Potteries Electric Traction Company

Potteries Electric Traction Company

Map of the routes of the Potteries Electric Traction Company
Operation
Locale The Potteries
Open 16 May 1899
Close 1928
Status Closed
Infrastructure
Track gauge 4 ft (1,219 mm)
Propulsion system(s) Electric
Depot(s) see main body for info.
Statistics
Route length 32 miles (51 km)
Potteries Electric Traction map
Goldenhill - Longton and Silverdale
Legend
 Goldenhill Woodstock Street
Goldenhill Tram Depot
Tunstall High Street
Brownhills Road
Scotia Road
Davensport Street
Smallthorne
Middleport

Burslem Town Centre
Longport Railway Stn
Porthill(Watlands View)
Maybank Tram Depot
Waterloo Rd(Cobridge)
Waterloo Road Stn
Chell Street
to Newcastle
& Stoke(via Shelton)
to Hanley(via Cliffe Vale)
& Stoke(via Hartshill
Hanley(see better map below)
Newcastle Ironmarket
High St
Newcastle
 
to Chesterton
Silverdale
Church St
Leek Road
Lichfield St/Victoria Road
Victoria Place
Fenton
Silverdale High St
to Stoke Town Centre
Fenton Tram Depot
Longton
The Strand
Longton
Commerce St
Longton
Queen Park Road
Meir
Station
Potteries Electric Traction map
Chesterton to Trent Vale / Hanford
Legend
 Chesterton (Sandford St)
Chesterton
Loomer Road
to Silverdale
 
Newcastle
High Street Termius
Newcastle
Ironmarket
to Middleport
to Tunstall/Goldenhill
Hartshill
Cliffe Vale
Etruria Railway Station
Hanley Town Centre
to Hanley
via Stoke Road
Stoke Town Centre
to Stoke
Glebe Street
to Longton
Trent Vale

The Potteries Electric Traction Company operated a tramway service in The Potteries between 1899 and 1928.[1]

History

British Electric Traction incorporated a new company on 27 June 1898, called the Potteries Electric Traction Company. Its purpose was to extend the existing tramway through the towns of the Potteries. It acquired the North Staffordshire Tramways Company Limited and arranged to take over the Longton Corporation Tramways.

Construction was awarded to Dick, Kerr & Co. and the overhead work was awarded to R. W Blackwell and Company. The coal-fired power station was constructed by Brush Electrical Engineering Company at the depot at Woodhouse Street, Stoke. Later a second station was opened at May Bank.

On 16 May 1899 the first electric trams ran from Stoke to Longton. By 1902, the company had a fleet of 105 trams and carried 14,438,048 passengers. By 1904 the system had expanded to 32 miles of route.

Fleet

Accidents

Trams were relatively safe, although there were accidents.

In 1923, a runaway tram was destroyed in an accident on Hartshill Bank, the steepest gradient on the system, and 18 passengers were injured.[2]

A year later, a driver was fatally injured in an accident at the Granville level crossings in Cobridge.

Depot

As with all tram system, PET Company had a number of tram depot located at the end of each line. PET had depots located at Chesterton, Fenton, Goldenhill, Stoke, Maybank.

Closure

The system closed in 1928.

The Red Lion Hotel, National Tramway Museum

The Red Lion public house which for years stood outside the tramway depot in Stoke-on-Trent, is now relocated to the National Tramway Museum.

References

  1. ↑ The Golden Age of Tramways. Published by Taylor and Francis.
  2. ↑ http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Fenton-1962-tramlines-dug/story-12540762-detail/story.html
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