In 1876 Southampton Corporation saw that their public transport was not as good as the public transport in other cities. The Southampton Tramways Company was made to build a new tramway system. The tramway started to be built in the summer of 1878.
The first tram ran on 5 May 1879. The tramway made £26. Many people did not want the trams to run on a Sunday, and 3,500 people put their names on a petition to stop the trams running on a Sunday. The company's manager said that there were lots of people who rode on the trams on Sunday and that the service would continue. If the service made money on a Sunday, then the trams would keep running. The first tram route that opened was Stag Gate - Holy Rood. A second route opened on 6 May 1879 which was Alma Road - Canute Road - Oxford Street - High Street - Floating Dock and Stag Gates - Lodge Road - Portswood. The Tramway Junction - Commercial Road - Shirley route opened on 9 June 1879.
The company got into some trouble soon after it opened. One of the managers ran away with some money to America in 1881. Another manager got the sack in 1882 because there was a problem with the company's money. By 1887 though the company had recovered. It had a good financial base to stand on, and it was paying divedends of 8% a year to its shareholders. On the 22 October 1889, the Portswood route ran via Spear Road and Avenue Road. Fares cost less money in 1896 because they changed from 3 to 2 for "through routes". The tram times became two times as fast to every 5 minutes from Stag Gates to Holy Rood. Four new trams and forty horses were needed to run this service.
The Southampton Tramway Company was bought by Southampton Corporation on 30 June 1898 for £51,000.
The tramway had twenty-three tramcars when it was bought in 1898. They were:
Southampton Corporation bought the Southampton Electric Light and Power Company in 1896. Two years later in 1898 it bought the Southampton Tramway Company two years later in 1898. This allowed them to change the town's tramway system to electricity instead of horse power. In 1899 a group of people from the Corporation visited tram systems in Bradford, Dover, Glasgow, Liverpool and London for ideas. They decided that Southampton's was going to be based on Liverpool's. The first electric tram route from Junction to Shirley opened on 22 January 1900. The second route from Stag Gates to Holy Road via Prospect Place opened on 29 May 1900. Over the next 3 years the system slowly got bigger. The following routes opened:
The last route to open as part of the first stage of the electrified system was Portswood - Hampton Park on 25 July 1903.
Before World War One more routes were added:
After the war, more new routes were added:
After thiese additions, the system was at its biggest. The only new lines opened after this were to miss out the Bargate Arch in Southampton. The east side opened on 24 April 1932 and the west side on 5 June 1938.
Before World War 2, two routes were also closed. Roberts Road - Millbrook closed on 2 October 1935 except for workmen's services. It did however re-open whilst the war was happening. The second route to close was Clock Tower - Northam Bridge, which closed on 4 June 1926.
When the electrified system opened it needed some new tramcars to replace the horse drawn ones. The first trams used on the system were built by G F Milnes & Co., Birkenhead. They had open upper deck had back-to-back "knifeboard" seats so that they could fit under Bargate arch. No.2 was changed into a ""toastrack"" car in 1916. It was sold to Portsmouth in 1919 where it became Number 104. In 1903 twelve trams were built by Hurst, Nelson & Co. The trams originally had three windows on each side on the bottom deck. This was later chnged to have four windows on each side because the original design did not give enough support for the top deck. Two bogie trams were ordered in 1910. This order was later cancelled. The system also bought six ex-London County Council Tramways cars with enclosed upper decks. These were numbered 75-80. A final sixteen trams were bought in 1918. As well as these, a number of trams were built by the tramway:
Before 1932, the only road route between Southampton High Street and Above Bar was through the arch in the centre of the Bargate. In 1923 a new design of enclosed double deck tram was built by P.J Baker, General Manager of the tramways. It had a rounded top that would fit through the arch. These trams had smaller wheels to help reduce the tram's height. They were driven by high speed motors which produced more torque. However, the roadway through the arch in the Bargate still had to be lowered to allow the trams to pass through the arch. Some secret changing of the profile of the arch's masonry was also needed at the last minute. Trams started to pass around the East of the Bargate on 24 April 1932. The last tram to pass through the central archway did so on 4 June 1938. By this time part of Southampton ancient walls had been demolished so that the Bargate was passable on both sides.
Southampton Tramways were mainly affected by staffing issues during World War I. To try and stop this women were allowed to become "conductorettes". Because of this toastrack tram No.2 had a gangway cut through the middle of it. In the early years of the war a tram went round Southampton for two hours twice a week. It had a military band playing on the top deck. This was an effort to try and boost recruitment.
World War II affected Southampton much more than World War One. Women were again employed by the company. Unlike in World War I though they were allowed to drive the trams this time.
Car No.31 was destroyed by an incendiary bomb on 30 November 1940. It was the only tram to be destroyed during the war. To save the fleet of trams from the intensive bombing of Southampton during World War II they were painted grey. Regular services stopped at 7pm and they were parked up overnight in Cemetery Road on Southampton Common for the same reason.
In November 1942, a tram was accidentally set in motion whilst parked up overnight. It took two other trams with it. The unmanned convoy of trams was stopped by a lorry before anybody was hurt. The incident caused some worry locally because it was thought that saboteurs were responsible. It later emerged that the incident was due to a young boy playing on the trams.
The trams in Southampton made good profits for Southampton Corporation. However the Corporation had not put those profits back into the tram system. Because of this the whole system needed modernisation by the end of the Second World War. This included the trams, the power supply and the track.
It was decided that buses were a better alternative to modernising the trams. The tramway system therefore closed. The first line to close was Bitterne Park - St. Mary's - Docks on 15 May 1948. Swaythling - Portswood - Lodge Road - Stag Gates closed on 30 October 1948. Swaythling - Burgess Road - Bassett Crossroads - Avenue Junction closed on 5 March 1949. Floating Bridge - Shirley, Holy Rood - High Street - Royal Pier and Roberts Road - Millbrook all closed on 31 December 1949. The last movement of a tram in Southampton was on 4 February 1950 when cars No.21 and No.101 were moved from Shirley depot to Portswood depot under their own power. After the system closed some trams were sold to Leeds. The majority though were sent to A F Harris's scrapyard at Bevois Valley for scrapping. A few were sold on from there to be used as sheds or summer houses. This allowed some trams to be preserved.
Three Southampton trams have survived.
Can't Stop This Thing We Started
"Can't Stop This Thing We Started" is a song by Bryan Adams. The song was the second single from Adams' 1991 album "Waking Up the Neighbours", a successor of the single "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You".