Glasgow Corporation Tramways were formerly one of the largest urban tramway systems in Europe.Scottish flashback: Glasgow Corporation Tramways, The Scotsman, 26 November 2014 Over 1,000 municipally owned trams served the city of Glasgow, Scotland, with over 100 route miles (160 route kilometres) by 1922. The system closed in 1962 and was the last city tramway in Great Britain (prior to the construction of new systems in the 1990s).
Creation
The (33 & 34 Vict. c. clxxv) was enacted by Parliament in August 1870. This legislation allowed Glasgow Town Council to decide whether or not to have tramways within Glasgow.Brash, Ronald W. (1971). Glasgow in the Tramway Ages, Longman, . Page 27. In 1872, the Town Council laid a route from St George's Cross to Eglinton Toll (via New City Road, Cambridge Street, Sauchiehall Street, Renfield Street and the Jamaica Bridge).Glasgow Trams through the Years, Part 1, Glasgow History, 12 October 2019
The Glasgow Street Tramways Act 1870 prohibited the town council from directly operating a tram service over the lines. The act further stipulated that a private company be given the operating lease of the tram-lines for a period of 22 years.Brash, Ronald W. (1971). Glasgow in the Tramway Ages, Longman, 1971, , Page 28. The St George's Cross to Eglinton Toll tram line was opened on 19 August 1872 with a horse-drawn service by the Glasgow Tramway and Omnibus Company.Klapper, Charles Frederick (1984). The Golden Age of Buses, Routledge, , Page 22. The Glasgow Tramway and Omnibus Company operated the tram-line and subsequent extensions to the system until 30 June 1894.
In declining to renew the Glasgow Tramway and Omnibus Company operating lease, Glasgow Town Council formed the Glasgow Corporation Tramways and commenced their own municipal tram service on 1 July 1894.
Large crowds took to the streets to mark the service's golden jubilee in 1922.Jubilee of trams, 1922 (Museum of Transport), The Glasgow Story
Track gauge Glasgow's tramlines had a highly unusual track gauge of . This was to permit standard gauge railway wagons to be operated over parts of the tram system (particularly in the Govan area) using their wheel flanges running in the slots of the tram tracks. This allowed the railway wagons to be drawn along tramway streets to access some shipyards. The shipyards provided their own small electric locomotives, running on the tramway power, to pull these wagons, principally loaded with steel for shipbuilding, from local railway freight yards.
Electrification The electrification of the tram system was instigated by the Glasgow Tramways Committee, with the route between Springburn and Mitchell Street chosen as an experiment. With a fleet of 21 newly built tramcars, the experimental electric route commenced on 13 October 1898 and was considered a success. The citywide horse-drawn tram service was withdrawn at the end of April 1902.
An additional 400 new trams were built and fitted with electrical equipment, with the Glasgow Corporation Tramways workshops at Coplawhill (Pollokshields) heavily involved in the construction of the new trams.
To provide the electrical supply, a generating station was built at Port Dundas: the Pinkston Power Station opened in 1901.Pinkston Power Station The Tramway and Railway World 9th May 1901, Glasgow Corporation Transport, 29 December 2006 Pinkston and substations located at Coplawhill, Dalhousie, Kinning Park, Whitevale and Partick also powered the Glasgow Subway. The power station operated for 57 years, until it was handed over to the South of Scotland Electricity Board in 1958 and ceased operating in the early 1960s. The plant’s massive cooling tower, which dominated the skyline of the city, was demolished in 1977. The rest of the plant was removed the following year, and the first chimney was demolished on a Sunday in April 1978, followed by the second chimney on the following Sunday.
Following electrification, Glasgow trams were initially fitted with trolley poles to take electricity from the overhead wires. The trolley poles were later replaced with bow collectors.
Closure
The tram system was gradually phased out between 1949 and 1962 (in favour of trolley and diesel-powered buses), with the final trams operating on 4 September 1962. By that time only one route remained in operation, the number 9 which ran from Auchenshuggle to Dalmuir.Trams at Auchenshuggle (Mitchell Library, Glasgow Collection, 1962), The Glasgow Story On the final day of service there was a procession of 20 trams through the city between the depots at Dalmarnock and Coplawhill, an event attended by 250,000 people.Riverside and Summerlee museums mark Glasgow last tram anniversary, BBC News, 4 September 2012Fifty years since the Glasgow trams hit the buffers, The Herald, 27 August 2012The heartfelt farewell to Glasgow's last tram 55 years ago, The Scotsman, 31 August 2017Last Trams Parade (Mitchell Library, Glasgow Collection, 1962), The Glasgow StoryLast Day of the Trams, Glasgow, (28-minute silent colour video, 1962), National Library of Scotland Apart from the Blackpool tramway, Glasgow became the last city or town in the UK to operate trams until the opening of the Manchester Metrolink in 1992.
One effect of the closure of the system was the loss of a rare example (for that period) of gender equality in the workplace. During World War I, the Corporation had allowed women to become tram drivers. After the war, again a very rare decision, women were allowed to continue as tram drivers. This continued until the system closed. Women were not allowed to be bus drivers; this was partly due to the physical strength required as prior to the 1970s most buses had no power steering and, especially when fully loaded, required significant strength to steer. By contrast the trams were guided by their tracks and did not require physical strength to operate. This was noted in the short film "No 9 to Dalmuir" directed by Kevin Brownlow in 1962.
In 1949 two tram lines were converted to trolleybus operation. Thereafter Glasgow developed several trolleybus routes, but these were all replaced by diesel buses by 1967.Glasgow’s Trolleybuses, Glasgow History, 4 June 2018
Legacy Following the closure of the tram system, the Glasgow Corporation Tramways workshops at Coplawhill in Pollokshields were converted into the Glasgow Museum of Transport in 1964. The Museum was relocated to the Kelvin Hall in Yorkhill in 1987 before eventually moving in 2010 to its present home at the Riverside Museum which opened at Pointhouse in Partick in 2011, and the buildings were subsequently adapted to become the Tramway visual and performing arts venue. In 2007, plans began to relocate Scottish Ballet to its new location alongside Tramway; this entailed knocking down or renovating the five most eastern bays of the Tramway building, and it officially opened on 17 September 2009. Track infrastructure has been reused for 'tramrail bridges' in rural areas.
Routes The Glasgow system's initial network of a few lines expanded greatly in the early years of the 20th century,Glasgow Corporation T tags History | The Glasgow Municipal Tramways System (extracts from The Tramway and Railway World, 7 September 1911), Glasgow Transport 1871–1973 (archived version, March 2019) extending to burghs and rural areas outside the city boundaries which were soon incorporated into it as well as outlying neighbouring townsTram routes, 1938 (Museum of Transport), The Glasgow StoryCould trams return to the streets of Glasgow? , City Metric, 6 April 2020
The time of the 1938 Empire Exhibition held in the city's Bellahouston Park is viewed by some as the apex of the system's timeline,This stunning map shows just how big Glasgow's tram network used to be, Glasgow Live, 21 May 2019 with new cars recently put into service and special routes added for the exhibition, while the city was as yet undisturbed by World War II and subsequent redevelopments, with the trams winding through the dense network of tenements and factories which characterised industrial Glasgow in the first part of the 1900s,No Mean City: 1914 to 1950s | Everyday Life, The Glasgow Story but also into some new 'garden suburb' developments with widened streets to accommodate the tracks. After the war the trams began to be phased out,Modern Times: 1950s to The Present Day | Everyday Life, The Glasgow Story although periodic reviews of routes were still conducted. Tellingly, the routes were not extended to any of the large 1950s peripheral housing schemes nor to the new towns being developed outside the city.
1938 route list and map
Routes listed from west to east, or from south to north.Glasgow Corporation Tramways ('fantasy schematic map'), andy a, Flickr, 18 January 2019Glasgow Corporation Tram Routes | List of Tramway Services in Numerical Order (Second system of numbering), Glasgow Transport 1871–1973 (archived version, March 2019)
1: Knightswood Cross, Anniesland Cross, Great Western Road, St George's Cross), Cambridge Street, Sauchiehall Street, Hope Street, St Vincent Street, George Square (Queen Street Station), George Street, Duke Street (Dennistoun), Shettleston Road, Baillieston Main Street, Bargeddie, Coatbridge Main Street, Coatdyke, Airdrie (Clark Street).
1A: Dalmuir (Dumbarton Road), Clydebank, Yoker, Kingsway, Anniesland Road, then as 1 between Anniesland Cross and Haghill, then Parkhead Cross, Springfield Road, Dalmarnock (Dalmarnock Road).
2: Polmadie (Aikenhead Road), Cathcart Road, Gorbals (Crown Street), Albert Bridge, Saltmarket / Glasgow Green, High Street, Townhead / Glasgow Royal Infirmary (Castle Street), Garngad, Germiston, Provanmill (Royston Road).
3: Mosspark, (Mosspark Boulevard / Bellahouston Park), Dumbreck, Pollokshields (Nithsdale Road, Albert Drive, Maxwell Road), St Andrew's Cross, Eglinton Street, Laurieston (Bridge Street), Glasgow Bridge, Union Street,Coronation tram (Museum of Transport, 1938), The Glasgow Story Renfield Street, Sauchiehall Street, Charing Cross, Woodlands Road, Gibson Street (University of Glasgow).
4: Renfrew (Paisley Road from Arkleston Road), High Street, Shieldhall (Renfrew Road), Govan Road (Linthouse, Govan Cross, Prince's Dock), Paisley Road Toll, Kingston (Paisley Road), Tradeston (Commerce Street), George V Bridge, Hope Street, Cowcaddens Street, Garscube Road (Woodside), Possil Cross, Keppochhill (Carlisle Street).
4A: Linthouse (Holmfauld Road), then as 4 between Govan Road and Possil Cross, then Possilpark (Saracen Cross, Hawthorn Street), Springburn (Springburn Road).
4B: As 4A to Saracen Cross, then Balmore Road, Parkhouse, Lambhill (Strachur Street).
5: Clarkston (Busby Road), Stamperland, Netherlee, Muirend, Cathcart (Clarkston Road), Holmlea Road, Battlefield, Victoria Infirmary, Crosshill (Victoria Road), St Andrew's Cross, Gorbals Street, Victoria Bridge, Glassford Street, George Square, Renfield Street, Sauchiehall Street (Charing Cross, Sandyford), Yorkhill / Kelvingrove Park), Partick / Western Infirmary (Church Street), Dowanhill (Highburgh Road), then a loop via Hyndland, Botanic Gardens (Great Western Road), Hillhead (Byres Road).
5A: As 5 from Victoria Infirmary to Highburgh Road, then Broomhill (Clarence Drive, Crow Road).
6: Dalmuir (Dumbarton Road), Clydebank, Scotstoun, Whiteinch, Partick / Western Infirmary), Sauchiehall Street (Kelvingrove, Charing Cross), Townhead (Parliamentary Road), Alexandra Parade, Haghill (Cumbernauld Road), Riddrie (Smithycroft Road).
7: Craigton (Jura Street), Drumoyne (Craigton Road), Govan Cross, Prince's Dock, Paisley Road Toll, Kingston, Tradeston, Laurieston (Norfolk Street), Hutchesontown (Ballater Street), King's Bridge, Glasgow Green, Bridgeton Cross, London Road, Calton (Abercromby Street), Dennistoun, Haghill, Riddrie, Smithycroft Road, (Blackhill (Cumbernauld Road), Hogganfield, Millerston (Station Road).