeled trams were restricted to several comparatively straight routes to avoid the risk of derailing on tight curves.

Coronation Trams

By the mid-1930s, the Glasgow tram fleet was becoming increasingly dated and unattractive. Other British cities had taken decisions to either abandon or modernise their tramway systems. The Empire Exhibition at Bellahouston Park in 1938 would also require additional vehicles to transport the expected visitors. Accordingly, Glasgow Corporation decided to construct a fleet of 100 new double-deck trams, the first of which were delivered in 1937 - the year of the Coronation of King George VI.

Cunarders

The Cunarder trams were a post-war development of the Coronation trams and, as such, were amongst the last double-deck trams to be built in the UK. Though comfortable, they were not regarded as being as reliable or capable as the Coronation trams. The Cunarders were fairly similar in design to the Coronations, a notable difference being the route number indicator being above the side window of the cab (rather than on the front of the tram).

The Green Goddesses: ex-Liverpool trams

A "Green Goddess" tram preserved at the National Tramway Museum (in Liverpool Corporation livery)

In 1954, with the impending closure of Liverpool's tram system (in 1957), 46 of that city's most modern streamlined trams were purchased by Glasgow Corporation. These tramcars, built in 1936, were intended to replace some of the ageing Standard tramcars. They did not prove wholly successful in Glasgow and were mostly withdrawn within a few years; they were normally confined to only two routes (with relatively few sharp curves).

Glasgow rejected an offer from Liverpool to purchase more Green Goddesses or the four-wheeled version, known as "Baby Grands". Glasgow also rejected an offer from London Transport for its surplus E3 type tramcars.

Closure

The tram system was gradually phased out between 1956 and 1962 (in favour of diesel-powered buses), with the final trams operating on 4 September 1962. Apart from the Blackpool tramway, Glasgow became the last city or town in the UK to operate trams until the opening of the Manchester Metrolink in 1992.

In 1949 one tram line was converted to trolleybus operation. Thereafter Glasgow developed several trolleybus routes, but these were all replaced by diesel buses by 1967.

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