Original Manchester trams

[102 fan]

Hi

I'm enquiring for a friend who says their Great Grandfather drove the first Manchester tram. John Davis, from Wales.

Is there anyway to find this out?

Thanks.

 

[DanNCL]

Hi

I'm enquiring for a friend who says their Great Grandfather drove the first Manchester tram. John Davis, from Wales.

Is there anyway to find this out?

Thanks.

Your best bet would probably be to contact Manchester Archives. They will likely have newspaper articles from the day which may confirm who drove the first tram.

 

[jp4712]

You’re more likely to get an answer via the Museum of Transport in Manchester.

 

[DanNCL]

You’re more likely to get an answer via the Museum of Transport in Manchester.

Forgot about them! They probably would be a better bet than the archives indeed.

 

[daodao]

Forgot about them! They probably would be a better bet than the archives indeed.

The Manchester Transport Museum published a paperback entitled "Dan Boyle's Railway: Record of Manchester Corporation Tramways, 1901-06" in 1974.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Believe the Manchester Carriage and Tramways Company (initially a horse drawn operation) might date back to as early as 1880.

Understand that 1901 was when trams in Manchester were first electrified.

Ascertaining exactly which was the "First Manchester tram" might therefore be like trying to nail jelly!

Good luck with your quest!

 

[Tim33160]

Hi

I'm enquiring for a friend who says their Great Grandfather drove the first Manchester tram. John Davis, from Wales.

Is there anyway to find this out?

Thanks.

If you care to send an email to email AT gmts.co.uk, with a few more details eg date of birth etc I can look in the Museum of Transport Archives to see what we have. There are only limited records from that era - mainly in a big ledger!

 

[Mothball]

The Heaton Park Tramway (Manchester Transport Museum Society) would probably be a good shout

 

[Lemmy282]

Crich tramway museum in Derbyshire have a very extensive archive, maybe worth giving them a try

 

[eMeS]

I can remember my father's uncle in the 1950s taking me to a tram depot somewhere near Kingsway in the Fallowfield / Burnage area.
(Birchfields Road, perhaps??) Very hazy memories, and well before i drove a car.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I can remember my father's uncle in the 1950s taking me to a tram depot somewhere near Kingsway in the Fallowfield / Burnage area.
(Birchfields Road, perhaps??) Very hazy memories, and well before i drove a car.

Various sources have the mid 1920's built Birchfields Road tram depot, located on the junction of Wilbraham Road, Kingsway and Birchfields Road in the Fallowfield/Levenshulme part of Manchester and quite near to the Slade Lane railway junction, as operational (as a tram depot) until early January 1949, before it was then converted / used as a bus depot until at least the mid 1980s. Since demolished and now a retail park.

Only other tram depots in the area would probably have been the one on Princess Road in the Hulme area, which similarly subsequently became a bus depot, and the one on Hyde Road near to Ardwick railway station.



1927 aerial photo of Birchfields Road tram depot. Source: Historic England.

 

[eMeS]

Various sources have the mid 1920's built Birchfields Road tram depot, located on the junction of Wilbraham Road, Kingsway and Birchfields Road in the Fallowfield/Levenshulme part of Manchester and quite near to the Slade Lane railway junction, as operational (as a tram depot) until early January 1949, before it was then converted / used as a bus depot until at least the mid 1980s. Since demolished and now a retail park.

Only other tram depots in the area would probably have been the one on Princess Road in the Hulme area, which similarly subsequently became a bus depot, and the one on Hyde Road near to Ardwick railway station.

Many thanks - my very vague memory is that there were houses to the north of the depot along Birchfields Road when I was taken for my visit. (Living in either Urmston or Cheadle (Cheshire) depending on when my visit was, we only had CLC trains, or double-decker buses for our local transport.)