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Birmingham Trams To Kinver ?

H

Hobbler

proper brummie kid
While doing some research into the history of the Kinver Light Railway I have come across a couple of references to trams from Birmingham working right through to Kinver on excursion traffic.

One reference said that occasion it was for a party of tram way employees. Any tram used would have had to be a single deck as double deckers were banned from the KLR so does anyone know if this ever actually happened and if so what type of tram was used and where they travelled from ?
 
I looked at the two links given by Radiorails but did not find any reference to through trams from Birmingham. However I have read in other books details of the route. They were single deck cars and ran from Navigation Street via Five Wars to Ickneild Port Road where they used the link to Dudley Road (the only passenger service to use this link) then ran to Dudley. Up Castle Hill (double deckers not allowed on Castle Hill) then on to the D & S which connects with the KLR. I don't have information of how long this service operated.
 
Birmingham Tram certainly did run in Kinver this is from Black Country Tramways Volume One 1872--1912 by J S Webb
"The company borrowed a number of cars from Birmingham because they anticipated this record holiday" "these cars were almost certainly some of the City of Birmingham Company,s open single deck cars Nos 157--162 which certainly operated on the Kinver line from about 1905--6 onwards "

I suspect that the trams did not run from brum on service but ran in Kinver ob service
 
There are tales of a "private hire" from Cotteridge (tales include both depot outings [unlikely] or a Sunday School trip rom the church just round the corner from the depot [far more plausible] to Kinver, for which one of the large "Kinver Bogie" cars ran to Cotteridge and then operated Cotteridge-Kinver and return. There were no 'cross city' routes, and the car would have had to traverse several routes through the city to reach Dudley, thence onward via the Black Country network to Amblecote and the Kinver Light Railway. It must have been a one-off, if it ever happened - any regular working would have been photographed by the enthusiasts of the time (one of which, the late Ray Coxon, told me of the hire story and always regretted that as nobody knew it was going to happen, it wasn't captured on film).
 
horsencart said:
Birmingham Tram certainly did run in Kinver this is from Black Country Tramways Volume One 1872--1912 by J S Webb
"The company borrowed a number of cars from Birmingham because they anticipated this record holiday" "these cars were almost certainly some of the City of Birmingham Company,s open single deck cars Nos 157--162 which certainly operated on the Kinver line from about 1905--6 onwards "

I suspect that the trams did not run from brum on service but ran in Kinver ob service
Click to expand...

Whilst this is correct, please note that they were "City of Birmingham Company's cars" in red & cream livery and not blue & cream Corporation ones.
 
Thank you for the replies everyone - all very helpfull.

By chance I have just obtained copies of the Webb books which are proving to be an absolute treasure trove of Black Country Tram information.
 
I managed to get the Webb books second hand a few years ago. I also tried earlier to buy copies from Birmingham Library but they refused to sell them as they were local history books. I did point out that according to the dates inside I was the only one who had borrowed them in seven years.
 
I got my Webb books from two different sellers on Amazon and both by coincidence were ex Walsall Library copies so trams dont seem to be a very popular subject for the borrowing masses .

Off topic slightly I would like to get hold of a copy of the Pictorial History of Kidderminster and Stourport Tramways but it looks as though it may have gone out of print unless anyone knows of anywhere in the area that still has one in stock.
 
I have just come across a copy of the wording of an Excursion Fares to Kinver Notice issued in 1910 by the B & MTJC.

Among those places listed from where tickets were valid are:

Birmingham (Edmund Street) 1/6d Return
Windmill Lane 1/5d Return
Smethwick (Blue Gates) 1/4d Return
Smethwick (Spon Lane) 1/2d Return
Oldbury (Town Hall) 1/1d Return
Handsworth (Woodman) 1/4d Return

Carters Green, Great Bridge (Market Place), Dudley Port, Wednesbury (Dartmouth Arms via Princes End), Ocker Hill , Princes End, Tipton , Bradley or Willenhall , Bilston Town Hall , Fighting Cocks, Sedgley, Dudley Station and Brierley Hill (Five Ways) are also listed with Brierley Hill fare being shown as 6d.

Fares for children under 12 are also given - surprisingly not at half the adult fare but on average at two thirds of the cost of an adult ticket.
 
I have just aquired a copy of Tramway Memories by J Joyce published in 1967 by Ian Allan Books .

There are a couple of chapters on the Kinver Light Railway and in one it says that during the summer there was a daily excursion to Kinver from Birmingham which started from a stop adjacent to the Council Offices . Would anyone know where those offices were located then ?

Another book I have at last managed to trace or perhaps booklet would better describe it is called BY TRAM TO KINVER 1901-1930 written by D.M.Bills, E and W R Griffiths and published in Kinver in 1980 . It does not have much new information but there are several photographs from private collections and ex members of the lines staff collections that I have not seen elsewhere which are most interesting.
 
Hobbler said:
... during the summer there was a daily excursion to Kinver from Birmingham which started from a stop adjacent to the Council Offices . Would anyone know where those offices were located then ?
Click to expand...

The offices were in Congreve Street, so the excursions would have operated from the Edmund Street terminus.
 
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