64 



SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 



tramway in this country. The trams were propelled by current conveyed to 

 small motors from a cable concealed in a conduit in the centre of the track. 

 Stops were numerous and sometimes prolonged, because not only was there 

 but a single track (except on the South Beach), with loops at infrequent 

 intervals to permit cars to pass one another, but there was a constant risk of 

 interruption to the service through the sea or sand affecting the cable. 



For the first seven years the line was leased to a private company, but was 

 taken over by the Blackpool Corporation in 1892. The conduit system was 

 abandoned for overhead trolley traction in 1894, and the line was extended 

 considerably during the next few years, the Station Road tramway being 

 opened on the 7th August, 1897, and the Promenade line extended to the Gynn 

 in 1901. 



The Blackpool and Lytham tramroad was started by a private company, 

 with a system of gas traction. It proved unsatisfactory, and the passengers 

 had sometimes to get out and help to push the trams up certain inclines. 

 In 1903 the overhead electric system was adopted, and in 1920 the nine miles 

 of track was purchased by the St. Annes Council. 



The Blackpool and Fleetwood tramroad was opened on the 1 3th July, 1 898, 

 under powers obtained for the construction of a light railway. It has a length 

 of 10 miles from Blackpool to Fleetwood, and is operated on the overhead 

 trolley system. It was purchased by the Blackpool Corporation in 1919. 



The tramway service operated to-day by the Blackpool Corporation is right 

 in the forefront of modernity, and during 1935 the cars, many of them of a 

 new and specialised design, carried over 49 million passengers. The Corpora- 

 tion also owns 64 motor buses, in which nearly 14i million passengers travelled 

 in 1935. 



Twentieth Century Road Transport. 



The post-war period has been marked by the improvement and development 

 of the internal combustion engine, and the private car and the motor bus and 

 coach have added their quota to the volume of transport. 



The district is now served by an excellent system of roads, and some idea 

 of the extent to which these are utilised may be gathered from the figures 

 revealed by an official census taken at key points during the 1935 August Bank 

 Holiday period, indicating the number of vehicles entering or passing through 

 Blackpool on the three days : — 



Among the many road transport undertakings serving the area may be 

 mentioned the Ribble Motor Company, which, with its subsidiaries and 



