| City of Oxford and District Tramway Company | |
|---|---|
 Map of the City of Oxford Tramways | |
| Operation | |
| Locale | Oxford |
| Open | 1 December 1881; 143 years ago (1881-12-01) |
| Close | 7 August 1914; 111 years ago (1914-08-07) |
| Status | Closed |
| Routes | 3 |
| Infrastructure | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft (1,219 mm) |
| Propulsion system | Horse |
| Depot(s) | Leopold Street, Oxford |
| Stock | 19 double-deck cars (1914) |
| Statistics | |
| 56,000 a week (1914) | |
TheCity of Oxford and District Tramway Company and its successor theCity of Oxford Electric Traction Company operated a horse-drawn passenger tramway service inOxford between 1881 and 1914. The tramway was unusual for having atrack gauge of only 4 feet (1.219 m).
The City of Oxford and District Tramway Company was incorporated under theOxford Tramways Order 1879 in accordance with theTramways Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 78). Its initial capital was £42,000 raised by an issue of £10 shares.[1]
The first route linkedOxford railway station andOxford Rewley Road railway station withCowley Road viaQueen Street,Carfax andHigh Street. Its eastern terminus was at the junction with Magdalen Road. Major GeneralCharles Scrope Hutchinson from theBoard of Trade inspected it on 28 November 1881. It opened to the public on 1 December 1881.[2]
On 28 January 1882 a second route was opened from Carfax toRackham Lane viaCornmarket Street,Magdalen Street,St Giles Street andBanbury Road.[2] On 15 July 1884 a third route was opened toKingston Road viaBeaumont Street andWalton Street. On 15 March 1887 a route was opened from Carfax to Lake Street,New Hinksey viaSt Aldate's andAbingdon Road. On 5 November 1898 theBanbury Road route was extended toSummertown, terminating at the junction withSouth Parade.[3]
By 1895 the company had a fleet of 16 single-deck trams.[citation needed] By 1910 its fleet was 19 double-deck trams and it had 150 horses.[3] Its depot and stables were off Leopold Street[4] atSP53010548.
Most of the network wassingle track withpassing loops.[2] The network had no fixedtram stops: drivers and conductors were ordered to look out for likely passengers. Trams were timetabled to run every 15 to 30 minutes. In its latter years the network carried some three million passengers a year, mostly for onepenny fares.[3]
The network had a speed limit of 8 mph (13 km/h).[3] The branch to Kingston Road had tight curves at the road junctions at either end of Beaumont Street. Here there was occasionally aderailment, with a tram colliding with either theTaylor Institution building or railings outsideWorcester College.[2]
Ahorse bus network developed to serve those parts of Oxford that lacked tramways. In the tramways' latter years, horse buses operated a route alongIffley Road from Iffley Turn to Broad Street and a route fromWolvercote alongWoodstock Road to Carfax. On Saturdays only there was a horse bus service fromCowley village to connect with trams at their Magdalen Road terminus. Later there was a Saturday-only horse bus service fromHeadington to Carfax.[5]
Section 43 of theTramways Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 78) provided for private companies to build and operate tramways on a 21-year concession. As the Oxford company opened its first line in 1881 this concession ended in 1902.Oxford Corporation had the option to either buy out and take over the tramway or renew the concession.
A meeting in Oxford in May 1902 considered proposals for the corporation both to take over the tramways and toelectrify them via aconduit in the road surface.[5] But political consensus was not achieved, and the corporation made a new agreement that the company would extend the network and continue operation until 1907.[citation needed]
In 1905 the corporation changed its mind and decided both to take over the tramway and have it electrified. In September 1905 it reached agreement with the company to take over its assets and operations from 31 December 1906. On 6 December 1906 a new City of Oxford Electric Traction Company was incorporated to this end.[5] It was a subsidiary of the National Electric Construction Company.[citation needed]
| Oxford and District Tramways Act 1907 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Citation | 7 Edw. 7. c. cxlii |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 21 August 1907 |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
Parliament debated the Oxford Tramways Bill 1906 and then passed theOxford and District Tramways Act 1907 (7 Edw. 7. c. cxlii) granting powers to rebuild and electrify the network,double track much of its track, extend its existing routes and build five new routes. Proponents now favoured the electrification by the ground-levelstud contact system instead of the conduit system. There was a strong recommendation that the rebuilding should include widening thetrack gauge from 4 feet to thestandard gauge of 4 feet8+1⁄2 inches (1.435 m).[5]
Electrification was opposed byOxford academics and others. No overhead wires were proposed, but objectors said they objected to overhead electric wires in High Street. The commercial photographerHenry Taunt opposed the bill not only because he disliked overhead wires, but also because he alleged that the corporation had recently overspent on other large projects, and hence that buying and electrifying the tramway would burden Oxford'sratepayers.[6]
The rebuilding, electrification and network expansion scheme was defeated. Proponents tried to revive it in 1909 and 1911, but without success.[4] Statutory powers under the Oxford and District Tramways Act 1907 lapsed in 1912.[citation needed]
The company suffered a strike by its tram workers in 1913.[citation needed]
William Morris andFrank Gray started amotor bus service in direct competition with the tram and without a licence. The tramway company responded by replacing its trams with motor buses. The last horse trams ran in 1914.[2] In 1921 the company was renamedCity of Oxford Motor Services.
No Oxford tram survives intact.Oxford Bus Museum atLong Hanborough preserves parts of three of the company's double-deck trams dating from 1882, 1887 and 1898, in unrestored condition.[7]
The poetJohn Betjeman (1906–84), who was aMagdalen College undergraduate 1925–28, refers to the tramway in his poemOn an old-fashioned water-colour of Oxford, published in 1959:
But we will mount the horse-tram's upper deck...
Bound for the Banbury Road in time for tea.[1]
In 2006Oxford Bus Company commemorated the tramways' 125th anniversary by painting one of its single-deck buses in the tram company's maroon and cream livery.