VIDEOS
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| Above: YouTubeCA video - Birmingham's Trams And Trolleybuses - Length: 30:25 mins. | Above: YouTubeCA video - Last of the Birmingham Trams - Length: 2:51 mins. |
PHOTOS
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MAPS
INSET: CENTRAL BIRMINGHAM
ABBREVIATIONS ON THE MAPS
| AC | Aston Cross | NS | Navigation St. |
| ASW | Aston Six Ways | PMR | Pebble Mill Rd. |
| GH | Gravelly Hill | SL | Steelhouse Lane |
| MS | Martineau St. |
I created the above maps by overlaying OpenStreetMap (OSM) maps with my own data. Copyright on the OSM maps is © OpenStreetMap contributors, licensed under a CC-BY-SA (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 licence).
Please note that the OSM maps used as templates for these maps correspond to the situation at the time the maps were downloaded and may show features that did not exist at the time the GS Tram Site is supposed to show. In particular, they may show bridges and highways that were built later.
Chronology of major track abandonments 1940-1949 (with affected routes in parentheses)
- Edmund St. - Foundry Rd. (32): 29 March 1947
- Ladywood route (33): 30 Aug. 1947
- Stechford / South Yardley group of routes (11, 12, 13, 15, 56, 84, 90): 2 Oct. 1948
- Cannon Hill Park route (37): 1 Oct. 1949
- Moseley / Cannon Hill Park group of routes (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 48, 49, 50, 51, 65, 66, 67): 1 Oct. 1949
- Martineau St. - Aston Six Ways - Perry Barr (6): 21 Dec. 1949
- Aston Cross- Witton (3X): 31 Dec. 1949
Chronology of major track abandonments 1950-1953 (closure of the system) (with affected routes in parentheses)
- Lozells route (5): 30 Sept. 1950
- Saltley routes (8, 9, 10): 30 Sept. 1950
- Pershore Rd. routes (36, 46, 53): 5 May 1952
- Bristol Rd. routes (35, 54, 69, 70, 71, 72): 5 July 1952
- Erdington routes (2, 64): 4 June 1953
- Stockland Green / Tyburn group of routes (1, 63, 78, 79): 4 July 1953
TRAM ROUTES
Operator: Birmingham Corporation Tramways
| 1 | Steelhouse Lane - Aston Rd. - Aston Cross - Gravelly Hill - Stockland Green |
| 2 | Steelhouse Lane - Aston Rd. - Aston Cross - Gravelly Hill - Erdington (Chester Rd.) |
| 5 | Lozells Road - Aston Six Ways - Gravelly Hill |
| 8 | Martineau St. - Coleshill St. - Saltley - Alum Rock |
| 9 | Martineau St. - Coleshill St. - Saltley - Ward End |
| 10 | Martineau St. - Coleshill St. - Saltley - Ward End - Washwood Heat Rd. |
| 35 | Navigation St. - Bristol St. - Bristol Rd. - Selly Oak |
| 36 | Navigation St. - Bristol St. - Bristol Rd. - Pershore Rd. - Cotteridge |
| 46 | Navigation St. - Bristol St. - Bristol Rd. - Pershore Rd. - Stirchley |
| 53 | Navigation St. - Bristol St. - Bristol Rd. - Pershore Rd. - Ten Acres |
| 54 | Navigation St. - Bristol St. - Bristol Rd. - Pebble Mill Rd. |
| 63 | Steelhouse Lane - Aston Rd. - Aston Cross - Gravelly Hill - Tyburn Rd. - Fort Dunlop |
| 64 | Steelhouse Lane - Aston Rd. - Aston Cross - Gravelly Hill - Erdington (High St.) |
| 69 | Navigation St. - Bristol St. - Bristol Rd. - Northfield (St. Lawrence Rd.) |
| 70 | Navigation St. - Bristol St. - Bristol Rd. - Northfield - Longbridge - Rednal |
| 71 | Navigation St. - Bristol St. - Bristol Rd. - Northfield - Longbridge - Rubery |
| 72 | Navigation St. - Bristol St. - Bristol Rd. - Northfield - Longbridge |
| 78 | Steelhouse Lane - Aston Rd. - Aston Cross - Gravelly Hill - Stockland Green - Short Heath |
| 79 | Steelhouse Lane - Aston Rd. - Aston Cross - Gravelly Hill - Tyburn Rd. - Chester Rd. |
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SYSTEM
NETWORK LENGTH
- Tramway: 130 km.
HISTORY
Tramways
- Horse tramways: 20 May 1872 - 1907.
- Steam tramways: 1882 - 31 Dec. 1906.
- Cable tramways: 1888 - 1911.
- First-generation electric tramway: 4 Jan. 1904 - 4 July 1953.
- Revived tramway (Midland Metro): 31 May 1999 - today.
GAUGE
- Tramways (First-generation tramways): 1067 mm.
- Midland Metro: 1435 mm.
SOURCES
- Ballinger, M. "Midland Metro: 'One damn thing after another'" Light Rail & Modern Tramway, July 1995 (58: 691), p.208-210.
- Bett, W.H. & Gillham, J.C. Great British tramway networks. London: Light Railway Transport League, 1962.
- "Birmingham City transport tramway services" The Modern Tramway, Feb. 1946 (9: 97), p.15.
- Gilbert, C. "Memories of Birmingham's steam trams" Modern Tramway, Apr.-May 1965 (28: 328-329), p.117-127 and 162-170.
- Hewitt, P. & Moreno, A. "Birmingham's 'Big Bang'" Tramways & Urban Transit, July 2017 (80: 955), p.256-261.
- Hewitt, P. & Moreno, A. "Midland Metro to 2030" Tramways & Urban Transit, Sept. 2017 (80: 957), p.335-340.
- Jaques, P. (ed.) Camwell's Birmingham: One man's transport perspective. Droitwich: Birmingham Transport Historical Group, 2007.
- Pulling, N. "Systems Factfile No.189: West Midlands Metro, UK" Tramways & Urban Transit, July 2023 (86: 1027), p.73-277.
WIKIS
- Birmingham Corporation Tramways
- Transport for West Midlands
- Transport in Birmingham
- West Midlands Metro
WEB SITES
Thanks to Urs Mattmann (from Thirsk, England) for the information and photos he kindly sent me concerning the Birmingham system.
Copyright Gabor Sandi 1998-2025
Disclaimer: Everything on this site was written and/or prepared at the author's discretion. The author has tried to be accurate where facts are presented, but this does not mean that these facts are necessarily accurate. People needing more reliable information should refer to appropriate sources presented, on the Internet or elsewhere, by authoritative professional or academic bodies.
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