Scarborough Central Tramway: History of Yorkshire coast town’s last remaining cliff lift that runs half a million journeys every year
The Scarborough Central Tramway has been around for 145 years and runs 500,000 journeys a year.
Scarborough Central Tramway is one of the oldest cliff railway running in the UK and was built just 14 years after the Grand Hotel was completed in 1867.
There are many reasons visitors use the cliff lift, whether it is for nostalgic purposes, heritage experiences and simply to travel up and down the hill.
It has been in business since 1881 and the former Mayor of Scarborough, John Woodall, a local banker, was the chairman at the time.
The railway operates more than 500,000 journeys a year and many history and rail enthusiasts use it.
The general manager of the central tramway, Colin Powell, 45, from Keighley, has always had an interest in the heritage rail sector.
“[John had] seen how successful the cliff lifts were in the other venues and decided that he wanted to have one here,” Colin said.
“He went around the town and got loads of shareholders: butchers, bakers etc. bought shares in the business.
“Originally it was a steam powered [engine], there was a coal house in the middle of the track and the driver would have been beneath the track, which is slightly concerning in modern days.
“Then there was a street tram that used to go around Scarborough and when they came to town in roughly the 1920s, we hooked up to their electricity.
“We are currently the only one that's open in Scarborough, there used to be five and we do hope that the one next to the spa will reopen - that's a council owned cliff lift.
“There are roughly 20 around the country as well, they stretch up and down the country, as high as Scotland and as far down as the Cornwall area in Devon.”
Tourism has consistently been a draw for the central tramway throughout its history.
“It’s quite substantial,” Colin said.
“There’s different people who use us, there are people who just want the experience, there are people who are really into rail, history, engineering, and we have enthusiasts that come to join us.
“Scarborough is the oldest seaside town in the country; it's celebrating 400 years since the finding of spring waters.
“It's always been integral to the tourist population and we've been right in the middle of that since 1881. I don't think it's massively changed.
“We have people who come just to have pictures for their weddings for example, that’s lovely. It’s ingrained in people’s lives.”
There are many groups that visit the central tramway from school groups to dementia groups.
“We work with different groups, school groups, etc,” Colin said.
“But one of the things that was interesting to the dementia groups was, while those people might not remember what they had to eat, their longer term memory remains intact.
“So coming on something like this, it reminds them of when they were younger, which is really good to see.
“A lot of people come and they talk about how they came when they were young or they used to come with their grandparents or parents when they were little.
“It’s one of those great nostalgic [venues] people come back to.”
There have been various challenges maintaining the railway, particularly during the Olympia Building fire in 1975 and wartime.
“We have had a couple of forced closures; there was a fire in the Olympia building in 1975 which is next to our bottom station,” Colin said.
“When that building burned down it set fire to one of the carriages and one of them had to be replaced. That was a real challenge for the business.
“During the wartime was a challenging time for the whole country. Half of our gantry, the gantry is the metalwork the track is on, was given up to the war effort.
“It went into munitions, which is quite a fun fact.”
The main difference between how it was run in the 19th century and now is the evolution of technology over the years, Colin said.
“The concept is still the same; a funicular basically means to be moved by rope. It's the Latin term,” he said.
“The metal ropes attached to both carriages are still the same, however, we now have a computer automated lift.
“The sensors all over the track know exactly where it is, when to slow down and when to stop.
“We constantly evolve so technologies have changed etc but the fundamentals of it and the rationale for why it is the way it is is the same as it always was.”