Hi

Thought this might be of interest on here
britishpathe films

# Ritz Theatre Cinema, Birkenhead, Merseyside

# First Tram To Run In Britain (1927)

there are lots more

its the British Pathe News website with lots of video clips and stills covering the UK

thanks

Fabulous, thank you very much ,homeraway.

Ah, good old British Pathé: an offshoot of the original French company, hence the logo of the French cock.
I was, for a time, a projectionist at the Ritz.

Coq !

Thanks, granny; a French cock is indeed a coq.

Excellent stuff and I can relate to a lot of it.But did we not have trams with horses before this.

Yes, we had passenger horse trams before that, from 1860 I believe. I think our first horse tram (non-passnger) was Flaybrick Quarry in 1815.

I'm struggling to find the "first" that Birkenhead has claim to for trams.

First British passenger horse tram:- Swansea 1807
First British passenger electric tram:- Brighton 1883

Birkenhead might have been the first British PUBLIC passenger electric tram in 1901.

From the Liverpool Mercury, 1895.

Around Wirral in 1934 ,quite interesting but full of advertising LOL,

http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-round-the-wirral-with-a-movie-camera-1934/

Ah-ha - in England ("this country"), Swansea beat us by a mere 53 years and were first in the World.

I think that Birkenhead may be able to claim the first STREET tramway i.e. tracks laid along existing streets, in Britain.

Yes, Chris,

Cheshire Observer, 1860.

Possibly, Swansea was originally a dedicated railway line.

A contender is the Liverpool "Line of Docks" railway which had street rails, the tram had road wheels with metal tyres and flanges that could be lowered for the rails, that was in 1859 from a patent in 1856.

Otherwise, as you say, Birkenhead had a street tram in 1860 after Liverpool turned down George Train's project.

Has this been posted on here? Can't see it if it has - An interesting film of the Queen leaving Ledsham Station:

Queen at Ledsham

Pity the day it was filmed was so grim, as some of the shots are very dark, but there's some good snippets of the A41 at Childer Thornton, and Little Sutton, as well as the now long gone station itself (which was in the same style as Bromborough and Spital). For the railway buffs, it's interesting to see a Duchess Pacific locomotive on Wirral's railways too! (No 46242 'City of Glasgow)

That's brilliant - I live not far from here and regularly drive that stretch of the A41. Amazed at how much remains basically unchanged. Also used to live near Spital, and amazed at how similar the station looks to Spital station!