This tramshed depot in Saltaire was built in 1904 for trams and later accommodated trolley buses. Electric trams ran on rails, powered by overhead wires, though before electricity there were horse-drawn trams (from 1882) and then (from 1893) steam-powered trams, which also acted as a postal service. The later trolley buses had overhead wires but rubber tyres. Bradford and Leeds had the earliest trolley bus system in the UK, from 1911, and Bradford's was the last in the UK to close down.
I was a student at the university when the last trolley bus was withdrawn in 1972 so I do remember them. Some of them are preserved in Bradford's Industrial Museum.
Saltaire's tramsheds are still there, now used by Salt Brewery, their taproom and a bar/restaurant.
I just remember the trolley buses passing my uncle's house in N London when I was about 5 or 6. Cambridge had horse-drawn trams before the Great War, but all that remains today is a pub called The Tram Depot. It's good to see that your tram shed is still standing.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid I rode on, and watched go by, the street-cars of St. Louis. They had a kind of bell which was struck often. Electric wires overhead and tracks in the brick streets. Good that you remember the last of your trolley buses.
ReplyDeleteWe have streetcars/trams running all over the city but no longer have trolley buses. The buses are slowly being replaced with electric buses. And of course we have subways too.
ReplyDeleteThat is a good reuse of the building.