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PARK RD ASTON Tram
- Thread starter a s wood
- Start date
Frothblower
Lubrication In Moderation
Is this it? sorry it's a poor scan
Ray Griffiths
master brummie
Ihave the picture you require, I'm having trouble attaching it to this messageView attachment 17323
If it doesn't come through can you let know.
If it doesn't come through can you let know.
Peter Walker
gone but not forgotten
Thank you for the interesting pictures of the Park Road / Church Lane derailment, which tell a little of the story. From the note by the driver's colleague, it looks as if he (the driver of the overturned tram) did not take the precautionary action specified in the 'blue book' when the magnetic brakes failed, losing control of the handbrake and ending up with a derailment and the car overturning. According to the official investigation, it was found that a finger spring in the controller was cracked, causing the magnetic brake to remain inactive, but the driver was also at fault. Fortunately no-one was killed, but 30 people were injured.
The two pictures were taken a few hours apart - the first one, looking from the Gravelly Hill direction, shows the top-deck roof still on car 714, although some of the pillars supporting it may have been smashed or already sawn off. By the time the second picture was taken (looking from the Villa End) the roof had been takeen away. I suspect the 'box' Lloyd refers to was part of the matchboard partition which separated the staircase area from the upper deck. This had a slight kink in it to allow the partition to meet the nearside front pillar.
I never saw the tram to recognise it, but I do remember seeing a line of withdrawn trams and trolleybuses in the former paint shop in Sampson Road Sparkbrook one lunch time in 1943 or 44. Car 714 was towed there as an open-topped double decker (via Dale End and Moor Street, probably in the dead of night). It remained there from April 1940 until August or September 1945, when it was broken up for scrap. For the first few months it was alone in the paint shop, but it was joined in September 1940 by the 'piano front' Leyland trolleybuses from the Nechells 7 route. A few months later other bomb-damaged tramcars from Miller Street and Witton depots, and others joined it for the duration, but it would presumably have been at the very back, furthest from the doors.
I was still too green to venture into depots at the age of ten, but I made up for it four or five years later. I was usually told "All right, but don't let anyone see you". People were far more trusting in those days, and they encouraged us to take an interest.
Peter.
The two pictures were taken a few hours apart - the first one, looking from the Gravelly Hill direction, shows the top-deck roof still on car 714, although some of the pillars supporting it may have been smashed or already sawn off. By the time the second picture was taken (looking from the Villa End) the roof had been takeen away. I suspect the 'box' Lloyd refers to was part of the matchboard partition which separated the staircase area from the upper deck. This had a slight kink in it to allow the partition to meet the nearside front pillar.
I never saw the tram to recognise it, but I do remember seeing a line of withdrawn trams and trolleybuses in the former paint shop in Sampson Road Sparkbrook one lunch time in 1943 or 44. Car 714 was towed there as an open-topped double decker (via Dale End and Moor Street, probably in the dead of night). It remained there from April 1940 until August or September 1945, when it was broken up for scrap. For the first few months it was alone in the paint shop, but it was joined in September 1940 by the 'piano front' Leyland trolleybuses from the Nechells 7 route. A few months later other bomb-damaged tramcars from Miller Street and Witton depots, and others joined it for the duration, but it would presumably have been at the very back, furthest from the doors.
I was still too green to venture into depots at the age of ten, but I made up for it four or five years later. I was usually told "All right, but don't let anyone see you". People were far more trusting in those days, and they encouraged us to take an interest.
Peter.
Ray Griffiths
master brummie
Great picture Lloyd, have you any information about the following.
A No 5 Lozells to Salford Bridge got into trouble coming down Victoria Rd, Aston and failed to turn on the points in Litchfield Rd at the bottom.
The tram car ended up crashing into Dr. Goulds Surgery corner of Sandy Lane And Lichfield Rd. oppisite corner to the Vine Public House.
I've been unable to find any pictures or news cutting about this accident.
