Wallasey Electric Tramways

1902-1918

Part Two

Trams In Wallasey Village

By 1909, local agitation for a route to serve Poulton and Wallasey Village had been going on for seven years, but access to the area was bedeviled by steep inclines and extremely narrow roads which were unsuitable for trams. In late 1903 the Council rejected the idea if a line from Liscard down St. Hilary Brow to The Cheshire Cheese, a pub on the outskirts of Wallasey Village, but asked Greene to prepare a report on the merits of using either trams or motor buses to connect Seacombe with Poulton and Wallasey Village (Harrison Drive) , where the unspoilt beaches were already popular with railway travelers from Liverpool. The Wirral Railway had reached New Brighton in 1888 and had taken traffic from the New Brighton ferries, passengers being able to travel to the centre of Liverpool with one change at Birkenhead Park. However, the steam trains under the Mersey were particularly unpleasant, and following the opening of the Wirral branch to Seacombe in 1895 a local Seacombe-New Brighton service known as 'The Dodger' was introduced in 1896. It ran daily until some time in 1897 and at holiday peaks from 1899 onwards, but only on bank holidays in 1905, by which time the Mersey Railway had been electrified. 'the Dodger' was revived briefly in 1906 and a new station (Wallasey Village) was opened on 1 March 1907, but the service ran for the last time on August Bank Holiday 1907.

Greene reported that a quarter-hourly bus service from the ferry to Harrison Drive via Poulton Road would require six buses costing between £750 and £1,000 each and, with special depot facilities, the total capital outlay would be £8,000. Receipts were conservatively estimated at £7,772 per annum and specifications for buses were submitted by Milnes Daimler, Brush, Stirlings and Wolseley, the latter in association with Milnes, Voss. The cost of providing six cars and extra depot space for a tram service either to St. Luke's Church or the Cheshire Church would be respectively £5,4000 and £6,600, excluding track and overhead. Whilst favouring the use of trams, Greene recommended that the Council should seek statutory powers to operate motor buses.

Without waiting for the report, powers were sought in the abortive 1904 Improvement Bill for a primarily double track tramway 2.94 miles in length from Lloyd's Corner to Grove Road/Warren Drive via Poulton Road, Breck Road and Wallasey Village. Owing to the extreme narrowness of Breck Road and the demolition of property proposed in Wallasey Village, the Bill proved controversial and was thrown out. In November 1905 the Council deposited a further Bill seeking powers to build a line via Poulton Road and Breck Road but only as far as the Cheshire Cheese. Single track was included in two parts of Breck Road and over the railway bridge in Poulton Road.

The use of Breck Road was again opposed, and the route to Wallasey Village deferred. The bus powers were also defended, although a rival bill promoted by the Wirral Railway Company, who saw opportunities of operating feeder buses to their two stations at Wallasey and Liscard & Poulton, was successful but in such an emasculated form that it proved inoperable. A powerful municipal lobby in Parliament had inserted a clause precluding buses from operating in any city, borough or district already provided with a system of trams or buses without the prior consent of the local authority. The Wirral Railway never exercised its powers.

Perhaps to discourage further railway competition, the Council issued licence's in 1907 to R & J Evans of 1 Matthew Street, Seacombe to operate a horse bus service between Seacombe and St. Luke's Church, Poulton on the understanding that they would cease trading as soon as electric trams were introduced. The Council had previously refused all requests from independent operators to serve the area, and in 1899 had forced Ellis Watson to cease running between Harrison Drive and Seacombe after one month. The Evans brothers were haulers and team owners, with a large yard and stables in Matthew Street. For the bus service they purchased four second-hand 26-seater double deckers from London which were sent by rail to Seacombe, and acquired 12-16 'vanners' - light horses capable of trotting. the buses were re-painted red, lined out in black and yellow and carried the name 'Seacombe, Poulton and Wallasey Omnibus Company' though no company was formed. A half-hourly service was run from 7am to 11pm, with peak hour extras. The route was originally along Borough Road and Poulton Road but following accusations of speeding and reckless driving, the buses were deliberately diverted to a slower route via Abbotsford Street, Belle Vue Road and Gladstone Road. The fares were 1d to Canterbury Road and 2d to St. Luke's Church. Bell punch tickets were issued. From 8 February 1908 the service was extended along Breck Road to Harrison Drive with a 3d through fare. Normally the buses met at St. Luke's Church where there was a water trough and time-table board. At rush hours, some buses terminated there. Tip horses were used at both Seacombe and Breck Road.

Meanwhile the District Engineer and Surveyor had been costing alternative tramway schemes. He estimated that to widen Breck Road for double track would cost £95,530 whereas if the trams followed a more circuitous route between St. Luke's Church and Wallasey Village it only would be £83,160. The route suggested was along Mill Lane, Marlowe Road (a specially made highway), Wallasey Road, Claremount Road, then by a a new curving 'serpentine' roadway down to St. George's Road, Sandy Lane, Wallasey Village to Harrison Drive route. the estimated cost included forming, making and sewering St. George's Road and Sandy Lane as well as as constructing both Marlowe Road and the 'serpentine' roadway.

The Council abandoned plans for a line linking Liscard Village to Claremount Road via Wallasey Road. Costing £22,000, it would have provided depot access to and from the proposed new line and there were plans for a circular tram route between Liscard and Harrison Drive via either Wallasey Road and Sandy Lane or via Hose Side Road and Grove Road.

The circuitous route known locally as the "Switch-Back" was approved on 6 October 1908 and included in the 1909 Wallasey Tramways and Improvement Bill. However, not everyone was enthusiastic about Wallasey's fourth tram route. Canon Campbell of St. Hilary's Church pleaded in vain that "The Mother Church should be spared the clang of the tramway bell and and the drone of the electric motor." The controversial motor bus powers were not pursued, and the Council's 1909 Act authorised 3.25 miles of double track from Wheatland Lane along Poulton Road, Mill Lane, Marlowe Road, Wallasey Road, Claremount Road, "the new road authorised by this Act", St. Georges Road, Sandy Lane, Wallasey Village and Grove Road to a triangle junction with Warren Drive. The same act authorised three new sections of double track elsewhere on the system, In the event the 'serpentine' road was never built, the Council opting for the reconstruction of Folly Lane (later renamed Broadway), a steep footpath on the north side of St. Hilary's Church.

The first rails were laid by direct labour on Poulton Road railway bridge on 28 December 1909. Interlacing was chosen for both railway bridges in Poulton, and survived until abandonment. 100 lb/yd rail was used, and the first reinforced concrete tramway poles in the country. Span wires were employed throughout. there was crossovers in Mill Lane at St. Luke's Church, in Marlowe Road at Wallasey Road, at harrison Drive and in Grove Road west of Harrison Drive. The cost of the track, overhead and cabling amounted to £26,000.

The first section of line as far as St. Luke's Church, Poulton was inspected by Col. Von Donop on 8 July 1910, using car 48. At 11.45am a decorated unvestibuled car driven by Alderman C. J Woodroffe, Chairman of the Tramways Committee, headed a procession of three trams past the usual throng of cheering schoolchildren. Public service commenced at 12 noon, At the celebratory lunch Woodroffe speculated on possible future lines along Manor Road, along Wallasey Road, through the sandhills from Harrison Drive to New Brighton, as well as across Duke Street bridge to Birkenhead, but no formal proposals were prepared at this time.

The cars showed 'Poulton Only', but later when the line opened throughout this part-way terminus was known as either 'St. Luke's Church only' or in a few cases 'Poulton Bridge Road only'. They are all referred to the same location. The fare from Seacombe was 1d, and three cars provided a 15 minute service,with one extra at peak hours. Receipts were disappointing. 9.75p per car mile during the first nine days, and only 8.33p by the end of August. Greene reminded the Council that Warren Drive had begun in similar circumstances and that the real purpose of the new line was to encourage residential development of the countrified section of Harrison Drive. On 20 July the omnibus company was told of its obligation to cease running and the route was curtailed to provide a feeder connection from St. Luke's Church onward to Harrison Drive. On 14 September it was licensed to operate another route from Liscard Village to Wallasey Village Station via St. Hilary's Brow, but only until the trams were extended; services finally ceased on 10 February 1911.

Wallasey's last section of new tram route, from St. Luke's Church through Wallasey Village, was approved by Col. Von Donop on Tuesday morning 7 February 1911, particular attention being paid to the steep descent down Folly Lane (Broadway). A decorated car driven by Alderman Quinn and carrying the Mayors of Wallasey, Birkenhead and Bootle then left Seacombe at noon and covered the entire line, much of which passed through open fields along roads which had previously been little more than muddy tracks. Public service began immediately afterwards.

Except for about three hours on Sundays afternoon when cars regularly ran through to New Brighton, the terminus was Grove Road (Warren Drive), transfer tickets being issued to both New Brighton and Liscard Village. the penny stages were New Brighton to Harrison Drive, Grove Road to St. Luke's Church and Marlowe Road to Seacombe, and 3d for New Brighton to Seacombe. Part-way cars were operated from Seacombe to St. Luke's Church and Harrison Drive and later to Marlowe Road. Off-peak cars ran every 15 minutes, requiring five vehicles, and in peak hours every ten minutes with eight cars, plus part-ways. Journey times were 29 minutes to Grove Road and 35 minutes to New Brighton. Through cars ran according to demand, especially at weekends and bank holidays during the summer months.

An anticipated summer traffic to Harrison Drive was considerable. The wide expanse of beaches and sand-dunes attracted thousands of people from Liverpool, and it seems strange that no trams were operated to and from Harrison Drive via Liscard, but the existence of the single line in Liscard Road already used by two-routes probably weighed against it. In 1912, a crossover was laid at Canterbury Road on Poulton Road, for additional part-way cars to both Seacombe and Harrison Drive. Another crossover was installed at Perrin Road but was rarely used; one theory is that it was for use if Broadway should become ice-bound and inoperable.

Broadway was the most interesting feature of the new line, involving a gradient of 1 in 11.07. Owing to the steepness of the descent, the Board of Trade stipulated the fitting of slipper brakes, cars being required to halt outside St. Hilary's where a notice warned drivers to engage the slipper brake, whilst the conductor remained on the rear platform ready to apply the handbrake in case of emergency. Descending the hill the maximum permitted speed was 4miles/h and ascending 8 miles/h. There was another compulsory Board of Trade stop at the foot of the hill where the slipper brake was disengaged. Cars 42-62 delivered by the Brush Electrical Engineering Co. Ltd in 1910-13 were all equipped with slipper brakes. Eight unvestibuled cars were similarly equipped for holiday relief work, together with works car 26. Normal service requirements had now increased from 36 to 43 cars.

From 1 April 1913 identifying route letters and coloured lights were introduced. The codes were "S" for Seabank Road (purple light), "RL" for Rake Lane (amber), "WD" for Warren Drive (white) and "P" for Poulton (green). The coloured lights were fitted above the centre of the windscreen if one was fitted, and in the bulkhead of the unvestibuled cars.

The years before the war were marked by an acrimonious political controversy over the lengths of the penny stages. With gross profits amounting to £20,000 in the financial year 1912-13, the Council resolved to plough some of the moneyinto longer penny stages. Greene estimated a potential loss of £1,200, though he thought some money might be recouped from people who had previously walked to Egremont ferry now riding the tram to Seacombe. The longer stages were introduced on 1 April 1912, radiating from Seacombe to Holland Road, Zig Zag Road, Earlston Road and Perrin Road. Greene was soon proved correct; despite nearly a million more passengers, overall profit in the following year was only £121, due to the number of extra cars provided which had operated an additional 34,000 miles. Receipts had dropped from 11.35d to 10.92d per car mile, and penny tickets had accounted for 82% of all sales, whilst the Ferries Committee had noted with alarm a considerable fall in revenue at both Egremont and New Brighton.

Fury erupted when on 1 April 1913 the stages on all routes expect Seabank Road reverted to those in force a year earlier. Profits in the year ending 31 March 1914 recovered to £23,000, due almost entirely to the shortened stages. Faced with renewed demands for the stages to be re-extended, the Tramways Committee circulated tables showing the income for each route and the predicted income of the longer stages were re-introduced, which would leave a dangerous slender profit margin. The Council ratified their previous decision not to re-extend the stages, and rejected two alternative proposals, a penny return fare and a halfpenny stage (both thrown out before). The declaration of war cut short all further debate.

Wallasey in Wartime
1914-18

The First World War, whilst interrupting and postponing many municipal projects, brought extra duties to the tramways. Declaration of war on 4 August 1914 led to the postponement of a proposed Parliamentary Bill seeking general omnibus powers as well as the New Brighton to Harrison Drive sea front tramway. Various improvements were shelved, including a plan to double the line from Liscard Village to the depot entrance and from Hose Side Road to Earlston Road, but work in hand was completed, comprising doubling the Seabank Road track between Sandfield Road and Onslow Road in the winter of 1914-15.

Within a few days of the outbreak of war, some late night cars were suspended and the Seabank Road service slightly reduced. Patriotic announcements appeared on the backs of tickets in September, and during one week in October collecting boxes on the cars raised £17 for the National Relief Refund. By the end of October, of a staff of 238, 94 had enlisted, the majority being conductors. The first fatality occurred on 6 November with the death of driver Doyle of the Irish Guards. In 1916 the tramways were declared vital to the war effort and drivers as being in a reserved occupation, but Greene nevertheless had to appeal against a move to enlist a further 26 men. By now he had lost 122 staff - over 50%. In addition to the use female staff some men had been retained well past retirement age - one cleaner although 'a little infirm' was 78 - and retired drivers were re-engaged.

The generally heavily financed state of the undertaking allowed the Tramways Committee to continue to transfer money for relief of the rates as well as grating certain wartime concessions. From 1 November 1914 free travel was allowed for members of the armed forces, nurses and doctors. Within the first fortnight 12,277 were carried, an average of 1,234 over day, with a revenue loss of £36. By the end of the financial year the number was 286,172. In the following two years free riders rose to 626,464 and 664,603 respectively. Tempers frayed when fare paying passengers were unable to board the reduced number of cars available and there were demands that the facility should be withdrawn. From 9 July 1917 the privilege was restricted to wounded men and nurses serving in local hospitals, though this was later changed to include all those involved in medical work. During the ensuing right months, the cars still carried 400,000 free, many of whose were traveling to the new Town Hall which had become a temporary hospital.

In May 1915 the Corporation took deli every of six new cars built by Brush. Their numbers were 63-68. They worked mainly on the Seabank Road route, the older cars being transferred to the RL and WD. A new workshop facility was completed in 1916, but was immediately given over to the manufacture of armaments.

As the war continued, only one full time painter was still employed and the cars became decidedly shabby, the sea-green having faded to a washed-out white often caked in grime. Most of the luxury items such as curtains, seat carpets and cut glass lamp-shades were removed, although some were reinstated in 1919. Careful attention was paid to brakes, electrical equipment and trucks but general body and track maintenance virtually ceased. Some cars including No. 16 appeared in an unattractive overall unvarnished green livery and for a brief spell 55 was painted in grey undercoat at one end only. As an air-raid precaution, criss-cross strips of green paper were affixed to the lower saloon windows, and some cars had blue bulbs. There was an acute shortage of spare parts, but some new machinery was purchased during 1917 including a crucible furnace and a shearing and punching machine. From 17 July 1918 Wallasey was classified as a No. 1 system allowing it priority access to materials released under certificate by the Ministry of Munitions.

The only recorded death of a member of staff on duty occurred in 1917 when Joseph Sprackling, formerly a blacksmith with the United, alighted from car 18 to clean the points at Warren Point loop on the WD route and was struck and fatally injured by a motor car. On 20 February 1918 Jessie, the former tram horse, was humanely destroyed due to senile decay; the stable was converted for other uses and the horse drawn lorry sold. A horse was hired to haul the tower wagon as requested.

Wallasey suffered from a shortage of staff rather than of rolling stock. By summer 1917, with only 60 drivers and 70 conductresses available, only 80% of the fleet was in use. Peak-hour schedules were maintained at pre-war levels, but cuts were made at other times, including further curtailment of late evening cars. In July 1917 the cars operated 2,130 miles more than in the previous July, but carried an extra 250,000 people. Receipts soared to 17.9d per car mile in July and 18.97d in August, as thousands seeking relief from wartime austerity poured into New Brighton. In August 1918 the trams carried over 2,000,000. On one memorable day, due to an extremely low tide at New Brighton which prevented any steamers from berthing there, queues four deep stretched from Seacombe Ferry to the Town Hall along Demesne Street with packed cars still arriving from New Brighton every few minutes. The good natured crowds had all been transported back to Liverpool by midnight.

Further service cuts became necessary from April 1918, when tramway operators in Board of Trade area 5 (Lancashire, Cheshire and North Wales) were ordered to make a 30% reduction in materials and power. Wallasey achieved this by reducing the number of part-way cars and by running the RL, P and WD every 15 minutes off-peak instead of 10 minutes, and the S every 10 minutes instead of every six. This and an early finish accounted for a 17% cut, the remainder being achieved by extending journey times and suspending all through Sunday operation to New Brighton on service P. Further savings were achieved by eliminating 49 stops, some of which had been less than 100 yards apart.

With coal in short supply, the Ferries Department was forced to withdraw peak hour sailings to New Brighton from 4 November 1918. Contract holders were accommodated on special replacement tram services running from New Brighton to Egremont via both Seabank Road and Warren Drive, requiring further cuts elsewhere. To avoid blocking the busy Egremont junction, a three-way point costing £250 was laid enabling cars to turn from King Street into Church Street; the WD cars returned to New Brighton via Seabank Road. During the first six days 9,705 contract holders were carried on the S and 2,028 on the WD; special tickets were issued, the ferries being debited with the costs. The Tramways Committee were angry when Commander Fry, the Ferry Manager, suddenly reinstated sailings to New Brighton on 1 December.

Two other junctions were modified in 1918, at a cost of £1,200. The New Brighton grid-iron was relaid with double-tongue Edgar Allen points (also used in all subsequent renewals throughout the system) and the layout at Liscard was altered so that inbound RL drivers could have a clear view down Liscard Road. 14,000 fewer car miles were operated in November-December 1918 than in 1917, saving nearly 26,000 units of electricity, but 300,000 more people were carried. Wallasey trams continued to operate at a profit, the Department regularly contributing to the relief of rates, but some of the money accumulated because of the virtual cessation of capital projects and the decline in maintenance.

With severe overcrowding during the war, and inexperienced crews, accidents and claims were inevitable. Notices were posted reminding passengers not to alight from moving vehicles, that only the conductor could ring the bell to start, and that drivers must stop only at recognised places. On 16 May 1916 a private from the 3rd Cheshire Regiment died when he fell off No 9 whilst under the influence of drink, on 9 December 1916 No 21 jumped the points at Hale Road loop and demolished a wall (several passengers were injured) and four days later a lorry owned by the West Cheshire Brewery collided with two trams in succession. On 22 September 1917 the brakes on car 22 jammed whilst ascending Rowson Street and the car ran back, colliding with No 64.

The war ended at 11 am on 11 November 1918. Ferry and tram crews deserted their posts and joined the thousands of people pouring on to the streets to celebrate. Stranded cars were rescued by office and works staff and those who had remained on duty were given double pay. The department's Roll of Honour included nine dead, most of whom had been killed in 1915-16.