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Winter Tram Ride

cookie273uk

cookie273uk

master brummie
Winter_Tramride_Tyburn_Road.jpg
Very appropriate in this weeks weather
 
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I saw this fascinating painting about a month ago on a Merry-Christmas-to-you thread. I asked whether it was Hob Moor Road but I didn't get an answer. I now know it's Tyburn Road. I never really thought it could have been Hob Moor Road because the incline/decline between Fosbrooke Road and Heybarnes/ Newbridge Road I imagine is prohibitive to a tram. Could someone please enlighten me by giving an example of a road in Birmingham which was a tram's limit as far as getting up/ coming down is concerned? Thanks in anticipation, db84124
Was the excellent painting done by a forum member? David
 
Gravelly_Hill_Erdingtn.jpg
db84124, glad you like the painting, yes I am a member, it is Tyburn Road circa 1950, I painted it 4 years ago and sold it at an exhibition in Kenilworth with another tram painting attached, this is Gravelly Hill. Eric
 
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Hello there Eric,
Thanks for your rapid reply.
You're obviously a very talented artist and - I imagine - a tram enthusiast. Have you posted other examples of your works?
Being an enthusiast, could you possibly give me an answer to my query? I love all forms of tracked locomotion but I've never really understood the maximum slope a tram was capable of.
Merry Christmas, David
 
David, I have no idea of the technicalities of the Tram (motorman Mike is the Man you want) but I have certain favourite subjects and Trams are one of them, I have painted quite a few over the last 25 years, unfortunately I have sold them without keeping a pictorial record apart from 2 or 3. Trams were my main way of getting around when I was young, I am 80 next June. Eric
 
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Beautiful paintings, they really bring back old memories. I used to ride on the number 6 down the hill from Six Ways and always had the feeling that it would overturn on the bend by the Aston Hippodrome, but I still used to sit on the open balcony.
Many Thanks.
 
Eric,
Thanks for your answer and roll on next June with many, many more to follow !! Great artwork. Thank you for having posted and for having found the time - and patience - for what could be construed as a "silly" question.

oldMohawk,
Hello there. You've gone part of the way to letting me understand what a tram was capable of. Was the tram struggling on the return journey? Could you name another slope where the vehicle risked losing traction? Awaiting enlightenment from an ex-tram driver, you are my sole hope in coming to appreciate a tram's ability, thank you.

Merry Christmas to both, and all. David
 
db84124 said:
I saw this fascinating painting about a month ago on a Merry-Christmas-to-you thread. I asked whether it was Hob Moor Road but I didn't get an answer. I now know it's Tyburn Road. I never really thought it could have been Hob Moor Road because the incline/decline between Fosbrooke Road and Heybarnes/ Newbridge Road I imagine is prohibitive to a tram. Could someone please enlighten me by giving an example of a road in Birmingham which was a tram's limit as far as getting up/ coming down is concerned? Thanks in anticipation, db84124
Was the excellent painting done by a forum member? David
Click to expand...


I don't originate from Brum so am not familiar with many parts of the city where there may be steeper hills but trams had no difficulty climbing the hill on the Alum Rock Road up from Southalls and then up to Gosta Green to reach the Fire Station. The Bull Ring was quite a sharp climb as well. On low notches they climb well as they did on the steep hills around my home city of Bath as well as hilly towns and cities in Lancashire and Yorkshire. In wet and snowy conditions Motormen had dry sand to automatically put down in front of the wheels for extra traction. On preserved tramways at the Black Country Museum and at Crich they have stretches of hill climbing you might like to see in action. (The Black Country single decker manages to perform without sanding gear).
 
Hi David,
I think the only trams I used were the Perry Barr No 6, the Lozells Road No 5 and the 'upmarket' ones to the Lickey's. I remember that the tracks merged in a part of Newtown Row because the road was narrow. I also seem to remember you good tell when a tram was coming by a 'swishing' noise on the lines - although I'm wondering whether I'm imagining this ! The last tram I rode on was at the Tramway Museum at Crich, but the tracks are all level there.
Merry Christmas
oldmohawk
:)
 
oldMohawk said:
Hi David,
I think the only trams I used were the Perry Barr No 6, the Lozells Road No 5 and the 'upmarket' ones to the Lickey's. I remember that the tracks merged in a part of Newtown Row because the road was narrow. I also seem to remember you good tell when a tram was coming by a 'swishing' noise on the lines - although I'm wondering whether I'm imagining this ! The last tram I rode on was at the Tramway Museum at Crich, but the tracks are all level there.
Merry Christmas
oldmohawk

Yes the No6 was the one I looked forward to most because that was the one that Gran took my Sister & myself to Perry Barr Park the other time when Mom took us it was Town and that ment Lewis's and Pets Corner or The Grotto & Father Christmas at this time of year, thanks for the memory OM and a Merry Christmas to you:)
Click to expand...
 
David, On the topic of the steepest tram routes in Birmingham, I don't suppose anyone ever got round to measuring the gradients exactly. The early steam trams could not tackle gradients like the new-fangled electrics. I would guess that the steepest bits on steam lines were Park Road, Aston (up south of Victoria Road and down northwards to the parish church), and High Street Aston, past the Barton's Arms. The first electrics were replacements of the steamers, and the uphill climb was no great problem, given the sanding system applied by the driver's foot-pedal. Stopping the was the problem.
In 1906 the Corporation opened a switchback route through the Jewellery Quarter and Lodge Road to a terminus in the Smethwick boundary, close to Wellington Street. There were steep gradients up Newhall Hill, down Warstone Lane, up Hingeston Street aalong Lodge Road and down Foundry Lane to the terminus. Just after the first year of operation came the Corporation's first serious accident - a fatal one - when the driver lost control descending Warstone Lane past the Clock Tower and the car toppled over at the bend at Icknield Street. An additional Maley track brake was added to all the cars working this route. The next hilly route to be built was the link from Sherlock Street to Moseley Road via Leopold Street, where the gradient was 1 in 13. This opened in 1907 but, after the Lodge Road accident, it was decided to order a batch of 50 trams with the Mountain & Gibson air-and-oil brake, which were soon put on these routes, and stayed there until they closed in October 1949.
The more modern bogie cars had better braking, and could be used without serious problems.
I lived for a few years on Anerley Hill in South London, gradient 1 in 9, where trams operated satisfactorily from 1906 until 1936, when they were replaced by trolleybuses which in turn were replaced in 1959. I well remember Boxing Day 1962, when no traffic could get up Anerley Hill.
Peter
 
Peter,
Thanks ever-so-much for these highly detailed and informative facts. Thanks for having taken the time to share your expert knowledge with someone who tends to ask "childish" questions in an attempt to fill enormous holes in learning. Merry Christmas. David
 
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I don't know too much about the tech details of trams - I only used them, and love the paintings in this thread. I do remember catching the No 5 one evening when the fog was so thick you could hardly see the other end of the tram, but the tram knew where it was going...Perhaps it was easier than driving cars etc, in thick fog:)
 
 
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