''The Two Pound Tram'' is a novel written by William Newton (a pseudonym of

Kenneth Newton William Kenneth Newton (6 November 1927 – 6 March 2010) was an English doctor who treated British and foreign royalty as well as many celebrities, and after retirement wrote the acclaimed novel '' The Two Pound Tram'' (under the name William Ne ...

, a retired doctor). It was first published in 2003 to great acclaim and won the 2004

Society of Authors The Society of Authors (SoA) is a United Kingdom trade union for professional writers, illustrators and literary translators, founded in 1884 to protect the rights and further the interests of authors. , it represents over 12,000 members and as ...

Sagittarius Prize {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 The Sagittarius Prize was a literary award given between 1991 and 2005 by the Society of Authors for a first novel by an author over the age of sixty. Initially the prize was worth £2,000 but was increased to £4,0 ...

(for first novelists over the age of 60). It sold 60,000 copies in Britain and was also successful in America and Germany.

Publication

In 2003 the author invited his nephew

Nigel Newton Nigel ( ) is an English masculine given name. The English ''Nigel'' is commonly found in records dating from the Middle Ages; however, it was not used much before being revived by 19th-century antiquarians. For instance, Walter Scott published ...

, founder of

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. Bloomsbury's head office is located in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a U ...

, to lunch at the

Garrick Club The Garrick Club is a gentlemen's club in the heart of London founded in 1831. It is one of the oldest members' clubs in the world and, since its inception, has catered to members such as Charles Kean, Henry Irving, Herbert Beerbohm Tree, A ...

in London. His nephew was horrified to hear that Kenneth had written a novel: publishers are swamped with new novels, and being a relative Nigel was put in a difficult position. To avoid direct involvement, he passed the text to his editorial staff, and it was published to great acclaim later that year.

Plot

The main story begins in 1937 when brothers Wilfred and Duncan Scrutton run away from their home at

Ferring Ferring is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It is part of the built-up area of Worthing and is accessed along the A259 road west of the town - comprising North Down Farm and Highdown Hil ...

near

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...

on the

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

coast and travel to London. Wilfred, the narrator, recounts how they had seen an advert in the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' which said '

Tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

s surplus to the requirements of the London Omnibus and Tramcar Company for sale at their depot at

Acton, London Acton () is a town and area in west London, England, within the London Borough of Ealing. It is west of Charing Cross. At the 2011 census, its four wards, East Acton, Acton Central, South Acton and Southfield, had a population of 62,480, a ...

for £2 each.' The brothers pool their resources and travel to the depot, where they are told that trams are indeed for sale but have to be collected and cannot be delivered to Sussex. The only candidate is an old

horse-drawn tram A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an animal-powered (usually horse) tram or streetcar. Summary The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public rail transport, wh ...

, for which they manage to secure a horse called Homer from a retired

rag and bone man A rag-and-bone man or ragpicker (UK English) or ragman, old-clothesman, junkman, or junk dealer (US English), also called a bone-grubber, bone-picker, chiffonnier, rag-gatherer, bag board, or totter, collects unwanted household items and sells t ...

. Unfortunately, the depot has no

destination board A split-flap display, or sometimes simply a flap display, is a digital electromechanical display device that presents changeable alphanumeric text, and occasionally fixed graphics. Often used as a public transport timetable in airports or r ...

s for Sussex, but they do have one for

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

— for which the brothers set off via the

Old Kent Road Old Kent Road is a major thoroughfare in South East London, England, passing through the London Borough of Southwark. It was originally part of an ancient trackway that was paved by the Romans and used by the Anglo-Saxons who named it Wæceli ...

, accompanied by Homer's companion, a dog called Tiger. They gain fare-paying passengers at

Harbledown Harbledown is a village in Kent, England, immediately west of Canterbury and contiguous with the city. At local government level the village is designated as a separate civil parish, that of Harbledown and Rough Common. The High Street is a cons ...

and begin a regular if slow service between there and Canterbury, and also acquire a conductor called Hattie, but rival companies eventually force them to move on due to the lack of a PSV operator's license. They travel back to Worthing and gain the support of the wealthy resident of

Goring Hall Goring may refer to: Places in England * Goring Gap, geological feature on the River Thames near Reading, England *Goring Heath, village and parish, Oxfordshire *Goring-on-Thames, village and parish, Oxfordshire *Goring Lock, a lock and weir on ...

, who, inspired by their determination, funds the purchase and transport of an electric tram from Acton; this is renovated and put into service in Worthing town centre. The second half of the novel concerns events during

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 ...

, the brothers volunteering for both the LDV and ARP and Hattie for the VAD.

Reception

*'Rather like

Daisy Ashford Margaret Mary Julia Devlin (née Ashford; 3 April 1881 – 15 January 1972), known as Daisy Ashford, was an English writer who is most famous for writing ''The Young Visiters'', a novella concerning the upper class society of late 19th century ...

's ''

The Young Visiters ''The Young Visiters'' or ''Mister Salteena's Plan'' is a 1919 novel by English writer Daisy Ashford (1881–1972). She wrote it when she was nine years old and part of its appeal lies in its juvenile innocence, and its unconventional grammar an ...

'' this is a charming, miniature oddity', ''

Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...

'' *'Newton is a wonderful find, it's my book of the year and I shall give it to everyone for Christmas',

Angela Huth Angela Huth (born 29 August 1938) is an English novelist and journalist. Early life and career Huth is the daughter of the actor Harold Huth. She left school at age 16 in order to paint and to study art in both France and Italy. At 18 she trave ...

, ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' *'Goes on haunting the reader's imagination long after he has put the book down . . . I loved it',

Clive Aslet Clive Aslet (born 15 February 1955) is a writer on British architecture and life, and a campaigner on countryside and other issues. He was for many years editor of '' Country Life'' magazine. He is Visiting Professor of Architecture at the Universi ...

, '' Country Life''front cover, Bloomsbury p/b edition, publ. 2004

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Two Pound Tram 2003 British novels English novels Novels set in Sussex Novels set in Kent Tram transport Novels set in the 1930s Novels set during World War II Horse-drawn railways Worthing 2003 debut novels