As we saw in part one of this series, horse tram networks spread quickly across the country in the second half of the nineteenth century. However, tram companies were keen to find an alternative method of traction to the horse which had a number of disadvantages (especially manure!) Steam, cable hauled and even compressed air were tried as alternatives to the horse but the method which saw the most success was the electric motor.
The story of electric railways goes back as far as 1842 and the battery locomotive Galvani, but it was not until the latter half of the century when the technology had improved to make the use of electricity viable. The first electric tram was operated in St Petersburg in 1875. The first electric tramway in Britain was the Volk's Electric Railway which opened in Brighton in 1883 (and is still open). The first electric street tram network was a conduit system along the Blackpool promenade which opened in 1885. Of course electric trams still run along this route.
There were various methods of getting the electricity to the tram. The earliest systems used live rails (like a model railway) but these were hazardous to pedestrians and animals of course! One variation of this was the stud contact where the tram would complete the circuit as it travelled over the studs - though this was also prone to accidents. Successful systems either used overhead lines or less commonly power conduits buried underneath the road surface. Nearly all electric tram systems used parallel electric transmission but the interesting Northfleet tramway used serial.
Electric tram networks sprang up quickly across the country, either conversions of existing horse networks or new lines built especially for the electric service. Over two hundred separate networks existed across the British Isles. Nearly every decent sized British town and city, and some relatively small towns too, had electric trams. However, the electric tram had a new rival on the horizon, in the early decades of the twentieth century, the motor bus.
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| One of the original Blackpool trams from the 1880s |
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| Blackpool & Fleetwood Crossbench tram from 1898 |
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| Derby Corporation tram from 1901 |
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| Chesterfield Corporation tram from 1903 |
