PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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In January 1929 Mr H P Stokes, the general manager of the Plymouth Corporation Transport Department presented a report to the Transport Committee detailing his proposals for the development of omnibus services within the City and for the abandonment of the tramways. He started by reporting that since January 1920, when the old Tramways Committee had changed its title to the Transport Committee, 45 tramcars had been completely demolished; 32 car bodies had been rebuilt; 38 trucks had been rebuilt; 6 new trucks had been constructed; 28 completely new tramcars had been built; and 32 cars had been purchased from manufacturers. Centralised control of all the transport functions of the Council were seen as the most appropriate way forward. Mr Stokes pointed out to the Transport Committee that in January 1928 they had deferred consideration of the provision of new vehicles and new services until additions to the omnibus fleet were actually required. That moment had now arrived. The principle obstruction to the replacement of the tramway network was the capital charges that existed, especially from the purchase of the Devonport and District Tramways undertaking. There was an annual charge to the Council of £5,362 until 1946 and they were also responsible for replaying two loans that Devonport had incurred, one in 1902 of £54,739 over 30 years, and the other in 1903 of £14,330 repayable over 40 years. For those loans there were annual charges of, respectively, £3,351 until 1933 and £730 until 1943. After 1935 the capital charges would start diminishing at a sufficiently rapid rate to allow of full and free development of the new services. The report proposed that in 1930 the section of tramway between the Theatre Royal and West Hoe should be abandoned and substituted with a motor bus service. That route had consistently failed to recoup its running expenses. Next the sections from Wolseley Road at Camel's Head to Saltash Passage and from St Jude's Church to the terminus in Beaumont Road would be replaced with a bus service from Saltash Passage through Devonport to Beaumont Road. This would run in connection with an overlapping service from the Torpoint Ferry to Mount Gould. The next stage would see the closure of the remainder of the route from Wolseley Road through Keyham to Morice Square and the lines in Albert Road, Tamar Terrace and Wilton Street. That line would be replaced with a bus service from South Keyham, via Albert Road, Valletort Road, Portland Road, Osborne Road, Molesworth Road and Wilton Street. When that was completed, and there was no need to run trams into Devonport, the section from the Depot through Stoke to Fore Street could also go. This would leave trams operating from South Keyham and St Levan Road to Plymouth; from Compton to Plymouth; and from Prince Rock through Union Street to Devonport. The service would Peverell to Plymouth would be extended to run through Union Street to Devonport as well. By the time this programme was achieved, he reckoned that the existing debt on the track and overhead wiring would have been extinguished. The one problem was what to do about the track left in the streets. he proposed that the rails should be passed over to the Highways Department and that they could be simply covered over when it became necessary for them to reconstruct the roadway. The whole process was interrupted by the resignation of Mr Stokes on September 3rd 1929. He was replaced on October 21st by the 36-years-old Mr Clement Jackson, who came from the Oldham Tramways Department. He continued with the policy introduced by his predecessor and in May 1930 invited tenders to supply the City's first six double-deck buses. As a result, on Monday October 27th 1930 tram routes 8 and H were replaced by a new service of buses running between Fore Street, Devonport, and Higher St Budeaux and Saltash Passage alternately. In addition, tram route 7 was terminated at the bottom of Albert Road, outside the Dockyard gate, and route 14 stopped at North Keyham Gate (St Levan Gate). The West Hoe route was abandoned from Monday February 16th 1931, the service being already fully operated by buses. After a lot of deliberation, it was announced on February 1st 1931 that the City's trams were to go and be fully replaced by buses fuelled by large quantities of benzol from the Corporation gas works. The earlier proposal to use 'trackless trolleys' had been discarded and the tram routes to Prince Rock and Beaumont Road were to be converted to buses by 1932. Compton saw its last tramcar on Sunday April 10th 1932 but closure of the service to Beaumont Road was staved off until Sunday June 2nd 1935. That route was replaced the following day by a new bus service running from Greenbank, through Mutley Plain, Peverell, Milehouse, St Levan Road, and South Keyham Gate to Fore Street. Prince Rock saw its last tram on Sunday February 23rd 1936. At 11.06pm car number 141 was driven in to Prince Rock Depot by Motorman Mr T Hocking, having traversed route 12 from the Theatre Royal with Mr C J Weeks as his Conductor. With the service to Beaumont Road already ceased, this meant that there were no longer any trams to the east of Drake Circus. The replacement bus service started on Monday February 24th. A major route renumbering scheme started on Monday April 5th 1937 by which date the only tram services remaining in operation were between Theatre and Devonport via Peverell and Milehouse and from the Theatre to Peverell Corner. Two routes ceased to be operated by trams on that day, the 6A and 6B from the Theatre to Devonport via Stuart Road, which became bus routes 5 and 6. Finally, tram routes 1 (Theatre - Peverell - Devonport) and 2 (the reverse) ceased on Sunday May 9th 1937 and were replaced by buses the following day. This left just one remaining service, number 11, Theatre to Peverell Corner, which thanks to the Second World War survived until September 1945, when it became the scene of Plymouth's last tram.
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