Leeds Tramway Subway Plans

roundhegian · Post by **roundhegian** » Sat 06 Oct, 2007 8:50 pm

On 25 July 1944 a plan to build a subway system for all trams in the centre of Leeds was put before Leeds City Council .Trams woul go underground at the junction of York Road and Burmantofts Street , on North Street between Skinner Lane and Melbourne Street , on Lower Briggate between Swinegate and Boar Lane and on Wellington Street between Westgate and Lisbon Street .When you think of the hundreds of millions of pounds spent on central Leeds road schemes between 1944 and the present day and the levels of congestion seen in the city centre the cost of the subway scheme would have been well justified .

jane666 · Post by **jane666** » Sat 06 Oct, 2007 11:35 pm

is this info from a book, or available online? i'd be interested to read more.

LS1 · Post by **LS1** » Sun 07 Oct, 2007 12:22 am

There is information on this in Jim Soaper's Leeds Transport book. Also hunt around in some of the threads on here. There are some pics people have put up of plans from this and previous schemes.

roundhegian · Post by **roundhegian** » Sun 07 Oct, 2007 12:50 am

jane666 wrote: is this info from a book, or available online? i'd be interested to read more. The book " Leeds Trams 1932 - 1959 " by Andrew D. Young and published by The Light Railway Transport League contains as much detailed information as " Leeds Transport " but the two authors publish different details and data . The former book is long out-of-print but you might find a copy on e-bay .I've just tried uploading pages 46 - 53 from the book but each page exceeds the upload limit . I would be happy to fax or post ( perhaps via SecretLeeds ) the relevent pages to any one who is interested .The memorandum from the Leeds Transport Committee to the (War) Reconstruction Committee ( parts of which are quoted in these pages ) dated 25 July 1944 should be with the Leeds City Transport archives which are held by the library of The National Tramway Museum at Crich .Plans prepared by the City Engineer Col. W.S. Cameron with a coloured drawing of City Square showing the below-ground tube ( for single-deck trams ) lines should I think be at the offices of the West Yorkshire Archive Service at Sheepscar .

munki · Post by **munki** » Sun 07 Oct, 2007 1:25 am

Plans

roundhegian · Post by **roundhegian** » Sun 07 Oct, 2007 1:33 am

munki wrote: Plans That's the drawing I sent you by e-mail !

munki · Post by **munki** » Sun 07 Oct, 2007 1:49 am

Ah, it was uploaded by HatsOff in a separate thread about a week ago!

roundhegian · Post by **roundhegian** » Sun 07 Oct, 2007 2:39 pm

jane666 wrote: is this info from a book, or available online? i'd be interested to read more. The entrance to the subway between Swinegate and Boar Lane was described thus :Length of surface opening : 250 feetLength of road to be widened : 549 feetSize of increased width : from 55-70 to 110 feetCost of land acquisition : £500000 less resale of sites £133000Cost of street works : £ 20000Cost of widening rail bridge : £ 48000Total cost : £433000 1944 prices of course

roundhegian · Post by **roundhegian** » Mon 08 Oct, 2007 9:21 pm

LS1 wrote: There is information on this in Jim Soaper's Leeds Transport book. Also hunt around in some of the threads on here. There are some pics people have put up of plans from this and previous schemes. LS1 is absolutely right about J. Soper's Leeds Transport history .Pages 819 and 820 of Volume Three show : Briggate Station City Square Station and North Street Station Note the comment about " proposed inner ring-road " at the junction of New Briggate , Vicar Lane and New York Road .

roundhegian · Post by **roundhegian** » Mon 08 Oct, 2007 9:50 pm

roundhegian wrote: LS1 wrote: There is information on this in Jim Soaper's Leeds Transport book. Also hunt around in some of the threads on here. There are some pics people have put up of plans from this and previous schemes. LS1 is absolutely right about J. Soper's Leeds Transport history .Pages 819 and 820 of Volume Three show : Briggate Station City Square Station ; see the drawing posted by " munki " on 7 October .