The Barbados Tramway Company operated a network of horse-drawn

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

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 in

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the capital and largest city of Barbados. Formerly The Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of Saint Michael. Bridgetown is sometimes locally referred to as "The Ci ...

, capital of

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...

, with an unknown gauge of approximately 1,067 mm (3

feet The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made ...

6 inch).

History

In 1882 a horse-drawn

way, the Barbados Tramway Company, was constructed in Bridgetown by the Scottish railway engineer

Robert Fairlie Robert Francis Fairlie (either March 1831 or 5 April 1830, in Glasgow – 31 July 1885, in London) was a Scottish-born railway engineer. Early life Fairlie was born in Glasgow, the son of T. Archibald Fairlie (an engineer) and Margaret Fairlie ...

.The Tramways of Bridgetown Barbados
/ref> Robert Fairlie obtained permission to construct and operate a street railway in Bridgetown, and registered Barbados Tramway Company on 5 December 1882. The Barbados Tramway Company opened the first 2 miles (3.2 km) of its St. Lawrence tram line, as far as Hastings Rocks, on 5 December 1885. The main hub was near Nelson's Column at Trafalgar Square. The line toward south crossed the harbour in the Constitution River on Chamberlain Bridge one block approx. 700 ft (200 m) away from the terminus of the

Barbados Railway The Barbados Railway was a -long narrow-gauge railway on Barbados with a gauge of initially 1,067 mm (3 feet 6 inch) and later 762 mm (2 feet 6 inch). It had 98 bridges, very tight radii and a steep incline. It was used from 1883 to ...

, a narrow gauge steam railway that had been inaugurated on 20 October 1881.G. Pilkington
The History of the Barbados Railway.
2007. The tram network consisted of five lines, ending in Fontabelle, Belfield, Hindsbury, Belleville and St. Lawrence. The network had up to 10 miles (16 km) of track. The Barbados Tramway Company operated up to 25 horse-drawn tramcars. Instead of numbers the trams had names, such as ACTIVE, ALERT and JUBILEE. Gasoline-powered buses began to attract more and more passengers with effect of 1907. There were several bus companies by 1908 competing against the slower trams. Thus the tramway was sold in 1910 to U.S. investors and renamed to Bridgetown Tramway Company. The American investors initially wanted to build extensions north to Speightstown and south to Oistins Town, but their plans did not get realized. Instead, the tramway ceased to operate in 1925.

References

External links

Rail transport in Barbados Companies based in Bridgetown 3 ft 6 in gauge railways in Barbados Defunct town tramway systems by city Horse-drawn railways {{Barbados-stub

History

See also

References

External links