PHOTOGRAPHS OF CROOKES SHEFFIELD
The photograph shows the Tram Terminus at Crookes. The Crookes terminus was a simple double track in Northfield Road at the end of the single track line along Crookes Road. The route was opened by Sheffield Corporation tramways as a horse tramway in c. 1898 and was electrified a couple of years later. In electric days the Tramsheds were located in Pickmere Road which is adjacent to Crookes Road. Construction on the sheds started prior to 1914 but the work was not fully completed until 1919. The sheds remained operational until the tram system was withdrawn in 1960.
The photograph dates circa 1905. The first electric tram to go beyond Broomhill to Lydgate Lane was on 1st April 1901. Single deckers were used at first as it deemed unsafe to use double-deckers on the slopes. Double-deckers though did run as far as Broomhill. On 28th April the line was extened 380 yards from Lydgate Lane to School Road Crookes. A year later after a Board of Trade inspection double-decker open top cars with more powerful motors were permitted to run up to School Road. The final extension through Crookes to Northfield Road/Heavygate Road was delayed until November 26th 1913 - that was the date that it was first opened to passengers. The total length of the journey from High Street to Heavygate Road was 2 3/4 miles.
The new Wesley Hall Methodist Church cannot be seen on the photograph and so that would date the photo pre 1908
The tram in the picture is number 235, one of a batch of 25 four wheel open top cars built by the famous tram-makers Brush Electrical Engineering Co of Loughborough in 1904. The actual company that ran the trams was the Sheffield Tramways Company which began operating horse trams on 7th October 1873, creating some nine and a half miles of standard gauge route. In 1896 the Corporation took over tramway operation and from 6th September 1899 began operation of its first electric routes, which included the one in our postcard (which was route 'F' as can just be seen on the upper deck left of the headlamp). The system continued to expand in the 1920s and 30s and at its peak had over 500 trams on 52 miles of route. Although new trams were built as late as 1952, the system closed for service on 8th October 1960.
Part of the above information supplied by John Prentice Tramway Information web site
The above photograph was taken roughly about the same time as the first one featuring the tram. The road to the right where the horse and cart are, is called Coombe Road.
Crookes circa 1906
This page was last updated on 08/02/11 10:34