Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Birkenhead Tram System (1926)

Is it on Hamilton square?
I'm Busy this Friday or i would have come along for a ganded chris.

I guess you will find a lot more stuff too

Yes, it's in the Wirral Museum (used to be the Town Hall). Lots of interesting stuff in the museum, especially about Cammell Laird's.
Pity you can't come on Friday.

For anyone wanting to use the Archives; it's a good idea to phone first & tell them what you're looking for. Lots of stuff is kept at other sites & has to be brought in.

Thanks for that chris its big help..

Yeh shame as you could have been my guide

OK, I spent about 3 hours in the archives today. The staff were very helpful & produced lots of stuff relating to the tram system. I then went to the tram museum in Taylor St. The general opinion is that the first (old) & second (modern) pics in this thread are of the same view, taken from near Seymour St. & looking towards Holt Hill. For the moment, I'm just going to post what I found out about the Church Rd. route. This ran from Woodside, up Argyle St. South, along Church Rd. & finished on Bebington Rd., near The Towers in Victoria Park. It was a mixture of single & double track along Church Rd. (see plan). It's a pity that the plan doesn't show side roads, but the original pic. is on one of the single track sections. Interesting to read the article from Birkenhead Electric Tramways 1901-1937 by Charles Rycroft, explaining how the trams couldn't get up the top part of Argyle St. South & the new bit of road, Pearson Rd., was built. On the plan of the route, the section in red was a proposed extension as far as Town Lane but it was never built.

Later, I'll write more about the other routes; there were only 6 altogether.

Cheers, Chris.

Intresting chris I know of a video of the Birkenhead Tramways ive yet to copy it to a file as the video is VHS and i cant find it on DVD but as soon as ive done that i will get it up Its very intresting believe you me...

Look forward to seeing that, Lee.

Wow excellent Chris

I'm a bit suprised at how basic the maps are, i thought
they would have been mixed with "Roads"

Excellent chris i look forward to the next addition

cool x

A bit more info. about the tram system. the attached main map is dated 1926 & the tram routes are in black.
All the routes started from Woodside & apart from the dock route, they all seem to have used Hamilton St. outbound & Argyle St. inbound.
The top route on the map was to serve the docks. It ran along Cleveland St. & Beaufort Rd. as far as Wallasey Bridge Rd.
Another route ran along New Chester Rd. as far as Bebington Rd. in New Ferry.
The Church Rd. route has already been described.
A route ran along Borough Rd. as far as Prenton Rd. West, then along that Road. as far as Storeton Rd.
The last route was a circular one, (later replaced by buses; No.6 clockwise & No.2 anti-clockwise). As far as I can tell, it ran: Hamilton St., Claughton Rd., Whetstone Lane, Borough Rd., Balls Rd. East, Balls Rd., Shrewsbury Rd., Park Rd. North, Conway St., Argyle St & back to Woodside. This was the clockwise direction. If it did run anti-clockwise as well, it didn't go up Whetstone Lane, but straight down to Central Station & then Argyle St. (I'm taking this info. from the track map). This route passed the tram depot at the junction of Laird St. & Mallaby St. (It's shown as a black square on the map).
Also shown on the track map, but not on the main map, is a route along Claughton Rd. & Park Rd. South. Unfortunately I didn't get the date of the track map, so I don't know whether it's earlier or later than the main map.

My thanks to Wirral Archives for finding these maps for me.

Hope this is of interest.

Very interesting Chris.

Great stuff Chris.
I was told the other day that the Bus Depot on Laird Street
now the Bus Depot (Arriva) Was a Tram Depot too?
That's what i was told, on your map chris you have a black
square where i was told it is.

I haven't been there for many years; didn't know it was still in use. Next time I'm up, I'll have a look. I've also got a memory that on Laird St., on the opposite side to the tram depot, there was a firm which made the bus & tram tickets. I think it had a sign in the brick/stone work which may still be there. Perhaps someone could have a look & report back.

Cheers, Chris.

Yep the Arriva station on Laird Street was tram depot a big one at that as it housed the Tramway Offices . The Co-Op store where i work next to it has been there even in 1900s it was there when trams where running up and down laird street. You can still some part of the track in the floor by the Bus Shelter uptowards the co-op.. Like i said in another post i do have a video which im in the process of digitising (ripping) to put on youtube but i havnt got time untill new year so i apologise to you chris..

No worries, Lee; do it when you have time. Since you work there, perhaps you could have a look in Laird St. for the ticket factory. I used to know the name of the firm, but I can't remember it now.

The ticket factory used to be the Old Serve Wirral training base which has been demolished.. Theres flats currently in the progress of being built there..