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The Gateshead and District Tramways operated a tramway service in
The Gateshead and District Tramways commenced services on 22 October 1883 with steam-hauled tramcars operating on three routes centred on Gateshead High Street.
In 1897,
The last tram operated on 4 August 1951. Several tramcars survived the closure. Nineteen cars were sold to the
Gateshead
Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...
between 1883 and 1951.
History
The Gateshead and District Tramways commenced services on 22 October 1883 with steam-hauled tramcars operating on three routes centred on Gateshead High Street.
In 1897, British Electric Traction
British Electric Traction Company Limited, renamed BET plc in 1985, was a large British industrial conglomerate. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Rentokil in 1996, and the merged company is now known as Rento ...
took ownership of the company and the Gateshead and District Tramways Act of 1899 authorised the modernisation and electrification of the system.
Electric services started on 8 May 1901.
On 5 February 1916, a runaway tram crushed a family of three and a soldier, home on leave due to injuries received in France, on Bensham Hill. The crashed occurred when the tram's driver, who was aged 20, left his tram to aid his colleagues in a oncoming tram in which a fight was occurring. Whilst the driver was away from his tram, more passengers boarded, causing the tram to roll back and run away. The tram driver was acquitted of manslaughter at Durham Assizes The palatine courts of Durham were a set of courts that exercised jurisdiction within the County Palatine of Durham. The bishop purchased the wapentake of Sadberge in 1189, and Sadberge's initially separate institutions were eventually merged with ...
.
On 12 January 1923, through running to the Newcastle Corporation Tramways
Newcastle Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Newcastle upon Tyne between 1901 and 1950.
History
Services began on 16 December 1901. A fleet of twenty ‘A- Class’ tramcars built in 1901 by Hurst Nelson and Co. Ltd. of Mothe ...
was possible across the North Eastern Railway's High Level Bridge over the Tyne.
Closure
The last tram operated on 4 August 1951. Several tramcars survived the closure. Nineteen cars were sold to the Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway
The Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway (G&IER) was an electric light railway, primarily for passenger traffic, linking Great Grimsby with the Port of Immingham in Lincolnshire, England. The line was built by the Great Central Railway (GCR), ...
. Two of these survived into preservation. No 5 is at the National Tramway Museum
The National Tramway Museum (trading as Crich Tramway Village) is a tram museum located at Crich (), Derbyshire, England. The museum contains over 60 (mainly British) trams built between 1873 and 1982 and is set within a recreated period vil ...
and No 10 is at the Beamish Museum.
References
{{Historic UK Trams Tram transport in England