Tram history question. Can anyone help please?

[Mark Barrett]

Can somebody help with this query please - or if there is a better place to raise it point me in the right direction.

I live in West Bromwich and this cast iron box is in our local Park. It has recently had a coat of paint which is why it looks so good. Anyway I am told that it used to be part of the local tram system until it closed in 1939.

It has the name Callender's on the bottom rail. I believe they used to supply a lot of electrical equipment for trams so that part of the story seems to stand up.

Somebody has called it a junction box and somebody else a switch box.

I am trying to understand what is the correct name for it and what part it would have played in the tramway system.

If anyone can help in any way thanks in advance.

Mark Barrett

 

[Bevan Price]

Callenders became part of BICC and was involved in the manufacture & sale of electricity cables, etc.
See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Insulated_Callender's_Cables

 

[John Webb]

It is a 'Feeder' box. Basically both a junction box and switch box combined. The tram's overhead supply was split up into sections to allow for repairs, shutting off power in an accident without closing the whole system down, ensuring the voltage was kept at a reasonable level and the like. The 'Feeder' box tapped off a cable running along the street, usually underground, and then passed the supply through a switch to the overhead line.

 

[Mark Barrett]

It is a 'Feeder' box. Basically both a junction box and switch box combined. The tram's overhead supply was split up into sections to allow for repairs, shutting off power in an accident without closing the whole system down, ensuring the voltage was kept at a reasonable level and the like. The 'Feeder' box tapped off a cable running along the street, usually underground, and then passed the supply through a switch to the overhead line.

Thank you John that is REALLY helpful. I hadn't come across that term before - but now when I put it into Google quite a lot of stuff comes up from all over the country.

One webpage says that feeder boxes would be located approximately every half mile on the system. So my next task is to try and find a map of where they were positioned. There is what appears to be a reference number on one of the doors which might mean something. Hopefully it will!

If anyone is wondering why this box is in the Park . . . well as I said above the tram system in West Brom stopped operating in 1939. Then in 1951 (as part of the Festival of Britain) a floral clock was added to the Park. It was quite an elaborate affair, approx 12 feet across, and it cuckooed every quarter of an hour. lol They obviously needed a box for the electrics and decided to recycle this redundant tramway feeder box. Well the clock is now long gone and the feeder box just sits there looking very lonely. I can't say unloved as I belong to the Friends group for the Park and we have at least managed to get it painted. If we can find a bit more info we may even try and get a plaque put on it explaining its interesting history.

So thanks again. You have definitely set me off in the right direction . . . .

 

[CatfordCat]

There are still a few around, and as you have said, some got moved for various reasons.

London Transport shifted a few around, there's one (or was last time I was there) an ex London County Council Tramways one at Upminster Station forecourt - well off the edge of the London tramways network and even further outside the old LCC area.

I am guessing, but it may have been used to house a water tap / watering can in case any buses were a bit warm by the time they arrived at the terminus.

Newham borough in east London still had quite a few in to the late 80s, mainly converted to be control boxes for the street lighting, which itself was often still using trolleybus era posts for the lights.

'Section box' was another name for them (they controlled the electrics for a section half a mile or so long)

Many of London's also had a compartment with a telephone (on LT's private phone network) either for the use of the local inspector and /or so that a tram crew could call in for help if a tram broke down - this one (still standing in south london) has a small box for a phone at the top

There's a page with some illustrations and a bit of technical explanation here that may be of interest

 

[Mark Barrett]

There are still a few around, and as you have said, some got moved for various reasons.

London Transport shifted a few around, there's one (or was last time I was there) an ex London County Council Tramways one at Upminster Station forecourt - well off the edge of the London tramways network and even further outside the old LCC area.

I am guessing, but it may have been used to house a water tap / watering can in case any buses were a bit warm by the time they arrived at the terminus.

Newham borough in east London still had quite a few in to the late 80s, mainly converted to be control boxes for the street lighting, which itself was often still using trolleybus era posts for the lights.

'Section box' was another name for them (they controlled the electrics for a section half a mile or so long)

Many of London's also had a compartment with a telephone (on LT's private phone network) either for the use of the local inspector and /or so that a tram crew could call in for help if a tram broke down - this one (still standing in south london) has a small box for a phone at the top

There's a page with some illustrations and a bit of technical explanation here that may be of interest

Thank you for the additional information. I know so much more now than when I first asked this question.

It's interesting about the idea of having a telephone in the top of the box. This one here has one large door on the one side and two on the other. I wondered why that might be and it could just be that there was a telephone in the top bit. It's food for thought anyway. I'll attach a photo showing the the two doors.

Thanks again for all the help here.

Mark Barrett