Croydon Horse Tramways
Owner Croydon Tramways Company (of 1877)
Opened 9th October 1879 (horse)
Operator Croydon Tramways Company (of 1877)
Amalgamated 2nd August 1883 (with the Norwood and District Tramways Company) to form the Croydon and Norwood Tramways Company
Operator Croydon and Norwood Tramways Company
Taken over (operation) August? 1883 (Steam Tramways Traction Company Ltd, a subsidiary of the City of London Contract Corporation)
Took over (operation) 1st January 1885 (Croydon and Norwood Tramways Company)
Entered liquidation 25th October 1887 - the company having failed financially
Taken over 1st January 1890 (Croydon Tramways Company [of 1889] - a newly formed company) - from the liquidator
Took over (operation) 6th June 1897 - newly built corporation-owned line (as the lessee)
Taken over 22nd January 1900 (Croydon Corporation)
Operator (lessee) British Electric Traction Company Limited (BETCo)
Last horse service January/February 1902
Length 6.79 miles
Gauge 4ft 8½ins
Button description Uniforms not worn
Comment Photographs strongly suggest that none of the Croydon horse tram operators issued uniforms (see link), so it is extremely unlikely that marked uniform buttons ever existed.
The Norwood and District Tramways Company was initially a separate entity, formed to build lines around South Norwood, however, it never operated tramway services itself, as none of its lines had been constructed before its merger with the Croydon Tramways Company.
Although there was an attempt to introduce fireless steam traction in the mid-1880s, under the auspices of the Steam Tramways Traction Company, this appears to have been wholly unsuccessful, none of them ever operating revenue-earning services.