Liverpool Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

between 1898 and 1957.

History

In 1897, Liverpool Corporation bought the Liverpool United Tramway and Omnibus Company and obtained a

Private Act Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. This is unlike a private bill which is a proposal for a law affecting only a single p ...

of Parliament, the Liverpool Corporation Tramways Act 1897. A modernisation scheme followed immediately with electrification of services taking around 5 years. The first electric service left Dingle on 16 November 1898. By 1901, the 101 million passengers were carried by the electric tramcars.

The last tram

The last tram, (Car 293 No. 6A), ran from Liverpool's

Pier Head The Pier Head (properly, George's Pier Head) is a riverside location in the city centre of Liverpool, England. It was part of the former Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City UNESCO World Heritage Site, which was inscribed in 2004, but revoked in ...

to Bowring Park on 14 September 1957. The car was bought by the

Seashore Trolley Museum Seashore Trolley Museum, located in Kennebunkport, Maine, United States, is the world's first and largest museum of mass transit vehicles. While the main focus of the collection is trolley cars (trams), it also includes rapid transit trains, ...

Kennebunkport Kennebunkport is a resort town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,629 people at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland– South Portland–Biddeford metropolitan statistical area. The town center, the are ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and shipped via

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

in 1958. As of 2017, it is currently at the back of a shed at the Museum, and in poor condition.

Surviving trams

Horse car 43 is a static exhibit at the

Wirral Transport Museum Wirral Transport Museum is a museum situated approximately from the Mersey Ferry service at Woodside, Birkenhead, England. A vintage tram service links the museum and the ferry at certain times. Admission into the museum is free with a broad ...

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

. Car 293 survives at the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. Car 245 was restored to operational condition in 2014, by members of the Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society at the

, and is operational at the

Wirral Tramway Wirral Tramway is a heritage tramway opened in 1995 by the Wirral Borough Council and Hamilton Quarter partnership and was operated by Blackpool Transport Services until 2005 when the council took over the licence to run the tramway. The ...

. Car 762 is operational at the Wirral Tramway. Car 869 (known as a "Streamliner" or "Liner" in original Liverpool service, and "Green Goddess" in later Glasgow service) is part of the operational fleet 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 vill ...

Crich Crich is a village in the English county of Derbyshire. The population at the 2001 Census was 2,821, increasing to 2,898 at the 2011 Census (including Fritchley and Whatstandwell). It has the National Tramway Museum inside the Crich Tramway Vil ...

in Derbyshire.

References

{{Wirral Tramway Tram transport in England Historic transport in Merseyside

History

The last tram

Surviving trams

Further reading

References