Ron's Liverpool Tram Site

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Last Updated: 29 Sep 2015

RECOLLECTIONS

Following is a selection of recollections of the trams and comments received from visitors to this web site.

I lived in Liverpool from 1944 to 1947 while waiting for our house to be completed on the Wirral. We stayed with my grandfather at 295 Upper Parliament Street. I used to spend hours outside the house quite fascinated watching trams passing up and down. I also visited Pier Head to watch them there.I think it was a dreadful mistake to close the system down and Liverpool is a poorer place for that. [Tony Malpeli]

I was trawling through the internet and decided to search 6A trams. I was bought up in Gladstone Avenue, which isn't far from Bowring Park, and often took trams into and back from Liverpool (it was cheaper than the bus, but did take longer). There were conductors who rewarded the reversing of the seat backs at the Bowring Park terminus by letting me turn the trolley. I would undo the rope at the 'rear' end of the tram, pull it down to take the trolley wheel off the overhead wires, then walk round to the other end of the tram. Placing the trolley wheel back onto the wire could be fun when it sparked and the rope then had to be wound properly onto the bracket on what was now the back of the tram. I can't imagine anything like this happening now, even if we still had these trams. A wonderfully nostalgic site. Well done. [Peter Austin]

I'm afraid I don't have any photos of Liverpool trams but I do have several distinct memories of their last years. My first home was at 222 Longmoor Lane, just opposite where the tramlines swerved off the roadway on to the side reservation to continue up to the Fazakerley terminus. My grandmother told me that when they moved there in early 1937 she was woken up by the first trams of the day as they slowed down to turn on to the side reservation. I remember standing with my grandpa at the tram stop near the Kirkdale cemetery entrance and seeing a tram from town coming round the turn, and also at the terminus seeing the driver or conductor holding the rope to pull the trolley round so the tram could go back again. I also remember my Dad pointing out the signs of the old lines under the road where the trams had run before they were moved over to the side, and down by the Black Bull, where the lines from Longmoor Lane joined those coming from Warbreck Moor to go down Walton Vale, he pointed out the difference between the old flat-top trams and the newer dome-top ones (the "Green Goddesses"). We moved down to Bedford, where there were no trams, and when we came up for our summer visit in 1951 my grandmother said the trams had only just stopped running past, so my Dad and I had to go to Warbreck Moor to get on one. By 1952 they had stopped running there as well and we had to go to Walton Hall Avenue to catch one. I think we repeated this in the next few years. Once at the Pier Head I ran in front of a tram and the driver shouted "You young fool!" When we were up in 1957 we made a point of going on a tram as we knew they were about to be finally scrapped. I remember how fascinated I was at major road junctions where several tram routes crossed and the tramwires formed a kind of spider's web, wondering how the trolley wheel knew which was the right wire to follow, and how I loved the noise of the flanges as they would grind against the rail as the tram turned a corner, the swishing in the wires as the tram went by with an occasional spark from the trolleywheel! The destruction of Liverpool's wonderful tram system, as in other cities, was an act of stupendous folly, especially when you consider the way tram systems have continued to flourish in other European countries. [John Clare]

I stumbled across your website while cataloguing some photos of a recent trip to Crich Museum - excellent site, well done! I was at school in Liverpool during 1955-58, coming across the Mersey each day from Wallasey on the ferry, then catching the number 40 tram up Brownlow Hill. At that time there were only two routes left, 6 & 40. We were all very sad to see the trams go, and I remember well coming over with some friends to Liverpool to ride on the 40 on the last day - it was the only time I ever travelled the entire route. The other recollection of a tram ride in Liverpool was as a very young child when my father took me to a football match (Liverpool or Everton? - can't remember which). It was the only time that I ever travelled on - or in fact remember seeing - one of the non-steamlined cars. Probably 1952 or 1953. The only other things that I can recall was (1) being very alarmed one day when arriving at the Pier Head to find men working on the lines. I went up to one of the guys to ask if they were taking the tramlines up, and can remember distinctly him saying, "No son. We're just making them last a bit longer" I was greatly relieved. That was probably in 1956. (2) Even at the age of 10-12, I fell for the "style" of the Green Goddess cars, and I believe that my love for art deco design down to this day stemmed from riding to school on those art deco masterpieces. [Ian Petticrew]

I was 10 when the last tram ran from Bowring Park. In the weeks before, my brother and I went on the last tram a few times from Oakvale church. We even went on it on the last day (saturday morning) from Willingdon Road to the terminus and back. It was around lunch time so maybe it was the last time in public service. The conducter said keep hold of your tickets. Later on that day along with my mum and dad, we watched the last procession from just by Vernons tram stop. There were loads of pennies placed on the track just to be bent by the last tram wheels. I asked my dad for a coin but my stingy dad said no, and after watching the last car disapear after Chelwood shops we trooped home to watch Dixon of Dock Green. I worked in Edge lane dept for 21 years in the main pump room until just before it was demolished. The last couple of years, the works was like a ghost town - just a handful of fitters working there. There were still a couple of tram wheels in the body shop . [Peter Bell]