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Tony travels back on trams' history

Dave Appleton
15/ 3/2008

IN TRANSPORT terms, they had only a relatively short life. Some steam locomotives, for example, were hard at work for more than half a century, many of them travelling well over two million miles during their lifetime.

Boeing 737s – the workhorse of the skies – have been operating since 1967 with newer versions, such as 737-900 now coming into service.

But Rochdale’s trams were not blessed with such longevity.

Indeed the steam trams ran for only 22 years, and the electric types just 30 years.

In fact the last tram went to the scrapyard 75 years ago – a situation, one muses, that it’s high time the town received some new trams.

All hail the new Metrolink due to arrive ... well soon!

But despite their relatively short history, trams certainly made an indelible mark on Rochdale’s transport history and the way people went about their normal day to day activities, such as going to work.

Now tram historian Tony Young has written the first definitive history of Rochdale’s trams.

Tramways in Rochdale – steam electric and Metrolink is a hardback book with 202 pages, 16 in colour, with nearly 200 photographs, 13 pages of maps and diagrams and 13 appendices.

Mr Young spent five years writing the book which charts the progress of trams from the latter part of the 19th century through the first three decades of the 20th century.

The 25 chapters cover the early history, routes, rolling stock, fares and ticketing, trackwork, power supply, depots and accidents.

Memories are recalled and finally a glimpse into the future shows how Greater Manchester's successful new tram system – the Metrolink – can support the economic regeneration and expansion of Rochdale, just as the first trams did a century before.

The book was launched at Rochdale Town Hall and the event was attended by the mayor, Councillor Peter Evans, Rochdale MP Paul Rowen and many tramway historians and others from all over England.

Many of the guests had provided Mr Young with valuable information and photographs for his book which will be on sale at Touchstones and George Kelsall’s Bookshop in Littleborough.