page_title: Torquay Tramways
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Torquay Tramways / History
caption_attribution_description: English: This shelter was the terminus of the Torquay Tramways opposite Torre railway station. It was also used by the buses operated by the tramways company and Deveon General. Becasue it is situated on a busy road junction it has now been closed and replaced by a new one a little nearer the town centre, but a instead contains a display commemorating the Torquay Tramways.
context_page_description: Torquay Tramways operated electric street trams in Torquay, Devon, England, from 1907. They were initially powered by the unusual Dolter stud-contact electrification, but in 1911 was converted to more conventional overhead-line supply. The line was extended into neighbouring Paignton in 1911 but the whole network was closed in 1934.
context_section_description: Torquay developed as a seaside resort during the nineteenth century, spreading across the hills above Tor Bay. The South Devon Railway opened a station at Torre on the hill above the town in 1848, and the line was extended to Paignton in 1859 when another station was provided near the Abbey Sands.
  Around the end of 1901 two different companies proposed to build electric tramways to link Torquay and Paignton. These schemes failed to get started, but in 1902 the Dolter Electric Company was invited build a line instead that would use their stud-contact system of electrification. A poll was conducted of the ratepayers of Torquay; a small majority was in favour of a tramway being built but not for the council to either build or operate it. An Act of Parliament was passed on 15 August 1904, authorising a network of 8.92 miles (14.36 km) 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge tracks and the Dolter power supply.
  Construction was started in by the National Electric Construction Company (NECC) 1905 and the electrical system was installed by the Dolter Electric Company during 1906. The first trials took place in December but official testing by the Board of Trade did not take place until 7 March 1907. The public opening was then able to take place on 5 April 1907, but the line to Babbacombe was not ready until the end of the year and that along the seafront was completed on 16 April 1908.
  The Dolter company had obtained the Act and ordered the trams but the NECC, who had been contracted by them to lay the tracks, registered a subsidiary company in December 1907 named the Torquay Tramways Company to take over the Dolter company's operations in Torquay. This company obtained a Torquay and Paignton Tramways Act on 16 August 1909 to extend the seafront line 2.31 miles (3.72 km) to Hyde Road, Paignton. The council in Paignton insisted that the tram's power supply in their town was to be by overhead trolley wire rather than the Dolter stud system. Work on erecting trolley wires above the existing tracks started late in 1910 and was completed on 6 March 1911. The new line to Paignton was opened on 17 July 1911. The Dolter tram cars were rebuilt to collect current from the overhead wire.
  In 1920 the company started to operate buses to Newton Abbot and beyond but in 1922 they were transferred to Devon General when that business became a subsidiary of the NECC. In 1925, at the instigation of the Torquay Council, the Babbacombe Cliff Railway was operated by the Torquay Tramways Company.
  With the aim of extending further into Paignton, permission was sought in 1933 to convert to trolleybuses, but the Western National Omnibus Company objected and the necessary Act of Parliament was not passed. Instead the company decided to convert its routes to motor bus operation. Parliament gave permission on 18 July 1933. Trams to Paignton were replaced by buses on 14 January 1934 and the remaining services ceased on 31 January 1934.
caption: The tram terminus at Torre railway station
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