Saturday 26th July, 2008
The First Trams to Pemberton
The first tram service in the Wigan area began on 31st July, 1880. It ran from the bottom of Queen Street, near the railway bridge at Wallgate, to the Black Bull at Pemberton, a distance of 2½ miles. On the 23rd September, the service was extended to Wigan's Market Place.
The trams were horse drawn and operated on a narrow gauge tramway which was 3ft 6ins wide. The operators, a private company named "Wigan Tramways Company Ltd", anticipated an initial outlay of £50,000 for the tramways, stables, horses, cars and other equipment.
This is how the Wigan Observer of 4th August, 1880 described the advantages of the new form of transport:
"... a well appointed tramway... secures a degree of punctuality and general comfort which is seldom found on the finest roads and in the most aristocratic districts and is practically unattainable amongst such inhabitants, and with such roads as are found between Lamberhead Green and the Wallgate railway bridge."
On the first day alone, almost 2,000 of these "unaristocratic" inhabitants paid a fare of 2d (less than 1p) and rode the tram.
The new transport system was declared a success and by 18th August the number of passengers had increased by 20%.
Here is the Wigan Observer's (18th August) account of the opening day:
"On Monday morning the Tramway from Wigan to Lamberhead Green was formally opened to the public and the extraordinary number of passengers carried promises well for the financial success of the undertaking. Trams were running the whole of the day, and nearly 2,000 persons were carried without a single accident or mishap occurring. This speaks well for the manner in which the arrangements for working the traffic had been made. Yesterday (Tuesday) there was again a large number of passengers, trams being run every half-hour, and this plan will be adopted for some days, until the requirements of the district have been ascertained, when time tables will be drawn up and issued."
On Saturday 5th November, 1881 a steam tram was trialled for an audience of local authority officials. The demonstration was successful and from 8th February onwards steam traction was gradually introduced.
Steam trams consisted of a locomotive and a passenger car. The locomotives were designed and constructed at Home Foundry, Wigan, by a local engineer named William Wilkinson.
In spite of their many advantages, steam powered trams were not universally popular. Critics said they were dangerous and horses shied at the noise they made.
On Saturday 29th December, 1883, a fatal accident brought the safety issues of steam trams to the fore, when an unmanned, runaway tram crashed into the rear of a stationary vehicle.
Services were suspended.
They were soon resumed but with horses as the motive force. The steep gradient between Wigan and Pemberton, however, was not suitable for horse drawn transport so on 23rd August, 1884, steam traction was reintroduced.