Locale The Potteries Close 1928 Track gauge 4 ft (1,219 mm) | Open 16 May 1899 Status Closed Propulsion system(s) Electric | |
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The Potteries Electric Traction Company operated a tramway service in The Potteries between 1899 and 1928.
Contents
History
British Electric Traction incorporated a new company on 27 June 1898, called the Potteries Electric Traction Company. Its purpose was to extend the existing tramway through the towns of the Potteries. It acquired the North Staffordshire Tramways Company Limited and arranged to take over the Longton Corporation Tramways.
Construction was awarded to Dick, Kerr & Co. and the overhead work was awarded to R. W Blackwell and Company. The coal-fired power station was constructed by Brush Electrical Engineering Company at the depot at Woodhouse Street, Stoke. Later a second station was opened at May Bank.
On 16 May 1899 the first electric trams ran from Stoke to Longton. By 1902, the company had a fleet of 105 trams and carried 14,438,048 passengers. By 1904 the system had expanded to 32 miles of route.
Fleet
Accidents
Trams were relatively safe, although there were accidents.
In 1923, a runaway tram was destroyed in an accident on Hartshill Bank, the steepest gradient on the system, and 18 passengers were injured.
A year later, a driver was fatally injured in an accident at the Granville level crossings in Cobridge.
Depot
As with all tram system, PET Company had a number of tram depot located at the end of each line. PET had depots located at Chesterton, Fenton, Goldenhill, Stoke, Maybank.
Closure
The system closed in 1928.
The Red Lion public house which for years stood outside the tramway depot in Stoke-on-Trent, is now relocated to the National Tramway Museum.