Now according to my dad I was there to see the last London tram clunk in to the New Cross depot from Woolwich in 1952. By then here in Manchester they had been a thing of the past for over three years.
The decision to get rid of the old bone shakers had been made as early as 1930 but like so many things the last world war had intervened and the end of the tram was delayed till 1949. At their peak in 1928 Manchester trams carried 328 million passengers on 953 trams via 46 routes and along 292 miles of track.
Leaving the old tram terminus on Barlow Moor Road you could have rattled north along routes which took the traveller via Wilbraham Road, or Upper Chorlton Road and Seymour Grove towards town. Alternatively there was always the route south past Southern Cemetery to West Didsbury. And no doubt there will be someone who will be able to get give me the tram route numbers and describe in detail the journey along the Parkway, and Wilmslow Road.
So the trams bit by bit gave way to the bus and the trolley bus.
I really would have liked to have traveled on one, despite my Dad who was very dismissive of them claiming that they were uncomfortable, noisy and liable to breakdown. Not that I ever reckoned the trolley buses which superseded them.
My memories of the Derby trolley buses were of sleek green machines that glided along almost silently and were always guaranteed to make me feel sick. Perhaps it was that distinctive smell, a mixture of leather and disinfectant which with the warmth of the inside made me feel ill.
Still they also have gone to be replaced by the ever bigger and not always very pleasant bus. But then there is always the metro tram.
Picture; from the Lloyd collection
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