Bristol Road Tramcar

Description:The Bristol Road Tramway^{<small>1</small>}

This tram (fleet number 395) is a rare survivor of Birmingham’s once mighty electric tram fleet.^{<small>2</small>} It was built in 1911-12 and preserved in 1953, just weeks before the tram network was finally switched off.^{<small>3</small>} Vehicle 395 was a stalwart of the Bristol Road tramway until 1939 when it moved to Bordesley Green services.^{<small>4</small>} Much of its service career was, therefore, bound up with the Bristol Road Tramway that was so significant to suburban development in south-west Birmingham.^{<small>5</small>}

At 8¼ miles, this tramway was the longest route completely within Birmingham’s boundaries. Constructed in stages beyond its Victorian terminus at Bournbrook, it reached Chapel Lane, Selly Oak in 1923, followed by Northfield and Longbridge in October and December 1923, respectively. Further extensions followed, to Rednal in 1924 and to Rubery in 1926.^{<small>6</small>} These extensions reveal Birmingham’s pragmatic approach, as major tramway investments here occurred after tramways were being abandoned elsewhere in the city. The Nechells tram route had been converted to trolleybus operation in November 1922 as the first tram to trolleybus replacement in Britain.^{<small>7</small>} Whilst the investment in repairing and upgrading the Nechells system could not be justified, given low usage and poor potential for further traffic generation, the Bristol Road extensions offered much better prospects for both immediate and longer term financial returns. The University of Birmingham, the Austin works at Longbridge, and the <a href="http://www.search.suburbanbirmingham.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?resource=1850">Lickey Hills</a> were tremendous traffic generators from the outset, whilst land formerly in the Urban District of King’s Norton & Northfield was attractive to municipal and entrepreneurial house builders after 1911. As the tramway reached further along the Bristol Road, adjacent land was targeted by developers, resulting in the characteristic ‘ribbon development’ so criticised by town planners in the inter-war period. Whilst this proceeded at different rates along the route and was affected by the attitudes of land owners such as the Cadburys, by the time that Vehicle 395 was transferred to the Bordesley Green route, large estates flanked much of the tramway through Northfield, Rednal and Rubery. Cinemas and road-house pubs ensured that evening services were almost as busy as daytime services and that the Bristol Road tram routes were amongst the last to be closed.^{<small>8</small>}

For large parts of its route, the Bristol Road tramway ran on segregated track on the central reservation of a dual carriage main road (<a href="http://www.search.suburbanbirmingham.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?resource=1836">see 'Aspects of Tramways in South-West Birmingham'</a>). This track was laid on concrete sleepers that gave a very smooth ride,^{<small>9</small>} in contrast to track on shared road surfaces (for instance in central Birmingham and through Bournbrook). The extensive lengths of reserved track permitted trams to achieve good rates of performance and many trams were upgraded to maximise this potential. Despite such technical innovations, Birmingham perpetuated an Edwardian visual image into the inter-war period, outmoded styling for its trams contrasting strongly with Glasgow’s Coronation Streamliners and Liverpool’s Green Goddesses. This dowdiness masked the crucial role of the tramway as an effective ‘people mover’ and vital backbone of suburban development. Post-war planners saw trams as old fashioned, inflexible and a hindrance to free traffic flow, and the Bristol Road Tramway closed on 5 July 1952.


<font color="#666633"><small>¹ For details of this tramway, please see P. Collins, Birmingham Corporation Transport 1904–1939 & 1939-1969 (1999); D. Harvey, A Nostalgic Look at Birmingham Trams 1933-53 3 vols. (1993, 1994, 1995)
² Birmingham possessed Britain’s largest narrow gauge tram fleet with a total of 843 vehicles and at least two remain; numbers 395 at Thinktank and 107 awaits attention at Aston Manor Transport Museum.
³ Birmingham Museum of Science and Industry received Number 395 from the City transport Department in June 1953 and assembled it in its Newhall Street premises. This tram can now be viewed at Thinktank, the Birmingham Museum for Science and Discovery, http://www.thinktank.ac.uk
⁴ P. Jaques (ed.), Camwell’s Birmingham; one man’s transport perspective (2007), pp.13 & 34
⁵ See also <a href="http://www.search.suburbanbirmingham.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?resource=1836">'Birmingham City Transport [BCT]: Serving Passengers and Rate Payers'</a>
⁶ For details of the origins and development of the Bristol Road tramway, see D. Harvey, City to the Lickeys; a nostalgic journey by tram and bus (2008), pp.6-10.
⁷ This was also the world’s first route to use closed top double deck trolleybuses. Collins, pp.47 & 53
⁸ Cinemas included The Oak cinema in Selly Oak (opened in 1923) and the Danilo in Longbridge (opened in 1938). Road-house pubs included the Traveller’s Rest and Black Horse in Northfield (opened in 1926 and 1929) and the King George V in Longbridge (opened in 1937).
⁹ Harvey, p.83</small></font>