Birkenhead Tramways Company
History
The Birkenhead Tramways Company resulted from a scheme to take over and revitalise the Birkenhead Street Railway Company, which operated a circa 2.5-mile, standard-gauge, horse tramway within the town. The company was incorporated on the 2nd August 1877 by the Birkenhead Tramways Act (1877); the act also dissolved the existing tramway company, authorised the new company to take over its assets, and granted powers to build circa 1.5 miles of additional lines, primarily an extension to Prenton along Borough Road.
Construction of the new lines commenced on the 20th April 1878, the line to Prenton opening to the public on the 1st August 1878. To work the new line, the company purchased eight new horsecars, to compliment the existing eight that it had inherited from the BSRCo.
By October of that year, the line along Conway Street had been doubled, the company's intention being to close the line along Price Street, the old company having used the former line for services from Woodside Ferry to Birkenhead Park, and the latter for the return service. The Price Street line paralleled that of another tramway — operated by the Hoylake and Birkenhead Rail and Tramway Company — along Cleveland Street, and was poorly patronised. Unfortunately for the company, the council objected to the planned abandonment, effectively forcing it to operate the service at a loss, which it did until late 1881, when the council finally acquiesced to its closure. The company's relationship with the corporation was always a little fraught, with the latter insisting on all sorts of onerous conditions in return for their approval of changes, an attitude that effectively put paid to several changes that would have materially improved the services delivered to fare-paying passengers.
In 1879, during negotiations with the H&BR&TCo over a proposed extension to Bidston, which would have competed with the railway, the latter made it clear that it would be willing to sell its tramway, which ran from its railway station at Birkenhead Docks to Woodside Ferry. Agreement on a price was duly reached, which included guarantees that the BTCo would not build any extensions that would abstract passengers from the railway. Powers to take over the tramway, and to build circa 1.4 miles of new lines, were granted on the 24th July 1879 under the Birkenhead Tramways Act (1879), the BTCo taking possession just under three months later on the 12th October 1879.
Although seen as a logical expansion of the company's interests, and apparently considered by them to be a bargain, the acquisition was ultimately to sink the company, something which probably ought, with a little foresight, to have been anticipated; the company did, however, experience a few years of profitable running before the cold winds of railway competition made themselves felt.
An extension of the Prenton line along Borough Road — from the latter's junction with North Road to Prenton Road West — was opened on the 1st June 1881; this was followed by a number of short connecting lines between the old BSRCo lines and the Docks tramway (the old H&BR&TCo line). The company also tried to construct a line out to Claughton Village under the powers granted in 1879, but could not reach agreement with the council over changes that would be needed to the roads.
The BTCo's system was now at its maximum of circa 6.3 miles. From Woodside Ferry, the Docks line ran roughly northwestwards via Canning Street, Cleveland Street and Beaufort Road to a terminus at the railway station at Birkenhead Docks. The Oxton line branched off in Canning Street, running southwestwards along Argyle Street then northwestwards along Conway Street to Birkenhead Park gates; from here, which was the original terminus of the pioneer BSRCo line, it ran southwards along Park Road East and westwards along Park Road South to Claughton, before turning southwards once again along Palm Grove to a terminus at the latter's junction with Shrewsbury Road South. The Prenton line took a different route from the ferry, via Hamilton Street, before heading along Borough Road, westwards then southwards, to a terminus at the latter's junction with Prenton Road West. Additionally, there were a number of short connecting lines, as well tracks into the ferry terminal, the latter lines being owned by the local authority (Birkenhead Improvement Commissioners until 1877, and thereafter Birkenhead Corporation).
The opening of the Mersey Railway line to Green Lane in Tranmere, via the Mersey Railway Tunnel — on the 1st February 1886 — had an immediate and dramatic impact on the ferries, their custom plummeting by circa 50% in two years, the fall in passengers directly impacting the tramway. The situation was, however, only destined to worsen, the Mersey Railway Company extending its line from Green Lane to Birkenhead Park Station two years later (on the 2nd January 1888), where it met the Wirral Railway Company's extension southwards from Birkenhead Docks. Passengers to and from Liverpool could therefore simply change trains at the new station, having no need to use the tramways or the ferry they served.
Unsurprisingly, there were immediate financial consequences for the tramway company, which incurred a significant loss in 1887/1888. With deteriorating infrastructure, and no prospect of recovering the passenger numbers it had once enjoyed, the company decided to throw in the towel, applying for a voluntary winding up order on the 7th September 1888. A liquidator was duly appointed, who for the time being continued to run the tramway in the hope of finding a buyer. Despite the less-than-rosy prospects, a group of individuals who were prepared to take over the tramway, as well as the town's main omnibus operator — the Birkenhead and District Omnibus and Carriage Company — came forward. A new company, the Birkenhead United Tramway, Omnibus and Carriage Company, which was expressly set up to acquire the assets of both the tramway and the omnibus companies was registered on the 8th August 1889.
However, shortly after this, the liquidator agreed to sell the BTCo's tracks to Birkenhead Corporation, the handover eventually being timed to take place at the same time as the new company took over from the BTCo, the 15th August 1890. The new company was therefore the lessee of the corporation, initially on a temporary basis, but from the 1st January 1891, with a ten-year lease, expiring on the 31st December 1900.
Uniforms
Unfortunately, photographs of the tramway in operation have not survived, nor is there any documentary evidence that would confirm whether or not uniforms were worn.
Further reading
For a history of Birkenhead's tramways, see: 'The Tramways of Birkenhead and Wallasey' by T B Maund and M Jenkins; LRTA (1987).