Nostalgia on Tuesday: Rail town trams

By the time trams appeared in Doncaster during 1902, the area had undergone its first major change from a small market town into a centre of industrial importance. This was due to the establishment, by the Great Northern Railway Company, of a large engine repair works in the town in 1852-3.
First tram in Doncaster in 1902.First tram in Doncaster in 1902.
First tram in Doncaster in 1902.

This was due to the establishment, by the Great Northern Railway Company, of a large engine repair works in the town in 1852-3.

Around 1898, the Corporation received a proposal from the British Electrical Company Ltd to establish a tramway system between Balby and Wheatley. At a subsequent meeting, Corporation members, disturbed by the possible financial consequences of allowing private companies to establish tram routes in the Doncaster area, decided that the town should have its own electric-powered transport system. The Corporation was also disposed to maximise the use of its then unfinished electricity station. The latter was completed in 1899 at a time when rich new coal seams were being discovered in the region, leading to the anticipated establishment of large mining communities on the outskirts of Doncaster.

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Doncaster Corporation’s trams first ran on Monday 2 June 1902 with services to the western outer suburbs of Balby and Hexthorpe. Centre grooved rails were chosen and copied those at Hull, but were laid in concrete. Routes were subsequently opened to other outlying areas of the town.

Peter Tuffrey collectionPeter Tuffrey collection
Peter Tuffrey collection

At the outset of Doncaster’s tram operations, the town centre terminus for services for a number of routes was Station Road. Initially, a tram shed in Greyfriars Road was built to hold twenty vehicles. To begin services Doncaster bought fifteen cars (nos 1 -15) from The Electric Railway & Tramway Carriage Works Ltd, Preston and they were open top 56 seaters (34/22) with reversed stairs. After a small opening ceremony, services commenced on the Bentley route on Monday 27 October 1902. Services started on the Bentley side of the Great Northern Railway Company’s main line and a ‘feeder’ service was also put on from the town centre to the Marsh Gate level crossing.

Passengers then walked through a subway under the level crossing to join the Bentley service. All this changed when the North Bridge was built and Bentley trams travelled through to the town centre.

When trams operated for the first time in Doncaster’s September Race Week it was learned the single line from Station Road to High Street was unsuitable for operation in conjunction with the double line which extended from High Street to Bennetthorpe (Race Course). Thus, a town terminus for the latter service was temporarily established in High Street. Later, a line was laid along Printing Office Street, and Priory Place, permitting a return line to Station Road for the future.

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The Avenue Road and Beckett Road services were opened during 1903. The Beckett Road route’s outer terminus was at Morley Road. In 1911 straight through services were introduced from Balby to Beckett Road and Hexthorpe to Avenue Road.

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Peter Tuffrey collection

The appearance of Doncaster’s trams changed in 1913 as some of them were provided with covers over the top decks.

This followed the purchase earlier in the year of six vehicles already incorporating covered top decks. In time the Doncaster fleet numbered 47 trams, a water car and a sand and salt trailer rebuilt from a York horse car.

A large number of the Tramway Department’s employees had left for War service by 1916 and so women drivers and conductors were employed for the first time. During Zeppelin raids, warnings were given from the Electricity station by dimming the tram lights three times successively.

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It also said that if power was eventually cut off oil lamps were lit whilst the trams were stationary in the streets.

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Peter Tuffrey collection

The original Balby tram terminus was at the junction of High Road/Oswin Avenue, Balby. The tracks ended in a ‘Y’ arrangement on either side of the tram shelter. On 5 February 1915 the Balby route was extended westwards to Warmsworth. Miners using the service could then walk the remained of the journey to Yorkshire Main.

Members of the Corporation , their wives, and invited guests, travelled by tram from the Doncaster Mansion House to Balby and along the extension to the new terminus at the Battie-Wrightson Arms public house, Warmsworth. The return journey found its way to the Electricity Station where the new extension to the building was opened on the same day.

Gradually the trams suffered increasing competition from motorbuses, and even converted vans and covered lorries operating unscheduled services along the tram routes.

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A serious fall in receipts coupled with an increasing problem of track deterioration led the Corporation to make several far-reaching decisions. They not only decided to abolish plans to extend the network to Hatfield, Rossington and Armthorpe, but also to gradually eliminate all tram services.

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Peter Tuffrey collection

They intended instead to obtain the necessary powers to operate motorbuses and trolleybuses.

The Avenue Road tram route was the first to close in 1925, being replaced by motorbuses on an experimental basis. The Bentley route closed in 1928, with the Hexthorpe and Beckett Road routes closing in 1929, the Racecourse and Hyde Park routes in 1930 and the Balby route in 1931.

The last tram to run in Doncaster was on the Brodsworth route on the 8th June 1935.

Eventually all these routes, with the exception of Brodsworth, were replaced by trolleybus services, whilst the Brodsworth and all new routes were served by trolleybus and motorbuses.

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