The Nottingham & District Tramways Company has operated horse and steam trams in the city from 1877. This company was taken over in 1897 by the Nottingham Corporation which began the conversion of the tram network to electric. The first electrified section began operation at the start of 1901. The Corporation placed an order for double decker trams with Dick, Kerr of Preston. The Corporation chose single truck trams due to the steep hills on some of the tram network and single truck trams being considered better climbers [1]. The first trams were delivered in the Autumn of 1900 for final assembly at the Corporation's Sherwood Depot.
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| Double truck tram [2] |
| Information for original cars |
| Number built: |
25 |
| Built: |
1900 |
| Builder: |
Dick, Kerr |
| Motor: |
2 x Dick, Kerr electric motors (DC OHLE) |
| Power: |
50 hp (37 kW) |
The Corporation also placed an order for double truck trams with Westinghouse. These trams only had two motors per tram and struggled with greasy rails on hills. Later double truck trams had four motors per tram. The Corporation ordered more trams from a number of manufacturers as the network expanded in the 1900s and eventually had a fleet of two hundred trams. They also began a programme of retro-fitting covers to their open-topped trams.
Following the First World War, the Corporation, which had been an early champion of the motor bus, began to change it's tram routes as the infrastructure became life expired over to first trolleybus and then motorbus. The last tram ran in late 1935. One tram has been preserved at the Tramway Museum though is not currently on display.
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| Nottingham Corporation Tram [1] |
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| Bulwell tram shed [1] |
[1] "Nottingham Corporation Tramways", Street Railway Journal Vol. XX No. 21 (November 22 1902) p. 834[2] Ibid. p. 837
