The Ghosts of Leeds tram cars ride the streets again (Leeds tramway closure 1959-2009)

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Mon 07 Mar, 2011 11:09 pm

Tasa wrote: BLAKEY wrote: When I've a minute to refer to my transport literature I'll check, but I'm almost certain that Victoria Road and Cardigan Road were single line portions of route, requiring less width. Also the awful congestion at the junction with North Lane, and at North Lane/Otley Road, would prevent any such diversion in that area. Blakey, does this map help? It's from the 1930s and you will be able to interpret the tram layout better than me! The grate cover I found is roughly at the top left-hand point of the "triangle" made by the converging tramlines, but on the pavement. Many thanks Tasa - yes it does help and I'll have a look just for first time interest very soon. The map is superb and confirms what I thought - that the tram lines in most of Victoria Road and in Cardigan Road from the Bear Pit to the North Lane terminus were indeed single track. Therefore there isn't any leeway at all which would allow any diverted traffic from Headingley Lane/Otley Road an alternative route.I was born at 2 Chestnut Avenue in 1936, and very soon learnt, with other kids, that much glee, and of course scientfic knowledge ahemm!!, could be had by placing ha'pennies and pennies on the tramlines as the number 27 approached. As the tram passed over it the coin was reduced to a white hot (almost) enlarged affair about the thickness of a piece of card. This was caused partly by the weight of the tram and partly by the enormous electrical current returning via the rails. I still have a guilty conscience about how many tram drivers must have suffered palpitations or worse as they faced the prospect of scooping an urchin up in the "cowcatcher" - but I was only three yer' onour !!

Tasa · Post by **Tasa** » Tue 08 Mar, 2011 9:29 am

I have some coins like that, but achieved in a much more mundane manner - in machines at Blackpool Pleasure Beach and the Laxey Wheel in the Isle of Man!Talking of Chestnut Avenue, I had piano lessons with a Miss Derbyshire at No. 43 or 45 in the early 70s. Were you still there then, and did you know her?

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Tue 08 Mar, 2011 11:58 am

Tasa wrote: Talking of Chestnut Avenue, I had piano lessons with a Miss Derbyshire at No. 43 or 45 in the early 70s. Were you still there then, and did you know her? No Tasa, long gone by then. I was born in 1936 and my folks moved to Ilkley in 1940 I think. I do though have really vivid memories even at that age - despite what some folks say that you can't remember before about age five. I can remember clearly hurtling out of control in my pedal car and managing somehow to stop by Mr. Dockray's grocery shop in Brudenell Road - its now the Sainsbury's diagonally opposite the Hyde Park Cinema. Also, every time I travel on the 56 I look at the flat at number 2 Chestnut Avenue and reflect on all that's happened in life since - I really WOULD like to turn the clock back and start there again. A photo of the house appears in Leodis under Victoria Road I believe.

Tasa · Post by **Tasa** » Tue 08 Mar, 2011 10:45 pm

BLAKEY wrote: Tasa wrote: Talking of Chestnut Avenue, I had piano lessons with a Miss Derbyshire at No. 43 or 45 in the early 70s. Were you still there then, and did you know her? No Tasa, long gone by then. I was born in 1936 and my folks moved to Ilkley in 1940 I think. I do though have really vivid memories even at that age - despite what some folks say that you can't remember before about age five. I can remember clearly hurtling out of control in my pedal car and managing somehow to stop by Mr. Dockray's grocery shop in Brudenell Road - its now the Sainsbury's diagonally opposite the Hyde Park Cinema. Also, every time I travel on the 56 I look at the flat at number 2 Chestnut Avenue and reflect on all that's happened in life since - I really WOULD like to turn the clock back and start there again. A photo of the house appears in Leodis under Victoria Road I believe. Sorry for hijacking Phill's tram thread like this, but I've just seen the photo on Leodis. This is the house called Wych Elm, isn't it? I was always into mystery stories as a child and thought it was such a spooky name! Next time you're on the 56 bus, have a look at the next house down on Chestnut Avenue - the name above the door has been changed from Norman House to No Man Hous by hacking away the carved letters - must have been a feminist enclave at some point!!

Phill_dvsn · Post by **Phill_dvsn** » Tue 08 Mar, 2011 11:22 pm

Your hijacking nothing Tasa. The thread is for everyones collections, and memories. It's a great place to put it all together. Carry on as you were

Tasa · Post by **Tasa** » Wed 09 Mar, 2011 9:21 am

Thanks Phill Some time in the next 40 years I'll discover another tramway relic and bring this thread back on-topic

Brunel · Post by **Brunel** » Wed 09 Mar, 2011 12:57 pm

SERVICE 27 CITY SQUARE - CARDIGAN ROAD via Infirmary Street, East Parade (Headrow), Park Lane, Burley Road, and Cardigan Road to a terminus on Cardigan Road at the junction with North Lane, Headingley. Cars returning to the City and not terminating there ran through to Balm Road and displayed Service 26. A single line and loop track past the back to backs on Burley Road, the line turned into Cardigan Road and made the gradual ascent of the hill to the late Victorian villas of Headingley that clustered around Cardigan Road top and Victoria Road bottom. A single track extension along North Lane to Ash Road, Headingley was opened in 1932 to store cars needed for football and cricket traffic at the Headingley ground. In 1933 the line was further extended along North Lane to form a junction with the Lawnswood route at Otley Road. Details of the football services are sparse but so far as is known no service number was displayed and the cars ran outwards along Burley Road and Cardigan Road, and inwards via Otley Road and Woodhouse Lane, thus making a one—way circular trip around Headingley.

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Fri 11 Mar, 2011 12:35 pm

Brunel wrote: SERVICE 27 CITY SQUARE - CARDIGAN ROAD via Infirmary Street, East Parade (Headrow), Park Lane, Burley Road, and Cardigan Road to a terminus on Cardigan Road at the junction with North Lane, Headingley. Cars returning to the City and not terminating there ran through to Balm Road and displayed Service 26. Just to clear up any confusion about my early "vandalism" with pennies and the tramlines in Victoria Road if I may. There were a lot of complex revisions to the tram routes just prior to WW2 and this involves one of them. The original 27 service which Brunel details above was finally abandoned, after much Council wrangling, in May 1937 and thereafter trams from Balm Road used Woodhouse Lane and Victoria Road to reach a terminus at the west end of the latter, returning southwards as route 26. The tracks at the north end of Cardigan Road and into North Lane and Otley Road remained in use for the un-numbered rugby and cricket specials. Photos today of lines of trams waiting in North Lane and Cardigan Road top for the end of the matches just seem quite unreal, especially to those of us who use those roads daily.

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Fri 11 Mar, 2011 7:30 pm

Tasa wrote: [ This is the house called Wych Elm, isn't it? I was always into mystery stories as a child and thought it was such a spooky name! Next time you're on the 56 bus, have a look at the next house down on Chestnut Avenue - the name above the door has been changed from Norman House to No Man Hous by hacking away the carved letters - must have been a feminist enclave at some point!! I was a bit puzzled Tasa when I read this, but a "site visit" today has cleared up the confusion. Our flat was in the other top house of Chestnut Avenue at the western side of the junction - I thought I'd never seen a name on it. It used to have a conservatory on the side and the remains of it can be seen still. If ever I saw a present day tenant outside I think I'd politely ask them if I could take some "then and now" pictures of where I spent my first three years - they just might, but of course I wouldn't push it.

Tasa · Post by **Tasa** » Fri 11 Mar, 2011 9:54 pm

BLAKEY wrote: Tasa wrote: [ This is the house called Wych Elm, isn't it? I was always into mystery stories as a child and thought it was such a spooky name! Next time you're on the 56 bus, have a look at the next house down on Chestnut Avenue - the name above the door has been changed from Norman House to No Man Hous by hacking away the carved letters - must have been a feminist enclave at some point!! I was a bit puzzled Tasa when I read this, but a "site visit" today has cleared up the confusion. Our flat was in the other top house of Chestnut Avenue at the western side of the junction - I thought I'd never seen a name on it. It used to have a conservatory on the side and the remains of it can be seen still. If ever I saw a present day tenant outside I think I'd plouitely ask them if I could take some "then and now" pictures of where I spent my first three years - they just might, but of course I wouldn't push it. Ah - I see! Sorry for the confusion. I suspect the present tenants are students, and they probably wouldn't mind you taking photos of the flat. Mind you, as Chestnut Avenue achieved the dubious honour of being the most burgled street in England some years ago, you'll need to put your most honest expression on when asking, so they don't suspect you of casing the joint! Incidentally, on my way home this evening I saw someone looking intently at the pavement while walking down Cardigan Road at the junction of Victoria Road - I wonder if they were a Secret Leeds member looking for the tramways grate cover?