Dundee Corporation Tramways
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Dundee Corporation Tramways formerly served the City of Dundee in Scotland. The corporation had financed the construction of a horse tramway in 1877, but had then leased it to the Dundee and District Tramways Company. They had replaced most of the horse trams with steam tram locomotives pulling trailer cars from 1884, but in 1897 the corporation decided that it would run the tramway system itself. After some negotiation and the payment of compensation, they took over the system in 1899, with a view to electrifying it. Electric trams started running in 1900, and the changeover was completed in 1902.
Dundee Corporation Tramways | |
---|---|
Operation | |
Locale | Dundee |
Open | 1 June 1899 |
Close | 20 October 1956 |
Status | Closed |
Infrastructure | |
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1ā2 in) standard gauge |
Propulsion system(s) | Electric |
Depot(s) | Walrond Street, Maryfield |
Statistics | |
Route length | 15.15 miles (24.38 km) |
There was gradual expansion over the next twenty-five years, both by the opening of additional routes, and the acquisition of new tramcars, with the final batch of trams being purchased in 1930 for use on the Lochee route. The corporation started to run motor buses in 1922, and some of the tram routes were replaced by buses from 1928, but the official policy was that the trams would be retained, and a programme of rebuilding them was carried out. By the end of the Second World War, there were 56 trams in service, somewhat lower than the peak of over 100 trams, but heavy repairs to the infrastructure and new vehicles were then required, and the decision was taken to shut the system down. Closures occurred in 1952, 1955 and 1956, with the last tram running on 20 October 1956.
The Corporation had also been an early pioneer in the use of trolleybuses, having visited systems in Germany in 1908. A single route linking the tramways at Maryfield with those as Fairmuir was opened in 1912, but although the technology was successful, the roads were unsuitable for the vehicles, and there were complaints about the amount of dust created, and the bumpiness of the ride. After less than two years, the service was withdrawn on 13 May 1914, making it the first trolleybus system in Britain to be shut down.