OLD PLYMOUTH . UK
www.oldplymouth.uk
 

TRAMWAYS IN OLD PLYMOUTH  |  PLYMOUTH, DEVONPORT AND DISTRICT TRAMWAYS COMPANY LIMITED

TRAM FLEET

Steam locomotives

Four steam trams had been purchased by the time the line was opened and another three were on order.  It would appear that only one more was delivered.  They were built by Mr William Wilkinson at his works in Wigan.  The drivers were recruited from experienced men in Lancashire and Yorkshire.

They had a vertical boiler and engine constructed in Plymouth’s case by the Steel Company of Scotland.  The small bore cylinders acted upon a crankshaft that was in turn connected to the four, coupled wheels by means of cog-wheel gears.  The axles, wheels and nearly all the working parts of the engine were made of Sieman-Martin’s best quality steel and all the brass workings were of phosphor bronze.  The exhaust steam was superheated in the firebox before escaping to the atmosphere through the chimney.  Coke was used for fuel and the emission of smoke was described as 'scarcely perceptible'.  Mr Wilkinson’s engines were thus small and light and smokeless.

In addition to the steam brake from the engine and the normal hand operated brakes, the locomotive was also fitted with an automatic speed governor, which operated if the Board of Trade speed limit of 10mph was exceeded.

The steam trams, which were painted brown, cost between £600 each for the non-condensing version and £1,100 for those fitted with the condensing apparatus.

Passenger carriages

An unspecified number of passenger carriages had been purchased from the Starbuck Car and Wagon Company Ltd, of Birkenhead.  They were 28 feet long and were based on two 4-wheel bogies capable of negotiating the many sharp curves on the routes.  Described by the local press as 'very handsome, light and graceful in appearance externally', they sat 24 passengers inside plus another 12 on the two canopied end platforms, where smoking was allowed.  The internal fittings were of varnished ash with polished and perforated mahogany seats.

The passenger carriages were reported as being painted white on the sides and brown at the ends. 

All the stock was kept in the depot in West Hoe Road, Millbay, Plymouth.

Disposal of the stock

There is, as usual in Plymouth, some disagreement about where the trams and carriages ended up.  All the local sources repeat the same claim that the five locomotives ended up at the Swanscombe Colliery in Kent, where, stripped of their bodywork, funnels and roof they survived in working order until 1922.

However, two other sources state that there were only four locomotives and they went to the Associated Portland cement Manufacturers Ltd at Swanscombe.  But here the story becomes even more confused because Mr E K Stretch in his "Tramways of Wigan" states that the four engines had names, "Plymouth", "Devonport", "Saltash" and "Millbay" and that they did not arrive at Swanscombe until 1905.  This is the only mention of the locomotives carrying names and suggests that they were sold to Wigan in the first place before being sold to the cement works in 1905.  Mr Stretch also says that two of the engines were scrapped in 1922 and the others remained until 1929 when the works' lines were converted to standard gauge.