Accrington on Rails - The Tramways: A Complete History - Robert Kenyon

all the overhead work, should commence before the permanent way work, so that when the roadways are up and disturbed the work on the footways will be finished and the footways clear, and this your Committee will seek to secure as far as is possible. Type of Car Although it is not immediately necessary to settle on the type of Car, yet as regards that to be used in connection with the Oswaldtwistle section, it will be necessary to have these of the single deck type, of which there are several forms. Your Committee will, and without delay, bring before you sketches and particulars of the various types available. Operation of Tramways Your Committee recommends that in view of the estimates of traffic income, which they think have been prepared within safe and cautious limits, and on the basis of actual local experience, endorsed by the experience of similar Tramway undertakings, the Corporation should operate the system direct and with their own staff, rather than to lease it. Town Hall, Accrington, August 1906. August The Electrical , Legal & Parliamentary Committee met and heard from the Town Clerk that he had investigated the titles of the properties numbers 22, 24 & 26 on Union Road in Oswaldtwistle and discovered they were ‘leasehold’, requesting that the Committee proceeded with purchasing the same. It was resolved to approve the purchase of the said properties, as part of the tramway extension plans. The Town Clerk then reported on negotiations in progress for numbers 28, 30, 32 & 34 Union Road at ‘reduced’ terms. It was resolved to authorise the Chairman and Town Clerk proceed with the purchase of these properties at the sum now tabled. September The Electrical , Legal & Parliamentary Committee considered the report of the special Sub Committee and ‘other’ officials on the subject of the electrification of the tramway, and it was resolved to pass it on to the General Purposes Committee. At a meeting of the General Purposes Committee specially convened for the purpose of considering the report of the Electrical Sub-Committee on the electrification of the tramway, it was resolved the report be approved and recommended. This Sub-Committee was then authorised to obtain all necessary tenders for plant, materials and works. It was further resolved that the Sub-Committee should take all the necessary steps to carry out the construction works, under the supervision of the Borough Surveyor and the Electrical Engineer. The General Purposes Committee resolved the Electrical Sub-Committee would make visits to Chesterfield, Derby and Loughborough, for the purpose of inspecting the most recent types of tramcars. The Electrical Sub-Committee having inspected numerous types of tramcars, recommended the ‘radial truck’ – four wheel cars that were currently in service in Chesterfield and Derby. It was unanimously resolved that the Sub-Committee would recommend the purchase of 14 double deck covered cars, to carry 50 or 52 passengers, on radial trucks with an 8 feet 6 inch wheel-base, in addition to 4 single deck cars to carry ‘not less’ than 28 seated passengers, the four saloons to work on the Oswaldtwistle Section. These would all be equipped with magnetic track brakes. ( During September with the prospect of ownership and then electrification, Accrington Corporation was the focus of intense correspondence from a Company who hoped to gain the contract for some of the work for the tracks .)

THERMIT LIMITED. Dr. H. Goldsmith’s Patent ALUMINO - THERMIC PROCESS.

CONTRACTORS TO

27,

Martin Lane, H. Cannon Street,

M.

Government

LONDON

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