The Stockton and Darlington Steam Tramways Company operated two separate tramway concerns in the

North East of England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authority ...

. The first was a horse-drawn tramway service in

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

from 1880 to 1904, and the second was a steam tramway in

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...

between 1881 and 1893.

Darlington operation

The Darlington horse-drawn tramway opened on 10 October 1880. It operated until the Darlington Corporation acquired the concern for modernisation under the control of the

Darlington Corporation Light Railways The Darlington Corporation Light Railways operated a tramway service in Darlington between 1904 and 1926. History Darlington was the first municipality to take advantage of the Light Railways Act 1896. Its tramways were authorised by this ac ...

. The price paid for this was £7,600. The lines were leased to C.J. O'Dowd who continued to operate them until 18 August 1903, when the service was withdrawn for reconstruction.

Stockton on Tees operation

The company built a gauge route around 3.25 miles in length between the village of Norton and the district of South Stockton, via Norton Road, High Street (Stockton), Bridge Road and the Harewood Arms on Mandale Road. Subsequent extensions were made, one from the south end of Stockton High Street, by the Grey Horse Hotel, along Yarm Lane to St. Peter's Church, Yarm Road, and the second along Bishopton Lane to near Stockton railway station. Six

Merryweather & Sons Merryweather & Sons of Clapham, later Greenwich, London, were builders of steam fire engines and steam tram engines. The founder was Moses Merryweather (1791–1872) of Clapham, who was joined by his son Richard Moses (1839–1877). Fire appli ...

steam locomotives of 1881 provided the services.The Tramways of Teesside, George S. Hearse, The

Tramway Review ''Tramway Review'', initially known as ''The Tramway Review'', is a British quarterly magazine about the history of tramways in Great Britain and, to a lesser extent, neighbouring countries, published since 1950. Its content is intended for tra ...

, Vol 3, Issues 22 & 23 The company was purchased by the

Stockton and District Tramways Company The Stockton and District Tramways Company operated a steam tramway service between Stockton-on-Tees and Norton between 1893 and 1896.The Golden Age of Tramways. Published by Taylor and Francis. History The Stockton and District Tramways Compa ...

in 1893.

References

{{Historic UK Trams Tram transport in England Rail transport in Darlington 3 ft gauge railways in England 4 ft gauge railways in England 1880 establishments in England 1904 disestablishments in England British companies disestablished in 1904 British companies established in 1880