Salford - the Gateway to South-East Lancashire : handbook issued by Salford Corporation for the Empire Exhibition, Wembley, 1924 - Salford Corporation Transport System
A rather glorious and beautifully produced (it is bound in slik tape) handbook describing the industrial and municipal services of the Lancashire borough of Salford and lavishly illustrated to show scenes of the borough and various industrial activities. It is obviously aimed at VIP visitors to the Civic Hall at the 1924 Briitsh Empire Exhibition at Wembley and as well as Salford's claims to fame and importance it includes descriptions of the various colonies and Dominions and their trade with Lancashire.
Salford was an important industrial centre in its own right, albeit often overshadowed by its neighbour Manchester, and indeed in 1926, two years after this publication, the County Borough was raised to City status matching that of its neighbour. Salford also shared the the spoils of the Manchester Ship Canal, that incredible engineering feat that had made landlocked Manchester one of the largest port facilities in the UK - if only because a large acreage of the docks themselves was administratively in Salford. It meant that the borough was well placed as an entrepot - handling imports and exports via rail and road links across the south and south east Lancashire conurbation. Needless to say cotton, raw in and finished goods out, made up a major part of this trade.
The book also describes Salford's municipal services such as transport, gas and electricity - seen as vital in 'selling' the borough to potential investors and traders. This advert is for Salford's Tramways Department and rather nicely shows an outline route map illustrating the tramways within the borough and the first few motor bus routes that where being operated. Salford, like many other Manchester area operators, ran an extensive system of linke and jointly operated services so for example both Manchester and Bury Corporation vehicles could be seen on Salford routes. The map shows the adjacent local authorities who, although they owned the actual tram tracks, leased operational rights to Salford Corporation. The system's tracks were also connected to those of a private operator, Lancashire United Tramways.
Salford was also famous in that due to the close proximity of the two city centres, divided by the River Irwell, many of its tram routes effectively terminated over the boundary in Manchester. The decision to scrap the trams was therefore bound up rather intimately with, in particular, Manchester's early decision to convert their system to buses, a process that strated in the 1930s but that was delayed by the outbreak of war in 1939. The last remaining trams soldiered on until 1947, two years before Manchester finally abandoned its last route and the motor bus reigned supreme. In 1969 Salford City Transport passed to SELNEC PTE although, in 1999, light rail returned to the City when the Metrolink system was extended to Eccles returning street operation to Eccles New Road.
A final touch is the coat of arms in the central cartouche of the map compass.
Salford - the Gateway to South-East Lancashire : handbook issued by Salford Corporation for the Empire Exhibition, Wembley, 1924 - Salford Corporation Transport System
A rather glorious and beautifully produced (it is bound in slik tape) handbook describing the industrial and municipal services of the Lancashire borough of Salford and lavishly illustrated to show scenes of the borough and various industrial activities. It is obviously aimed at VIP visitors to the Civic Hall at the 1924 Briitsh Empire Exhibition at Wembley and as well as Salford's claims to fame and importance it includes descriptions of the various colonies and Dominions and their trade with Lancashire.
Salford was an important industrial centre in its own right, albeit often overshadowed by its neighbour Manchester, and indeed in 1926, two years after this publication, the County Borough was raised to City status matching that of its neighbour. Salford also shared the the spoils of the Manchester Ship Canal, that incredible engineering feat that had made landlocked Manchester one of the largest port facilities in the UK - if only because a large acreage of the docks themselves was administratively in Salford. It meant that the borough was well placed as an entrepot - handling imports and exports via rail and road links across the south and south east Lancashire conurbation. Needless to say cotton, raw in and finished goods out, made up a major part of this trade.
The book also describes Salford's municipal services such as transport, gas and electricity - seen as vital in 'selling' the borough to potential investors and traders. This advert is for Salford's Tramways Department and rather nicely shows an outline route map illustrating the tramways within the borough and the first few motor bus routes that where being operated. Salford, like many other Manchester area operators, ran an extensive system of linke and jointly operated services so for example both Manchester and Bury Corporation vehicles could be seen on Salford routes. The map shows the adjacent local authorities who, although they owned the actual tram tracks, leased operational rights to Salford Corporation. The system's tracks were also connected to those of a private operator, Lancashire United Tramways.
Salford was also famous in that due to the close proximity of the two city centres, divided by the River Irwell, many of its tram routes effectively terminated over the boundary in Manchester. The decision to scrap the trams was therefore bound up rather intimately with, in particular, Manchester's early decision to convert their system to buses, a process that strated in the 1930s but that was delayed by the outbreak of war in 1939. The last remaining trams soldiered on until 1947, two years before Manchester finally abandoned its last route and the motor bus reigned supreme. In 1969 Salford City Transport passed to SELNEC PTE although, in 1999, light rail returned to the City when the Metrolink system was extended to Eccles returning street operation to Eccles New Road.
A final touch is the coat of arms in the central cartouche of the map compass.