Bristol Tramways operated in the city of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England from 1875, when the Bristol Tramways Company was formed by Sir George White, until 1941 when a

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

bomb destroyed the main power supply cables.

History

The first trams in Bristol (horse-drawn, with a maximum speed of 6 miles per hour) were introduced in 1875. Electric trams were introduced in 1895, the first city to do so in the United Kingdom. At the system's peak there were 17 routes and 237 tramcars in use. In 1887 the Bristol Tramways Company merged with the Bristol Cab Company to form the

Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company The Bristol Omnibus Company was a dominant bus operator in Bristol, and was one of the oldest bus companies in the United Kingdom. It ran buses over a wide area of Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire and neighbouring counties. History ...

. The new company developed a fleet of omnibuses to serve the rest of the city and country areas. In 1912 it bought the

Clifton Rocks Railway The Clifton Rocks Railway was an underground funicular railway in Bristol, England, linking Clifton at the top to Hotwells and Bristol Harbour at the bottom of the Avon Gorge in a tunnel cut through the limestone cliffs. The upper station is ...

. In 1929 the White family sold its controlling interest in the company to the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

, but by 1932 control had passed to the

Thomas Tilling The Tilling Group was one of two conglomerates that controlled almost all of the major bus operators in the United Kingdom between World Wars I and II and until nationalisation in 1948. Tilling, together with the other conglomerate, British El ...

Group. William Verdon Smith (nephew of Sir George White) remained as chairman but was replaced in 1935 by J.F. Heaton of Thomas Tilling, so he could concentrate on the

Bristol Aeroplane Company The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aircraft engines. Notable a ...

. In 1937 control of Bristol's tramways passed to a joint committee of the Bristol Tramways company and Bristol Corporation.

Closure

Abandonment of the tramways began in 1938, but this was halted at the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Tram operations ceased in 1941 following the Luftwaffe's Good Friday air raids during the

Bristol Blitz The Bristol Blitz was the heavy bombing of Bristol, England by the Nazi German ''Luftwaffe'' during the Second World War. Due to the presence of Bristol Harbour and the Bristol Aeroplane Company, the city was a target for bombing and was easi ...

, which set central Bristol on fire. A bomb hit Counterslip bridge, St Philips, next to the Tramways generating centre, and severed the tram power supply. The final tram from Old Market to Kingswood was given a push by passers-by and freewheeled its way into the depot. Almost all Bristol's trams were scrapped; however, one is preserved at

Filton Filton is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, north of Bristol. Along with nearby Patchway and Bradley Stoke, Filton forms part of the Bristol urban area and has become an overflow settlement for the city. Filton Church d ...

Aerospace Bristol Aerospace Bristol is an aerospace museum at Filton, to the north of Bristol, England, U.K. The project is run by the Bristol Aero Collection Trust and houses a varied collection of exhibits, including Concorde ''Alpha Foxtrot'', the final Conco ...

, formerly the Bristol Aero Collection. Another memorial to the system is a length of tram track still embedded in

St Mary Redcliffe St Mary Redcliffe is an Anglican parish church located in the Redcliffe district of Bristol, England. The church is a short walk from Bristol Temple Meads station. The church building was constructed from the 12th to the 15th centuries, and it ...

churchyard, where it was blown by a bomb. Two lengths of intact track can be seen at the car park of the Gloucester Road Medical Centre, and a short section of track still exists on the approach to

Bristol Temple Meads railway station Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is located away from London Paddington. It is an important transport hub for public transport in the city; there are bus services to many parts of the city ...

. Another section of track used to be still in place near Castle Park, but this was lost when the area was redeveloped as part of the

Cabot Circus Cabot Circus is a covered shopping centre in Bristol, England. It is adjacent to Broadmead, a shopping district in Bristol city centre. The Cabot Circus development area contains shops, offices, a cinema, hotel and 250 apartments. It covers a tot ...

development. The Bristol Tramways company continued as a bus operator, but the name was not changed to

Bristol Omnibus Company The Bristol Omnibus Company was a dominant bus operator in Bristol, and was one of the oldest bus companies in the United Kingdom. It ran buses over a wide area of Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire and neighbouring counties. History ...

until 1957.

Routes

The electric tram routes were not numbered until November 1913. They were then numbered as follows: :1. Tramways Centre – Whiteladies Road – Durdham Downs :2. Tramways Centre – Whiteladies Road – Durdham Downs – Westbury :3. Eastville – Old Market – Whiteladies Road – Durdham Downs :4. Tramways Centre – Zetland Road – Durdham Downs :5. Tramways Centre – Ashley Down Road – Horfield Barracks :6. Tramways Centre – Ashley Down Road – Horfield Barracks – Filton Park – Filton :7. Tramways Centre – Warwick Road – Eastville – Fishponds :8. Tramways Centre – Temple Meads Station :9. Hotwells – Tramways Centre – Temple Meads Station – Arno's Vale – Depot – Brislington :10. Bristol Bridge – Knowle :11. Bristol Bridge – Ashton Road :12. Bristol Bridge – Bedminster Depot – Bedminster Down :13. Tramways Centre – Old Market – St. George – Whiteway Rd – Kingswood :14. Zetland Road – Old Market – Eastville – Fishponds – Staple Hill :15. Knowle – Bushy Park – Old Market – St. George – Marling Road – Nags Head Hill – Hanham :16. Old Market – St George :17. Hotwells – Tramways Centre – Temple Meads Station Note that: *Route 1 was withdrawn and absorbed into 2. *Route 8 was withdrawn and absorbed into 9. *Route 13 for a while did not run to the Tramways Centre but terminated at Old Market. *Route 16 was a busy-period route only and was absorbed into 13 and 15. *Route 17 ran to meet the P and A Campbell steamers and was withdrawn at the same time as Route 8. *Trams did not actually run along Ashley Down Rd., Marling Rd., or Whiteway Road, and route 14 did not enter Zetland Rd. *From 1902 to 1905, the route from Hanham, having reached Old Market, was extended to the Tramways Centre.

References

External links

*
The Tramways of Gloucestershire: A Brief History, by A.E. Fielder (1973)Tram routes plotted on Google Maps

{{Historic UK Trams Tram transport in England Transport in Bristol History of Bristol