Dick, Kerr Electric Locomotives for South America

These locomotives were constructed in 1908 for the Lacroze Rural Tramway / Buenos Aires Central Railway in Argentina. They were designed with a central cab as was common at the time for electric locomotives of this size. The locomotives used a trolley pole for current collection (500v DC overhead). They were able to travel at up to 20 mp/h and could maintain maximum output for an hour.

One of the locomotives [1]

Information
Number built:	6
Built:	1908
Builder:	Dick, Kerr
Motor:	4 DK7B electric motors (500v DC OHLE)
Power:	200 hp (149 kW)
Wheel arrangement:	Bo-Bo

The locomotives continued to be operated into the 1920s at least [2].

[1] "Electric locomotives for South America", Railway Times (March 20 1909) p. 289

[2] George S. Brady, Railways of South America: Part I. Argentina (1926) p. 197

East Ham Corporation Tramways

East Ham Corporation Tramways operated in East London starting in 1901, the second earliest electric tramway in London [1], though only stretched for just over eight miles. It continued in operation until 1933 when it became part of London Transport. The company operated seventy trams in total, the earliest being built by Dick, Kerr. Later trams were built by Brush, some of these replaced earlier trams.

Original tram [2]

Information for original cars
Number built:	35
Built:	1901-03
Builder:	Dick, Kerr
Motor:	2 Dick, Kerr 25-A electric motors (500v DC OHLE)
Power:	50 hp (37 kW)

The original batch of trams, built by Dick, Kerr, were open-top double deckers built to the popular Liverpool or Bellamy design with a reversed stairway. The trams used a Brill 21-E truck and could carry up to 56 passengers.

[1] R.W. Kidner, The London Tramcar 1861-1952 (Oakwood Press, 1992) p. 105

[2] "New railway in London", Street Railway Journal (Vol. XVIII No. 10 September 7 1901) p. 287

Cardiff Corporation Tramways Double Decker Double Bogie Car

Cardiff Corporation Tramways took over the operation of trams in the city in 1902 buying a fleet of single decker trams and double decker trams which had either double bogies or a single truck. The double bogie double deckers used Brill 22E maximum traction trucks and could up to sixty eight passengers, though those on top were exposed to the elements!

Cardiff Corporation Tram [1]

Information
Number built:	20
Built:	1902
Builder:	Dick, Kerr of Preston
Motor:	2 Dick Kerr DK25A motors (550v DC OHLE)
Power:	50 hp (37 kW)

The network was becoming worn by the 1930s though continued in operation until 1950 when the take over by trolleybuses was complete. The trolleybuses themselves remained in service until 1970.

[1] "The Cardiff Corporation Tramways", Street Railway Journal (Vol. XX No. 1 July 5 1903) p. 43

Early Liverpool Corporation Tramways Double-Decker Trams

The Liverpool Corporation bought the Liverpool United Tramway & Omnibus Company in 1897 and began a programme to electrify the tram network, the first services operating in 1898 [1] and electrification was completed in 1902. The first electric trams operated were imported from Germany, eight powered trams and eight trailers arriving in 1898. Some single-decker trams were also imported from the USA. 

Manufacturer's photograph [3]

Information for Dick, Kerr cars
Number built:	330
Built:	1899-1913
Builder:	Dick, Kerr of Preston
Motor:	2 x Dick, Kerr 25-A electric motors (DC OHLE)

Starting in 1899, the Electric Railway & Tramway Carriage Works (Dick, Kerr of Preston) built a huge fleet of open-top double-decker trams which were a great influence on contemporary networks around the country with trams of a similar type bought for other networks sometimes known as the "Liverpool Type"! The trams were known as Liverpool Standard Cars or Bellamy Cars after C.R. Bellamy the General Manager of the time. The trams had a single Brill 21E truck and could carry 56 passengers. They were later retro-fitted with top covers. An interesting experiment with separating tram services on a class basis was attempted with white trams reserved for the upper classes who did not want to mix with window cleaners and grubby workers!

Although most Bellamy Cars were replaced in the 1930s, one did survive until 1949 [2].

Tram hauling a salt truck [4]

[1] Charles Klapper, The Golden Age of Tramways (David & Charles, 1974) p. 87

[2] Brian P. Martin, Liverpool Tramways 2: Southern Routes (Middleton Press, 1998) p. 120

[3] Street Railway Journal Vol. XVI Dick, Kerr Supplement p. 31

[4] Street Railway Journal Vol. XXIII No. 22 (May 28 1904) p. 818

Cardiff Corporation Tramways Single Decker Car

Cardiff Corporation Tramways took over operation of trams in the city in 1902 and operated an electric tram service until 1950. Part of the initial fleet of trams were these single deckers which used twin Brill 23E trucks and could carry up to thirty four passengers.

Information
Number built:	14
Built:	1902
Builder:	Dick, Kerr of Preston
Motor:	2 Dick, Kerr series wound motors (550v DC OHLE)

Single decker car [1]

[1] "The Cardiff Corporation Tramways", Street Railway Journal (Vol. XX No. 1 July 5 1903) p. 43

Great Northern Railway Petrol Rail Motor Coach

As well as steam motor coaches, the Great Northern Railway purchased this petrol motor coach for evaluation in the early 1900s. The motor coach did not enter regular service and was withdrawn in 1908.

At Doncaster [1]

Information
Number built:	1
Built:	1904
Builder:	Dick, Kerr
Motor:	2 Daimler 4-cylinder petrol engines
Power:	70 hp (52 kW)

The motor coach used Daimler motor equipment, with a pair of motors (one at each end of the motor car) driving the wheels via a clutch.

At Grantham [1]

[1] Philip Dawson, "The use of independent motor cars on railways", Street Railway Journal Vol XXIV No. 19 (November 5 1904) p. 822

Stirling and Bridge of Allan Tramways Petrol Tram

Stirling and Bridge of Allan Tramways began operations in Stirling in 1874. The company eventually had a seven kilometres, all operated by horse drawn trams. One of the trams, Number 22, was bought from the Edinburgh & District Tramways in 1902 to supplement the original fleet. Although the company did experiment with a steam tram, the horse remained the motive power for it's services although electrification was considered.

Information
Number built:	1
Built:	1913 (conversion to petrol)
Builder:	Dick, Kerr
Motor:	Commer petrol engine

In 1913 the company converted Number 13 to petrol operation with the addition of a Commer engine. The tram worked well though any other plans for conversion were scuppered by the First World War. Stirling and Bridge of Allan Tramways closed down in 1920.

Number 22 in operation (KD collection)

Nottingham Corporation Tramways

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.

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.

Nottingham Corporation Tram [1]

Bulwell tram shed [1]

[1] "Nottingham Corporation Tramways", Street Railway Journal Vol. XX No. 21 (November 22 1902) p. 834

[2] Ibid. p. 837

Kinlochleven Works Electric Locomotives

An aluminium smelter was built at Loch Leven in the Scottish Highlands in the early 20th century. Part of the work involved the creation of a dam to produce electricity for the smelter but there was plenty of surplus electricity. The village of Kinlochleven, where most of the workers lived, became the first village in the world to be supplied with electricity. Electricity also powered a short (just less than a mile long) railway which ran from the smelter to a quay at the head of Loch Leven. The railway, which was the first electric railway in Scotland, opened in 1906. Two locomotives were built for the 914mm gauge railway by Dick, Kerr. 

Information for original locomotives
Number built:	2
Built:	1906
Builder:	Dick, Kerr of Preston
Motor:	2 Dick, Kerr electric motors (550v DC OHLE)
Power:	70 hp (52 kW)
Wheel arrangement:	4wWE

The locomotives were powerful for their size. They could haul up to 30 tons. They were joined by two other, similarly powered, locomotives built by Metropolitan-Vickers in 1947. The railway was closed in 1960. 

One of the locomotives at work [1]

[1] "The Kinlochleven Works of the British Aluminium Company", The Electrical Journal (December 4 1908) p. 297

Dudley, Stourbridge and District Electric Traction Company

The Dudley, Stourbridge and District Electric Traction Company was a 1,067mm gauge tramway which operated electric trams between 1899 and 1930. The company ran services from Dudley and Stourbridge with branches to destinations like Cradley Heath and Lye. The company was the successor to the Dudley and Stourbridge Steam Tramways Company which had operated since 1883 before being taken over by British Electric Traction (BET). BET bought up a number of smaller networks and agreed with local authorities to operate the services as long as they could own the lines for a period to recoup their investment.

Tram at Castle Hill, Dudley [1]

Information for 19-25 Class
Number built:	7
Built:	1900
Builder:	Dick, Kerr & Company

Following the takeover (and rename), the tram network was converted to electric traction with a number of extensions opening in the early 1900s. The Kinver Light Railway was also purchased and taken over in 1902. The system was managed, along with other Midlands tram networks, after 1904 by the Birmingham and Midlands Joint Tramways Committee set up by BET [2]. The combined network stretching for over a hundred kilometres.

The network began to be run down and closed in the mid-1920s as leases from local authorities expired. The tram routes were taken over by buses. The final closure was in 1930.

The company operated single decker trams, early trams being built by Dick, Kerr & Company of Preston and were typical products of the early 1900s with a Lord Baltimore style truck [3]. Later trams being built by the Birmingham & Midlands Tramways Joint Committee. Four tram cars have survived in various states of preservation.

[1] Arthur Beavan, Tube, Train, Tram & Car (Routledge, 1903) p. 181
[2] Charles Knapper, The Golden Age of Tramways (David & Charles, 1974) p. 146
[3] R.W. Bush, British Electric Tramcar Design 1885-1950 (Oxford Publishing, 1976) p. 29

Reading Corporation Tramways

Reading Corporation Tramways began operations in 1901, taking over from the horse-drawn trams operated by the Reading Tramway Company. The company operated a network that stretched for nearly twelve kilometres, and was to 1, 219mm gauge (the gauge used by the horse trams [2]). The network began to decline in the 1930s as the company struggled to maintain it's network and renew the track. The network was gradually replaced by buses and trolleybuses with the final trams operating in 1939.

A Reading Corporation tram [1]

Information for single bogie cars
Number built:	30
Built:	1901
Builder:	Dick, Kerr Ltd.
Motor:	2 DK25A electric motors (DC OHLE)
Power:	50 hp (37 kW)

All of the Reading trams were built by Dick, Kerr of Preston. Most of the fleet consisted of thirty four-wheeled Brill truck trams with some more powerful double bogie cars added in 1904 [3]. A water car was also bought for maintaining the network.

The tram car fleet was rebuilt in the 1920s with improved facilities for passengers including more windows. However due to the low railway bridge on Oxford Road no Reading tram car received a covered top deck.

Oxford Road [1]

Bath Road [1]

Aboard a Reading tram [1]

[1] Walter Jackson, "The Zone Fare in Practice: Reading", Electric Railway Journal (June 28, 1919) Vol. 53 No. 26 p. 1258
[2] E. Jackson-Stevens, British Electric Tramways (David & Charles, 1971) p. 72 
[3] Ibid. p. 74

Crystal Palace "All Red Route"

The "All Red Route" was a special electric railway set up at Crystal Palace for the 1911 Festival of Empire [1] which celebrated the coronation of King George V. The railway followed a continuous loop (see the map below) with stations at regular intervals for marquees dedicated to various components of the British Empire such as New Zealand and India. The train ran slowly (up to six and a half kilometres per hour) so the passengers, who sat on cross-benches in a "toast rack" style body like seaside trams, could take in the scenery [2]!

Information
Number built:	18 (9 2-car sets)
Built:	1911
Builder:	Dick, Kerr & Co.
Motor:	2 Dick, Kerr interpole electric motors (450v DC third rail)
Power:	64 hp (48 kW)
Formation:	Driving Motor + Trailer

The line was to 1,067mm gauge and was very much based on tram technology by the contractors Dick, Kerr & Company. The cars used a Brill 21E truck and could carry up to thirty-five passengers.  The conductor rail and insultators were based on current London Underground practice. One of the motor cars later was used on the Dublin & Lucan Electric Railway [3].

The All Red Route

A train arrives at "Africa" station

[1] "Around the empire by electric traction", Railway Times (Oct 7, 1911) p. 343
[2] Ibid. p. 344
[3] John B Gent & John H Meredith, Croydon's Tramways (Middleton Press, 1994) Fig. 45

Birmingham Corporation Tramways 301 Class

The Birmingham Corporation Tramways street car network was the fourth largest in Britain. Unlike most other tram networks it was to 3ft 6in narrow gauge (and was the largest narrow gauge tram network [1]). The 301 Class was built for an expansion of the network in 1911 for routes Birmingham Corporation Tramways had taken over to Handsworth, Selly Oak and Kings Norton [3]. However the 301 Class was also slightly lower than earlier trams (and a bit longer) to allow it to pass under a low bridge at Aston. This became the standard height for subsequent trams.

Information
Number built:	100
Built:	1911
Builder:	United Electric Car Company / Dick, Kerr & Company
Engine:	2 DK13A traction motors (550v DC OLHE [2])
Power:	80 hp (60 kW)

The 301 Class introduced a number of new features which later became standard across the fleet, the design taking advantage of operational experience gained from earlier types. The 301 Class had interpole electric motors (which were better for tram cars with electric braking and which were used on more challenging routes [4]). They also had notch regulator controllers, a new type of Westinghouse magnetic brake and some flexibility in the movement of the axles.

The original order for the 301 Class was for sixty cars with the car bodies built by the United Electric Car Company and equipment by Dick, Kerr. Another forty cars were ordered to replace cars inherited from the companies Birmingham Corporation Tramways had taken over which were found to be in a poor condition [5].

Some cars were converted into single deckers in the First World War though later converted back as the routes they were being used on saw passenger increases. Most of the fleet remained intact until the Second World War though post-war withdrawals began in earnest and the 301 Class ended service in 1950. Car 395 was saved from scrapping (one of only two Birmingham trams to survive) and since 1953 has been in Birmingham Science Museum / Thinktank.

395 preserved at Thinktank

View of 395's roof

Notice the staircase

Upper floor was open at both ends on this class of tram

Entrance

Guards at the front and sides

[1] P.W. Lawson, Birmingham Corporation Tramway Rolling Stock (Birmingham Transport Historical Group, 1983) p. 13 
[2] “New power station at Birmingham, England”, Street Railway Journal December 1906 Vol. XXVIII No.22 p. 1043 [3]
[3] Lawson p. 43
[4] Lawson p. 192
[5] Lawson p. 45