The Colne and Trawden Light Railway Company operated a tramway service in

Colne Colne () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. Located northeast of Nelson, north-east of Burnley, east of Preston and west of Leeds. The town should not be confused with the unrelated Colne Val ...

and

Trawden Trawden is a village in the Trawden Forest parish of Pendle, at the foot of Boulsworth Hill, in Lancashire, England. The village co-operatively owns and runs its library, shop, community centre and pub. Activities As a way of encouraging peop ...

between 1903 and 1934.

History

The tramway was authorised by the Colne and Trawden Light Railway Order of 1901. It was built and operated by

Greenwood & Batley Greenwood & Batley were a large engineering manufacturer with a wide range of products, including armaments, electrical engineering, and printing and milling machinery. They also produced a range of battery-electric railway locomotives under the ...

of Leeds. Nuttal and Co were contractors for the permanent way, and R.W. Blackwell for the overhead wiring. Construction started on 19 May 1903 when the Mayor of Colne, Alderman Varley, cut the first sod. Services started on the first section on 28 November 1903, and other sections opened in stages until the line reached Zion Chapel on Lane House Lane, Trawden by December 1905. A branch to

Laneshawbridge Laneshawbridge (otherwise Laneshaw Bridge) is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 918. It is to the east of Colne in Lancashire and is the easternmost settlem ...

opened by the end of December 1904. The system connected with Nelson Corporation Tramways. Colne Corporation purchased the entire system on 24 March 1914 and the name was changed to Colne Corporation Light Railways.

Fleet

The company purchased vehicles as follows: *1-6 G.F. Milnes & Co. 1903 *7-9

Brush Electrical Machines Brush Electrical Machines is a manufacturer of electrical generators typically for gas turbine and steam turbine driven applications. The main office is based at Loughborough in Leicestershire, UK. History Charles Francis Brush, born in Euclid ...

, Loughborough 1903 *10-12

Milnes Voss G. F. Milnes & Co. Ltd was a tramcar manufacturer based in Birkenhead (1886–1902) and Hadley, Shropshire (1900–1905) Starbuck Car and Wagon Company George Starbuck established the first tramcar manufacturing business in Britain at 227 Cleve ...

, 1906 *13

United Electric Car Company The United Electric Car Company was a tramcar manufacturer from 1905 to 1917 in Preston, Lancashire, England. History The Electric Railway and Tramway Carriage Works was formed in 1897 registered on 25 April 1898 to acquire works at Preston, ...

1914 *14-16

, Loughborough 1926

Closure

The system closed on 6 January 1934. It was estimated that the tramcars had travelled over 4,582,000 miles and carried 57.5 million passengers during the years of operation.The Light Railways of Colne, J.S. King, Tramway Review, Vol. 10, No. 74, Summer 1973

References

{{Borough of Pendle culture Tram transport in England Colne Transport in the Borough of Pendle Historic transport in Lancashire 4 ft gauge railways in England