page_title: Manchester Corporation Tramways
section_title: 1901–1910
hierarchical_section_title: Manchester Corporation Tramways / Expansion and peak / 1901–1910
caption_attribution_description: English: Tram Transformer Pillar. Behind the Audenshaw trough 1705778 on the junction of Manchester Road and Audenshaw road is a transformer pillar built about 1900. It is of cast iron and consists of a circular pillar on a 20th century concrete base topped by a street lamp. The face is split vertically into panels and horizontally into three stages. On the front it bears the coat-of-arms of Manchester City Council and a plate records the maker: the British Electric Transformer Company. Another plate records the restoration by Norweb in 1983. Enriched cast iron panels are on the top stage. The conical top is above a bead and reel band. The structure is topped by a hexagonal lamp on a decorative spindle. The concrete base is now topped by wooden seating. At one time it had three lamps which used to the light the way for trams.
context_page_description: Between 1901 and 1949 Manchester Corporation Tramways was the municipal operator of electric tram services in Manchester, England. At its peak in 1928, the organisation carried 328 million passengers on 953 trams, via 46 routes, along 292 miles of track.
  It was the United Kingdom's second largest tram network after the services of 16 operators across the capital were combined in 1933 by the London Passenger Transport Board. Other large systems were in Glasgow
context_section_description: From 1902 onwards both Salford and Manchester tram systems, uniquely in Britain, employed uniformed "trolley boys" – over a thousand at their peak (Jan 1930) – whose job it was to assist guards on double-truck trams by giving the driver a bell signal at the stops and helping passengers on and off. Because by the early 1900s there were multiple organisations owning various sections of tramways in the Manchester and surrounding areas, Manchester took the lead in rebuilding and electrifying their routes so that they could be leased back for operational services. The largest boroughs (Ashton-under-Lyne, Oldham and Salford) continued to operate their own lines and began their own modernisation. At Bury, Oldham and Rochdale, the steam services were also brought under the control of the local municipalities. In 1904 the Glossop Urban District Supply Company was set up to provide electric trams to Dukinfield, Glossop, Hyde, Mossley, and Stalybridge. The short 2.5 mile run in Trafford Park came under the joint control of the Corporations of Manchester and Salford.
  The tracks arrived in Piccadilly, home of the Corporation Tramway offices, on 1 June 1902. By the end of the following year services from Piccadilly reached: Alexandra Park, Audenshaw, Denton, Hollinwood, Moss Side, Old Trafford, Openshaw, Newton Heath, St. Peter's Square and Stretford. By 1903 Manchester Corporation had just over 300 cars. The trams were also used to carry parcels from 1905. As late as winter 1905, horse-drawn buses still ran between Palatine Road and Cheadle and on down to Northenden, as well as on the route between Chorlton-cum-Hardy and Hulme. Manchester Corporation Tramways proposed an experimental motor bus to replace them from 1906, effectively and portentously becoming both a tram and bus operator. By 1910, the 582 cars in service running over 100 route miles were generating a profit of £150,000. Yet another depot was needed and Princess Road in Moss Side was opened on 9 June 1909 which would house nearly 300 tram cars.
caption: The Audenshaw transformer pillar
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