Rhondda Tramways



Owner Rhondda Urban District Council
Took over 31st October 1904 (lines of the defunct Pontypridd and Rhondda Valley Tramway Co [horse] within the council boundary)
Opened 11th July 1908 (electric)
Operator (lessee) Rhondda Tramways Company Limited (a subsidiary of the National Electric Construction Co Ltd (NECCo)
Taken over (lessee) 1st January 1931 British Electric Traction Company Limited (following its acquisition of the NECCo)
Closed 1st February 1934
Length 20.92 miles
Gauge 3ft 6ins

Button description
Pattern of button currently unknown

Comments
Photographs of Rhondda Tramways Company staff are rare, and those that have survived give no indication as to the buttons worn (see link); however, given that the owners of the company (the NECCo) appear not to have issued marked buttons to staff of any of its other five subsidiary companies (see below), it seems highly likely that it did likewise with the RTCo. I have, however, provided a photograph of a button that was definitely issued by the RTCo, but only after its change of name in June 1934, to the Rhondda Transport Company Limited, i.e. after the demise of the tramway. The fact that this pattern of button is only known in chrome, a material that did not come into widespread usage until the mid 1930s (see link), supports this chronology.

There is currently no evidence that tramway staff were issued with uniforms bearing British Electric Traction Company buttons (see link), following the take-over of the NECCo by the BETCo in 1931.

The Pontypridd and Rhondda Valley Tramway was originally purchased by the BETCo in 1898, but when local authority agreement (Rhondda and Pontypridd Urban District Councils) to extend and electrify the system was not forthcoming, BETCo eventually sold the system to the respective councils.

The NECCo also owned and/or operated the following systems: City of Oxford Tramways (1907-1914), Dewsbury, Ossett & Soothill Nether Tramways (1908-1931), Mexborough & Swinton Tramways (1907-1929), Musselburgh and District Tramways (1904-1932) and Torquay Tramways (1907-1934).