Leeds trams

blackprince · Post by **blackprince** » Sun 24 Feb, 2008 1:49 pm

A couple more pics from Crich

blackprince · Post by **blackprince** » Sun 24 Feb, 2008 1:55 pm

Finally.

blackprince · Post by **blackprince** » Sun 24 Feb, 2008 1:58 pm

Finally.

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Sun 24 Feb, 2008 4:37 pm

blackprince wrote: Crich tramway museum is well worth a visit. The trams are in running order. Its worth a visit just to experience the sensation, sounds, rattles of a tramride again. ( I was 9 when the last trams ran in Leeds). They have a couple of Leeds trams in the collection , including the single decker "Coronation Tram" which I remember riding on to Temple Newsam. I seem to remember that this was built at Charles Roberts at Horbury. There were (are) some very similar ones still running in Blackpool.

wiggy · Post by **wiggy** » Sun 24 Feb, 2008 6:45 pm

blackprince wrote: A couple more pics from Crich is this a middleton bone shaker?

Bramley4woods · Post by **Bramley4woods** » Sun 24 Feb, 2008 8:40 pm

wiggy wrote: blackprince wrote: A couple more pics from Crich is this a middleton BOne shaker? No, I suspect that moniker refferred to the middleton BOgie cars specially made for the middleton light railway http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?reso ... ogniseable by the flattish front, concertina doors and twin headlampsI think the Leeds "Coronation Car" was just a repaint of one of 3 single deck railcars the corporation were toying with at the time.

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Sun 24 Feb, 2008 10:26 pm

Bramley4woods wrote: wiggy wrote: blackprince wrote: A couple more pics from Crich is this a middleton BOne shaker? No, I suspect that moniker refferred to the middleton BOgie cars specially made for the middleton light railway http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?reso ... ogniseable by the flattish front, concertina doors and twin headlampsI think the Leeds "Coronation Car" was just a repaint of one of 3 single deck railcars the corporation were toying with at the time. Wasn't one of the single deck cars was ex Sunderland?

blackprince · Post by **blackprince** » Wed 27 Feb, 2008 4:39 pm

Bramley4woods wrote: wiggy wrote: blackprince wrote: A couple more pics from Crich is this a middleton BOne shaker? No, I suspect that moniker refferred to the middleton BOgie cars specially made for the middleton light railway http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?reso ... ogniseable by the flattish front, concertina doors and twin headlampsI think the Leeds "Coronation Car" was just a repaint of one of 3 single deck railcars the corporation were toying with at the time. Yes the 3 new single deck trams were on trial with LCT, At the time people thought it signalled the start of modernisation of the Leeds tram system, but as we now know it was more or less the last gasp.As kids we called these 3 new trams "racing trams". With some justification when you read what Crich website has to say about them:-"Entered service in Leeds on 1st June 1953. The only car at Crich with VAMBAC (Variable Automatic Multinotch Braking & Acceleration Control) which combines gentle acceleration with high speed."In the 50s it was thought that trams were old fashioned and that they caused congestion when they had to share the road with cars and buses.The more modern design and this VAMBAC system were an attempt to attract people back onto trams and give them the speed and acceleration to compete with motor traffic. It did provide a stay of execution for trams in some cities but obviously not in Leeds.

Bramley4woods · Post by **Bramley4woods** » Wed 27 Feb, 2008 6:53 pm

blackprince wrote: Bramley4woods wrote: wiggy wrote: blackprince wrote: A couple more pics from Crich is this a middleton BOne shaker? No, I suspect that moniker refferred to the middleton BOgie cars specially made for the middleton light railway http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?reso ... ogniseable by the flattish front, concertina doors and twin headlampsI think the Leeds "Coronation Car" was just a repaint of one of 3 single deck railcars the corporation were toying with at the time. Yes the 3 new single deck trams were on trial with LCT, At the time people thought it signalled the start of modernisation of the Leeds tram system, but as we now know it was more or less the last gasp.As kids we called these 3 new trams "racing trams". With some justification when you read what Crich website has to say about them:-"Entered service in Leeds on 1st June 1953. The only car at Crich with VAMBAC (Variable Automatic Multinotch Braking & Acceleration Control) which combines gentle acceleration with high speed."In the 50s it was thought that trams were old fashioned and that they caused congestion when they had to share the road with cars and buses.The more modern design and this VAMBAC system were an attempt to attract people back onto trams and give them the speed and acceleration to compete with motor traffic. It did provide a stay of execution for trams in some cities but obviously not in Leeds. Well that's how the story goes.Personally I think that by the end of the war, with no maintenance, (and precious little during the years of the deppression) the permanent way was completely shot and the Council couldn't afford to bring the maintenance up to date. Neither could they afford to extend the tram tracks into the new estates which had been completed in 1936 -39. The idea that trams were old fashioned and inherently slow and unreliable was deliberately disseminated down from the highest levels in the Council. Certainly my own mother had swallowed the tale, hook, line and sinker. One Children's Day, after waiting at the Kirkstall Traffic Lights for the tram to Roundhay for nearly an hour was heard to mutter menacingly "It's time they burnt 'em all". Hardly conducive to enjoying a merry afternoon of children maypole dancing and frolicking in the sun in Roundhay Park. Mind you my cousin did say that one advantage they had was that you could here them coming. Waiting for the number 11 tram on Gipton Approach "Saying Goodnight" to his girlfriend on her doorstep he could hang on 'till the last possible moment because he could here it groaning and creaking up the rise from the Gipton terminus, and even then if he missed it, the trams went so slow you could always run after them and jump on !Visiting some Eastern European cities after the fall of communism it seems that one of the things they found a better solution to than we did was the mass movement of workers at rush hour. In Prague for instance no diesel service buses run through the centre of the city, but trams built by Siemens with GPS displays for the passengers (pollution free at the point of use) run out to bus / tram interchanges a couple of Km out of the city where you will change to a bus that takes you onward to housing schemes or into small villages.

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Wed 27 Feb, 2008 9:33 pm

[? Visiting some Eastern European cities after the fall of communism it seems that one of the things they found a better solution to than we did was the mass movement of workers at rush hour. In Prague for instance no diesel service buses run through the centre of the city, but trams built by Siemens with GPS displays for the passengers (pollution free at the point of use) run out to bus / tram interchanges a couple of Km out of the city where you will change to a bus that takes you onward to housing schemes or into small villages. Not just Eastern Europe - Amsterdam has a comprehensive system running throught the streets - it's acutally designated a metro line on the underground. Paris has a tram line too from Bobigny to St. Denis - also part of the metro system.