 Hello, I'm Pam Halls, and I'm the curator at Cambridge Museum of Technology. Welcome to this Cambridge Museum of Technology webinar. Produced by volunteers during lockdown, while we are waiting for the main event to commence, there will be a short slideshow to introduce you to the museum and its work. Welcome to Cambridge Museum of Technology. We are based here at Cambridge's beautiful Victorian pumping station next to the River Cam. A short walk from the city centre, we celebrate local industries and technology, and the lives and achievements of people who worked in Cambridge Industries. Our collections range from these powerful 19th century engines to fine scientific instruments made in the 20th century. All of the objects on display made a real difference to people's lives. We aim to provide a fascinating experience for local people and also visitors to the city, allowing them to explore an often overlooked part of our local history. As well as looking at the past, we also look to the future. We hope that the site will inspire a new generation of engineers. The museum is nothing without a team of people that make it possible. We have three part-time employees backed up by almost 90 volunteers. Volunteers take on roles in all parts of the museum, from acting as trustees to caring for the collections to looking after the site and grounds. These people offer us a vast array of skills and experiences, allowing the museum to be a vibrant part of our community. We are always looking to add to this team and welcome people with all skills and from all backgrounds. As an independent museum, we are always seeking financial support. We have been particularly hit by almost three months of closure during the COVID-19 crisis. If you are able, please consider making a donation. My name is David Stubbings and I'm a chairman of Chesterton Local History Group. And I have put together this slide presentation and illustrated talk about Cambridge Street tramways. I have volunteered for the Cambridge Museum of Technology for about 15 years. And I find the museum a good mix of history, technology, practical work and meeting people. To give you an overview of Cambridge Horse Tramway, it opened 28th of October, 1880. And it closed 18th of February, 1914. Now who's good at mental arithmetic? I reckon it's 34 years. And it was the first public transport system in Cambridge. The route length, 2.67 miles, 4.3 kilometers. The track gauge was four feet or 1.2 meters. The depot where they kept the trams was the junction of East Road and Dover Street. An overview of my talk is, I shall tell you about Cambridge tramways. Then we're going to get into a time machine. Yes, time machines do exist. And then the final section of the talk, what remains of the tramways? And I have been reading up about the history, images. You can see there the various books that I've been consulting. Also, you will see images from Cambridgeshire Collection and the Internet, and various pictures that I've taken myself. What is a horse tram? And also, what is not a horse tram? This may be worthwhile explaining. A horse tram is a wooden box with seats in it. The wooden box is mounted on metal flanged wheels, the wheels very much like those on a railway. You can see an illustration of the flanged wheel there in the diagram. The wheels run on two rails laid in the road. The propulsion is pulled by a horse. So what power is this propulsion? I can confidently say the propulsion is one horsepower. A horse tram is not an electric tram. An electric tram is a metal and wood box with seats in it. Mounted on metal flanged wheels, the wheels run on two rails laid in the road. The propulsion is by electric motor. Power is collected from an overhead wire and returned via the rails. And the horsepower of this electric motor could be between 5 and 10 horsepower, depending on if it's on flat or hilly terrain. A steam tram is a steam powered vehicle running on rails in the road. So this is the steam powered vehicle. You could call it a railway locomotive. You can't see anything of the wheels and what have you, as you would on a railway locomotive. The Government Act allowing setting up steam tramways said that there was to be no distraction of other road users such as horses. So they had to cover up all the wheels and not push out too much smoke. Passengers travelled in a separate car running on the same rails. So this is basically a trailer car. A trolley bus, a metal box with seats in. It runs on pneumatic rubber tyres, so a smoother ride. The driver steers the bus. Propulsion is by electric motor. And power is collected from the overhead wires and returned to the wires. Note that there are two wires as the electric tram only had one overhead wire. So there are no need for rails in the road. A motor bus is a metal box with seats in. It runs on pneumatic rubber tyres. The driver steers the bus. Propulsion is by petrol engine. No need for rails in the road. Might be worth noting this early motor bus. It has stairs at the back seating on top and it's an open top bus. A horse bus is very similar to a stagecoach. It's a wooden box with seats in. It is mounted on wooden spoked wheels. The wheels run on the road. It is pulled by a horse or two. So why use a tram on rails which only goes where the rails does? Why not use a go anywhere horse bus? I think the answer is a smooth ride. The road surface is back in the 1880s. Not the smooth metal roads that we have today. Some roads would have been cobbled. But many roads would be the surface would be dirt. And not even in the wet weather, dry weather these wheels and horses whose would really churn up the surface of the dirt. But the rails in the road you get a smoother journey. There are trams today in various of the bigger cities. Here's a picture of the tram system in Edinburgh. This picture is also dominated by this big monument to Scott who was a Scottish writer and wrote the Waverly novel. What size is a horse tram? Answer about twice the size of a horse. This horse doesn't look in very great shape. I'll come back to that later on. You'll see why. So the length of a horse tram. 21 nearly 22 feet. That's 6.6 meters. Height wise. Nearly 11 feet in height. That's 3.2 meters. And the width. Six feet one inch just over six feet. That's 1.85 meters. To explain more about the driving of a tram. This is a single deck car. The tram car is bi-directional. That is the tram car was never turned round. No need to. It can be driven from either end. You can see the driver here. Here's the propulsion system. So the tram is going. In the upper diagram the tram is going to the left. And in the lower diagram the driver. The tram is going to the right. There is a brake handle at both ends. Arrowed here and you can see similarly here. And the driver is fairly often using that. So the driver has the brake handle to stop. And he has the reins of the horse to accelerate. Steering is by rails in the road. And in this single deck car you can see 18 people inside. Now presumably that may depend on the width of the people. A double deck car. What was sometimes done. You could take a single deck car and then add stairs at both ends. Here are the stairs. And there would be stairs at the other end as well. Seating on top. It's an open top. Seating for 22 people and 18 inside. On top the seating was often called garden seats. And the backrest was reversible. Here's an example of a garden seat. As used on the upper deck of a tram. The backrest is to the left in that picture. Here is the pivot. You can see the slot in the seat. And the tram gets to the end of the line. And the conductor moves the backrest to the other position. Where did the horse trams run in Cambridge? Here is an overview map of Cambridge. Here is the A14. Coloured red. Here is the M11. Coloured blue. And Addenbrook's hospital. Is there. It's on the south of Cambridge. This black line is the railway. Came to Cambridge in 1845. Looking to a more detailed map now. Here is the railway station. Here is the River Cam. The blue line making its way through Cambridge. Here is the castle. And the university library. With this tall tower. Now bear in mind the railway. Here is on the outskirts of Cambridge. Well, when the railway was built. The university had enough. Say to. Direct that the railway was put on the outskirts of Cambridge. Went away from the university in the centre. Looking to a street map. Here is the. Railway station. And here. This red. Area is the centre of Cambridge, which I've enlarged here. King's College Chapel is here. Grace and Mary's Church. Is there. And Christ's College is there. The Cambridge Street tramways was. Divide. To take passengers from. Cambridge railway station. Into the centre of town. Or of course from the centre of town back to the railway station. Here is the railway station. The. Route that I have coloured red. That was the first route that opened. In October 1880. From the railway station. Well, I've got their railway stations plural. We think today of railway of Cambridge railway station singular. But in the early days of the railways there were. Four railway companies. Running their trains into Cambridge station. And they each wanted their own platform. And that was. Part of the business idea of the tramway. There were. Many trains arriving and departing at Cambridge station per day. That meant that hundreds of people. Came and went. At the railway station. Quite a number of those people would want to. Travel to and from the centre of Cambridge. So. First route that opened. Left from the railway station. 30 minute intervals. On the first day it carried 136 passengers. Not going to make much money out of that. So. Word got around. Next day it carried. 801. The next day word got around more. They basically carried an extra 1000 passengers. That's route one from the railway station to the. Post office terminus. Going through Hyde Park Corner. This is Hyde Park Corner as we know it today. The junction of Hills Road Lensfield Road. Regent Street and Gonville Place. And. Today the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady and the English martyrs. Or Olem is obviously the dominant building. At that road junction. The church being a late Gothic revival church built between. 1885 and 1890. So when the street trams. Opened. That big church was not there. Why is it called Hyde Park Corner? I don't know. If anybody has any ideas or knowledge. Please let me know. Here is tram number four at the terminus. In St Andrews Street. On the right is Christ's College. Well that looks the same today. On the left. Is a shop. And then Grace and Andrews Church. This pinnacle here. That's the. Slope of the roof and that would be. The. The big window at the end of the church. This big. Turret here. On the top of Foster's Bank. And you can see there. That says Lipton's T. This is to tram number four. Waiting in the middle of the road. There's a bicycle. This is 1880 remember. Were there any motor vehicles in 1880. Basically no. Horse and carts. Yes. Tram number three turning from Hills Road. I think that. Faint spire there must be. Great. The Roman Catholic Church. Into Station Road. You see the lamp post there. A lot of us remember the war memorial in that location. But. In 1880. 1900. The war was still. In the future. There's a horse and cart. Looks like a refuse collection cart to me. You can see that this. Tram double deck tram is. Well. Loaded with people. Does the horse. Looks like it's been straining. No. Cambridge being. Basically flat. The horse has an easy job. Tram number two at the railway station. Terminus. So you could. Take a tram. Into town. Again plenty of people seated up top. Or if you had the money. You could take a taxi. And then. A handsome cab. Taxi. Excuse me ma'am. Excuse me sir. I'm waiting for my cab. Would you mind getting out of the way. Route number two. Which I have. Coloured blue. Opened in. November 1880. From Hyde Park Corner. Where the big. Church is to. Market Hill. Terminus of Great St. Mary's or Market Hill. So the idea of. Route number two was to go through the university. Area. Of the town. As the red route is more the. Commercial. Area of the town. Tram number eight at the railway station terminus. Left is a taxi. A motor vehicle. See. The wheels there. So presumably the date of this picture is. Perhaps 1910 ish. And the tramway. Staff have obviously posed. Here's the horse or obviously. The tram driver. I think this chap must be the conductor with his. With his money bag. And this chap. Maybe the. An inspector. I don't know. Senate House Hill. Taxi rank. More handsome cabs. This is the Senate House. And this is. Gonville and keys. And you can see the. Tram tracks in the road. And. And the exhaust from the propulsion system. Tram number five at the terminus in Market Hill. By GSM. Great St. Mary's. But where is the hill you say. We've just had Senate House Hill. This is Market Hill. And by the Guild Hall there. That's not the Guild Hall that's there today. Agreed. That is the old Guild Hall. The present Guild Hall was built in 1940. By the Guild Hall there is Pease Hill. I've heard the idea that if you understand. The word hill to mean. An area which can be used as a market. An area for selling. Then it makes more sense. And note this is a single deck car. The single deck cars were. Or only single deck cars were used on the. University route. Why. We probably all like traveling in. In the top of a double-decker bus today so we can. Look down and over walls and things. Perhaps the university didn't like that. This photo is. From the Tower of Holy Trinity Church. Holy Trinity Church is at the bottom of the picture as it were. This building here is Great St. Mary's. GSM. That's the old schools. The Senate House. We're looking at its side on. And here is a tram. At the. Terminus at Market Hill. There's a horse and cart there. And you can see that. They have. Tram lines there and there so they could. Park. The tram car there if they needed to. Apparently the. The bend there is a very sharp bend in the rails. And it was difficult to get the tram cars round. Route number three which I've coloured green. I get the idea this wasn't the passenger route. But he went to the tram depot. And this route was opened. 1881. From Hyde Park Corner to East Road. So that is the extent of the. Tramway network. The idea of it being to. Ferry passengers. From the railway station to various places in town. And then back to the railway station. The tram depot. 1884 East Road. Where the tram cars were kept overnight. Also serviced. That opened in 1881. Yeah. You say well. Since the tramways system opened in 1880. Where did they keep the trams until the tram depot. Was built. And the answer is. In the good yard at the railway station. How much did it cost to travel. On the trams. What we need to look at the history of money. Could be wise to start with. Decimal day in the United Kingdom. Decimal day in the United Kingdom was 15th February. 1971. Before then in old money. Pounds, shillings and pence. One pound was 20 shillings. One shilling was 12 pence. So they were 240 pence. Used. The symbol D was used to. Do you know a pence. 240 pence in the pound. Now of course we have 100 pence in the pound. So one shilling is 5p. So the timetable for 1884. From the post office. In town. 805 am then every 10 minutes. From Great St Mary's. 8am then every 20 minutes. The last tram. 9. 18pm and 9. 32pm from the station. It's a very exact time. Why? And the answer is those times were set to. Connect. With the arrival of the last trains of the day. There was no service on Sundays. Now today if we get on public transport. We expect to go to a bus stop. And the buses today will only. Pick up and sit down at the designated bus stops. With the horse trams they will pick up anywhere on route. No fixed stops. And that probably contributed to the journey times. The trams being rather slow. Fairs in 1884. All the way from. Central town to the railway station. 2p. If you went halfway from Hyde Park Corner. It was 1p. The book of tickets. Of 1p tickets cost you one pounds. So sorry one shilling and sixpence. So I think that's 18p divided by. Constituent trial tickets that makes them more expensive. Well the next year I think they realized that and you got a book of 13. Tickets each valued. One pence and you got that for a shilling. They've also introduced season tickets and annual season ticket for. Three pounds 10 shillings that's three and a half pounds. And a half year and a three month. Tram car number six you can see the six on the front board there. The driver has his hands on the the brake and he rotates that. And the the shafting operates. Breaks on the wheels. Here's the accelerator the reins on the horse. Looks like a young man as the conductor you can see his money bag there. Now road maintenance tramway company versus the town council. So this represents the roadway here the tram tracks four feet apart. So the tramways responsibility was for the upkeep of the tramway. And up to 32 inches each side of it. And then the town council's responsibility was the rest of the road. The surface of the road could be granite sets. The blocks of stone very similar to the humps we have today. They could be cobbles or they could be wooden blocks. We'll see some of those later on. Now the tramway company. And the town council homes and hard and had a bit of a disagreement about who should maintain which bits of the road. And in the end it worked out that the tramway company paid the town council. 325 pounds per year for road maintenance. That's quite a bit of money. Quite a bit of money. A slow journey. So this is a postcard from the time poking fun at the horse tramways because they were so slow. You can see the conductor here. He's gone to sleep. Why were the tramways so slow? I mentioned that they picked up anywhere that would contribute to stopping and starting. Not that they're going in very fast anyway so it wasn't difficult to stop. I think another reason for these trams being slow was that there were a limited number of passing places. Only Hills Road was double track. So a tram coming from the railway station can go down Hills Road. Another tram can go up Hills Road to the railway station. When the tram gets to here, Lensfield Road, if there's a tram from Trumpington Street, it has to wait in the passing place until this tram has passed. So there's quite a bit of time hanging around in passing places. So hence the fun being poked at the Cambridge Street tramways because they were slow. Tram car number one, you can see the one on the front there. Another horse in the background there. So this looks like a single deck car that's been modified to have an upper deck. 1896 competition. The Cambridge Omnibus Company obtained a license to run eight horse omnibuses at a standard rate of 1p. Cambridge Street tramways purchased four horse buses and also ran them at 1p. Rivalry. Both companies ran their horse buses over the tram routes and other routes in Cambridge. There was not enough passengers and both companies suffered. This is a picture of one of the horse buses. The public called them bathing machines. What is a bathing machine you ask? Back in the 1880s and that era when it was not deemed polite to change from one set of clothes on the seashore into another, so your bathing costume. So people had these huts on wheels in which you could change a man and horse, then pulled the bathing machine into the water and you could go for your swim. So the public called this a bathing machine. It reminds me more of a horse drawn horse. 1900 there was an agreement. The Cambridge Omnibus Company withdrew their buses from the tram routes and Cambridge Street tramways withdrew their buses from the rest of the city. In 1902 the Omnibus Company went out of business. Tram number six, presumably is somewhere in 1900 plus, perhaps getting towards the end of the tramway. It's a better quality photo. The horse looks like a horse now and you can see the details of the great coat. It goes without saying there was no heating in the bus. 1906 again competition. This time from Cambridge Motor Bus Company looked rather scary. Later in 1906, Cambridge Corporation withdrew the license for the Motor Bus Company for a number of non-series but inconvenient accidents. Such as sweeping down lamp posts and also sweeping away shop warnings. And this is a humorous postcard depicting the Motor Bus Company. 1907 the Autona Motor Bus Company versus the Street Tramways. How to counteract the Motor Bus? 1909 a further tram car was purchased for £160 bringing the stock up to £8. This is a tram car number eight waiting near the railway station. And we have a view of the upstairs seating. 1912 for the horse trams profits were falling due to the competition from the Motor Buses. The tramways defaulted in its quarterly payment to the council for the upkeep of the roads. Next year 1913 the town clerk issued a writ against the tramways for the money is due for road upkeep. In 1914 a petition was filed for the compulsory winding up of the Cambridge Street tramway company. That's sad. The last day of the horse trams was Wednesday 18th February 1914. War was still a number of months in the future. The trams were crowded all day. Parents took their children on the trams so that the children as they went through their life they could say they rode on the Cambridge trams. All the effects were auctioned off 20th February 1914 at 12 noon at the tram depot in East Road. The effects were listed as eight tram cars being six double decked cars and two single decked cars. The tram cars were bought for between £7.15 shillings and £15. 24 draft horses fetched between 14 and a half guineas and 40 and a half guineas. The guinea is 21 shillings or £1 one shilling. And of course all the stuff to do with running a fleet of horses, sets of harnesses, blacksmiths, anvil and bellows for horse shoes, oak crushing mill, oil engine, presumably to drive the oak crusher, two corn bins, two chaff bins and so on. Buildings were not sold until May when they were used as a fish market. This is the only picture I've found of some of the Cambridge Street tramway staff. In the photo there are 19 people. It is recorded they employed 14 drivers, 14 conductors, three horsekeepers, a vet and several stable boys. That's a total of 34 or so. So presumably the 19 people in the picture here were those that were available when the photographer was available. And presumably this picture is in the tram depot. There's the change in floor structure from locks to smooth. What is it like to ride in a horse tram? What we need is a time machine. Here is a time machine and a toy castle. Where are we going? To Douglas. Douglas is the capital of the island man and trams run along the sea front promenade for 1.6 miles. The island man being famous for his TT races of course. Here is the harbour where the ferry docks. This lump of rock here has the tower of refuge built on it. That's the sandcastle looking building which has the very practical reason of being a refuge. And trams run from the harbour way up to the other end of the promenade. Now what do you say to a horse to get it to move? G-up! G-up! The chap in yellow, he's the sort of second staff member. Gives you okay to move. Driver releases the handbrake and the horse just walks on. Slightly downhill here you see the driver applying the brake slightly. This is a driver's eye view. Now what's this coming ahead? A horse tram going the other way. On the Douglas sea front, this is the War Memorial. When you get to the terminus, you unhitch the horse, move the propulsion system. The propulsion system moves itself with guidance to the other end of the tram. Re-hitch the reins and you're ready to go at the appointed time. My glamorous assistant will now demonstrate how the reversible seats work. A different design to the pivoting lever type. Returning going towards the harbour, the whole journey takes about 15-20 minutes. Passing a horse tram going the other way. So getting out of our time machine back in Cambridge. Does anything remain from Cambridge Street tramways? Yes, the tram shed, the physical building is still in East Road. It's now used as offices. The tram shed, the doors to the road used to be there. Now you can see that the design of this building and this building are basically the same. So I'm assuming that this building was to do with the tramways. But I've not been able to find out, yeah you'll know. If anyone has any information, please let me know. In the background there you can see tram depot. The horses were kept. Here is the tram depot. This is Dover Street. And you can see the pub sign, which depicts a white horse tram with two horses. In all the pictures we've seen, Cambridge tramway company used one horse. They did try using two horses for a short while, but it wasn't necessary. Cambridge is flat. One horse is quite powerful enough. You can see the various picnic benches for outside seating. And this area here, which is presumably a covered area for smokers, and they've designed it to look like a tram. A good idea. So Mary Street, or Market Hill, the tram track being lifted in 1927. You can see in the background there, Horton Cart. See a big wheel there. Note the number of workers. They're all using hand tools. Today, this sort of job, nobody would think of doing it without a digger of some sort. More tram rails were found. That is Gombel and Keys College. On this, just off the picture here, is Great St Mary's Church. And today, this is a paved pedestrian area. So about 1965, this area was redeveloped, as it were. And they found these tram rails. What to do with them? The tram rails are now at Cambridge Museum of Technology. You can see the rails here. Distance apart is four feet. These are the wooden blocks, which are between the rails and either side. The idea of wooden blocks being softer on the horse's feet, and it doesn't make so much noise either. You can see the tram rails there. This circular concrete thing, not to do with the tramway. This is to do with the sewage system. And this white column and box on top, that's a weather station. So that's not to do with the tramways. So if you want to see some remains of the tramway, do come along to Cambridge Museum of Technology. Now, in the Ipswich Transport Museum, there's also some remains of the Cambridge tramway system. This building, in the Ipswich, of course, that house the electric trams. Still in the building there is the electrical switch gear that controlled the trams. It's a small museum, but it's packed full of restored buses and cars and things. Also, a large employer in Ipswich was ransoms. We know them for doing lawn mowers, but they were also big business in agricultural equipment. In 2001, this tram car body was found in Ealy. It was being used as a cobbler's workshop attached to his bungalow. But then the bungalow changed hands and this was no longer needed. And after a bit of a checkered history, it arrived in the Ipswich Transport Museum and sat there for a while until they had capacity to restore it. So, from this rather derelict shell to this gleaming partly restored, partly made new, the upper deck is completely new because they're all gone. The stairs at each end, they've been completely remade. Because they were not there. Above the big windows and below the roof, you can see the clear story windows. Some trams had clear story windows and some didn't. And that was a clue to finding out the original number for this tram. You can see the adverts here, pH Allen and Sun, electrical lighting contractors. And in 1914, when the tram were closed, electric lighting contractors would still have been a new high-tech business. This is the interior of the restored tram. They reckoned you could see 18 people in there. They really have made a splendid job of restoring this. An interesting part of the design is the lighting. No electricity in those days, of course, but not in 1880 anyway. Gas lighting for street lights, yes. So you had an oil lamp at one at each end of the tram. That gave a little bit of light to the interior. And it gave a little bit of light for the driver. And other road users would have been able to see the tram. Oh, and they've also managed to restore a horse. All the seating is reconstructed based on one surviving seat at Cambridge Museum of Technology. In blue is one of the switch transport museum attendants. A view of the wheels and no original wheels survive. These are new builds, probably similar to the originals. The springs, they were one of the things that they had to change every now and again because they got noisy. So to recap, Cambridge Street Tramways opened in 1880. It was the first public transport system in Cambridge. Two routes connected the railway station with the centre of Cambridge. Tram depot was, and still is, on East Road. The Autona Motor Bus Company started business in 1907. The trams stopped running in 1914 after 34 years. I hope your travel on public transport will be more interesting. Thank you.