South Yorkshire Times, September 29th, 1933
Dearne Trams
End Of A Municipal Dream
Yorkshire Traction Company Take Over
Last Tram On Saturday Night
The Substituted ‘Bus Services
The Dearne District Light Railway has come to the end of its career. As from to-morrow (Saturday), it will cease to operate. Inaugurated in 1924, the system is now to be scrapped, and the Yorkshire Traction Company are to substitute ‘buses. Henceforward no trams will be seen between Thurnscoe and Barnsley, and as soon as practicable the rails will be removed. This is the end of a municipal dream. It is not necessary here to recount the causes underlying the failure of the system; sufficient to say, it is being jettisoned because hopes and ambitions have not been realised. The promoters have made the best of a bad job and have cut their losses by selling out to their successful rivals, The Yorkshire Traction Company, on terms which have already been announced. Apart from financial considerations, there are many who object to tramcars on principle. Road users who have been harassed and restricted by the operation of tramcars on this busy route, will hold the view that the district is “well rid.” Not sufficient love has been lost on the trams to make them a paying proposition and therefore no tears will be shed at their obituary. Unfortunately, it remains with posterity to pay. The abandonment of the system followed long negotiations, finally embodied in the Dearne District Traction Bill which went through without opposition.
THE TERMS
The Bill provided for the abandonment of “railways constructed under the powers of the Dearne District Lightways Orders, 1915-24, and the running by the Yorkshire Traction Co., Ltd., of services of stage carriages in substitution.” It embodies an agreement between the Yorkshire Traction Company and the four local authorities the Wombwell, Wath-on-Dearne, Bolton-on- Dearne, and Thurnscoe Urban District Councils—who were the owners and operators. Under the agreement the four local authorities are to have, for the first five years, half the profits of the omnibuses running over the tramways route; or £3000 per year, whichever is the greater, their share for the first five years to be not less than £15,000. After the first five years they are to receive a guaranteed minimum varying from £2000 to £3000. If the profits are only £2000 the local authorities will receive £2000; if the net profits are £5000 the local authorities will receive a minimum of £3000. In the event of the net profits being over £6000 the local authorities receive half. Plans for the disposal of the assets of the Light Railway are well advanced, and public tenders for the equipment and stock were submitted to a meeting of the Light Railways Committee held at Bolton-on-Dearne last night. It is believed that one person has offered a price for the whole of the tramcars, with the intention of using them for seaside bungalows. Next to the cars, the overhead equipment is probably most valuable among the assets. There should also be good saleable value in the power station on the main road at Wath-on-Dearne.
TRAMWAY STAFF
What is the position in relation to the employees of the Light Railway? Obviously, many of them will be deprived of employment, but a number, mostly conductresses, have already been taken over by the Traction Company. The general manager of the Light Railways, Mr. Ronald Coutts, A.M. lnst. T., has been appointed to the Traction Company’s staff, as also have Mr. A. H. Ritchie (cashier) and one of the inspectors, Mr. Sewell. For the past few months, the Traction Company have been giving free tuition in ‘bus driving to the tramway’s motormen, the step having been taken with the object of widening their field of employability.
TRAMWAY HOUSES
The Light Railways Committee are the owners of some thirty houses, erected in Lundhill Lane, Wombwell, for the accommodation of their workpeople. The houses are substantially built, attractively planned, and well preserved. What is to be done with them has not yet been decided, but it has been suggested that they might be of special value to the Wombwell Urban District Council in connection with any projected slum clearance scheme. The taking up of the track and the disposal of the steel rails throughout the system is provided for in an arrangement with the road authorities who will take the rails as a set off.
THE CAR BARNS
The Yorkshire Traction Company are to use the Car Barns at Wombwell Junction as an omnibus depot and with that object in view they are filling up the tramcar pits and installing a petrol tank of ten thousand gallons capacity. This is as large as the tank used at their central depot at Barnsley. It is also their intention to instal a high-pressure washing plant to be operated with water from the local mains. The Yorkshire Electric Power Company will provide current. A “South Yorkshire Times” reporter was informed yesterday that the depot will be used for the time being by about thirty ‘buses and that it will, to a large extent, be the converging point of Dearne Valley ‘bus traffic. This should be a good thing for Wombwell from the standpoint of local enterprise. The place will be run as a maintenance garage, and for the present a skeleton staff had been installed. Until such time as the tramways rolling stock and equipment has been removed all the ‘buses will be operated from Barnsley and Mexborough.
ORDINARY FARES
Interviewed at Barnsley by our reporter, Mr. G. W. Robinson, general manager of the Yorkshire Traction Company, said there were not many alterations in the fares. An important point, however, was that all the penny stages at present in operation on the Dearne District Light Railway would be retained. On the route of the Light Railway there would be no increases in fares. The protection fares in favour of the Light Railways would, of course, go by the board, but in many cases there would be slight reductions. Hitherto the minimum fares on the ‘buses had been twopence. As an example, Mr. Robinson mentioned that the ‘bus fare from Halfway House to Wombwell had been twopence on the ‘buses and a penny on the tramcars. The ‘bus fare would now be reduced to a penny, and the same thing applied to all the tramcar penny stages. In those cases, at any rate, there would be a fare cut of fifty per cent.
WORKMEN’S FARES
Mr. Robinson mentioned that weekly workers’ tickets as such had been withdrawn, but daily return workers’ ticket would be substituted at exactly the eases rates and over exactly the same stages. In one respect this would be an advantage to workers using the ‘buses inasmuch as they would now have to pay only when they were travelling. The passengers would pay daily, and therefore there would be no need to pay half-a-crown in advance for tickets. A person working only three days would have to pay for only three journeys. By these daily workers’ tickets passengers would be able to travel from Wombwell to Barnsley and back for 5d. a day. If a person worked only 10d. days the journeys would cost him only led., whereas hitherto he had had to pay 2s. 6d. in advance for a weekly ticket. The issue of the workers’ ticket would be restricted to bona fide workers. Mr. Robinson added that the existing weekly tickets issued on the Light Railway would be honoured the ‘buses up to and including October 4th. They were issued for the last time last Monday. This arrangement had been made for the benefit of those working short time.
BETTER SERVICES
As to the frequency of the service, Mr. Robinson assured our representative that there would he ample provision on the ‘buses for all people wishing to travel, leaving a substantial margin for any unexpected rush. There would, of course, be a more frequent service of ‘buses than at present, a ten-minutes service being available between Barnsley and Wombwell. On Saturdays there would be a ‘bus every five minutes. In the past there had been far more seats than could possibly be need and a lot of unnecessary duplication. Mr. Robinson said. “We have adopted the whole of the tramway stage points but we give our passengers the added advantage of conveying them to our station in Eldon Street in the centre of Barnsley. This will obviate the danger of congestion at the Alhambra Theatre where the traffic in and out of Barnsley has been seriously impeded.”
THROUGH ‘BUSES
Mr. Robinson explained one respect in which travel in the Dearne Valley will be tremendously facilitated under the new system. For the first time it will be possible by their proposed operations to get a “through” ‘bus between any two given points in the area. There will be “through” ‘buses from the Woodman Inn to Thurnscoe, and from Bolton to Doncaster. This advantage will be particularly noticeable at the week-ends. Also Thurnscoe people will be able to travel direct to Doncaster by the Lidgett Lane route. Summing up, he said that while there would be no restriction whatever of quick and convenient movement In the area there would actually be reductions of fares for passengers curried over the shorter distances. He said the question of the guaranteed profits, to which the constituent authorities were entitled under the agreement, was another matter, but the arrangement would obviously work out to the advantage of the ratepayers.
OTHER OPERATIONS
Other operators on the route have made plans to conform with the new traffic arrangements. The Wombwell operators, T. Burrows and Sons, announce that in future their ‘buses from Wombwell to Barnsley and Leeds will leave at fifteen minutes part the hour instead of eighteen minutes past the hour as hitherto. In the opposite direction there will be no change in their normal timetable. They will also grant penny stages between the Cottage of Content and Barnsley. and there will be certain reductions in single and return fares. The return fare between Wombwell and Barnsley will be 8d., as on the Yorkshire Traction ‘buses. The penny fares will apply between Wombwell Town Hall and the Guide Poet Inn, and there will be a special two-penny fare between the Bull Hotel at Stairfoot and Barnsley. Mr. Hubert Burrows, a principal of the firm, told our reporter that they will also provide a special penny fare between Barnsley and Oaks Lane at Stairfoot for the benefit of employees at Barnsley Main Colliery. Special workers’ return fares will be available at the same time as the “twelve journey’ tickets. Messrs. Burrows and Sons have an advertisement in this issue and they suggest that their patrons should study the details.
THE LAST TRAM
Definitely the tramway system will be closed down to-morrow night. The last car to run will come from the Thurnscoe district and will enter the depot about midnight. We understand there will be no ceremony, but it is possible that there may be people with a sentimental desire to travel on the “last tram.” The Light Railway was inaugurated in 1924, and the first manager was the late Mr. Fred Coutts. A year later he was succeeded by his son, Mr. Ronald Coutts.