Kings Norton & Northfield Tram Escutcheon & Standard

Description:Aspects of Tramways in South-West Birmingham^{<small>1</small>}

This escutcheon bears the motif of Kings Norton and Northfield Urban District Council and was used to mark items of the tramway infrastructure.^{<small>2</small>} Bordering Birmingham’s south-west fringe until 1911, when it was absorbed into the expanded city, Kings Norton & Northfield had a number of tram routes. These radiated from Birmingham through Balsall Heath to Cannon Hill, Moseley and Kings Heath, along the south-eastern edge of Edgbaston to Bournbrook and with a parallel route to Cotteridge. This Kings Norton & Northfield (KN&N) provision formed a relatively small portion of the post-1911 Birmingham tram network, but it did contribute positively to tramway developments and these in turn helped to give Birmingham a distinctive suburban identity.^{<small>3</small>}

The largest component of this Kings Norton & Northfield presence was the Bristol Road tramway that linked Birmingham with Bournbrook and which was progressively extended to become the longest tram route within the expanded city boundaries (<a href="http://www.search.suburbanbirmingham.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?resource=1837">see 'The Bristol Road Tramway'</a>). For large parts of its route, it ran on segregated track on the central reservation of a dual carriageway, a feature common to many of Birmingham’s tram routes and one which gave a distinctive appearance to its outer suburbs.^{<small>4</small>} The model for this provision was Pebble Mill Road, which in 1920 was converted to dual carriageway with Pershore Road trams using track on the central reservation.^{<small>5</small>} Once proven, this model was adopted for extensions to the network and incorporated into planning lines, even where tramways and dual carriageways were never built as intended, such as the Alcester Road beyond Alcester Lanes End towards The Maypole.

In contrast with the inter-war expansion of the Bristol Road Tramway with its generous space allocations, the Moseley Road group of services were developed in more spatially restricted areas. Services departed Birmingham through congested districts around Bromsgrove Street, Leopold Street and Sherlock Street and traversed particularly narrow roads, taking separate routes for inbound and outbound journeys. This operating pattern was a feature of tram systems around the world and became known as ‘Cannon Hilling’ in recognition of the layouts followed on Birmingham’s Cannon Hill services.^{<small>6</small>} Locally, the specific pattern laid through Balsall Heath was disparagingly called ‘The Chinese Railway’.^{<small>7</small>}

While tangible reminders of the tramway system in south-west Birmingham are limited to a few artefacts like this escutcheon, wide central reservations and narrow street patterns in the locations mentioned above bear witness to the provision of a transport infrastructure that was partly shaped by the suburbs and which partly shaped those suburbs.^{<small>8</small>}


<font color="#666633"><small>¹ For details of the tramway network in south-west Birmingham, see P. Collins, Birmingham Corporation Transport 1904–1939 & 1939-1969 2 vols. (1999); D. Harvey, A Nostalgic Look at Birmingham Trams 1933-53 3 vols. (1993, 1994, 1995).
² Vehicles, electricity sub-stations and distribution equipment and poles are some of the elements provided by local authorities for tram services.
³ The use of ‘KN & N’ does not signify that the Urban District Council operated its own tram fleet, it is used as a device to express the existence of a number of tram routes incorporated into south-west Birmingham in 1911.
⁴ A feature of Birmingham town planning schemes was the provision of suburban dual carriageways, roundabouts and wide verges for future construction. See C.M.H. Carr & J.W.R. Whitehead, 'Birmingham’s inter-war suburbs: origins, development and change’ in A.J. Gerrard and T.R. Slater (eds), Managing a Conurbation: Birmingham and its Region (1996), p.278
⁵ D. Harvey, City to the Lickeys (2008), p.40
⁶ P. Jaques (ed.), Camwell’s Birmingham; one man’s transport perspective (2007), p.47
⁷ D. Harvey, 'The Southern Routes’ A Nostalgic Look at Birmingham Trams 1933-1953 (1994), p.60
⁸ The Pershore Road route also utilised a one way system through Stirchley, with outbound trams following the Pershore Road and inbound following Hazelwell Street. At Ten Acres, between Warwards Lane and Dogpool Lane there was only room for a single track, a passing loop permitting bi-directional operations. The only stretch of reserved track was in Pebble Mill Road, where trams left the Bristol Road to reach Pershore Road. Ironically, beyond this tramway’s final terminus at Cotteridge the dual carriageway at Pershore Road South never carried a tramway extension to King’s Norton Green.</small></font>