Photographs of congested streets : Shepherd's Bush tramway terminus : Royal Commission on London Traffic : Volume 5 - maps & diagrams : HMSO : London : 1906
The mighty Royal Commission on London Traffic that was set up to report on "the means of locomotion and transport" in the Metropolis and to report on the better organisation, development and inter-connections between the various methods of mechanical transport. The Commission was pertinent given the rapid shift to electric operation of tramways at the time as well as the many, opposing, plans for additional deep level tube lines. Volume 5 contains dozens of plans and maps illustrating the current situation in London, relating to congestion, population, workplaces as well as the contemporary transport network and proposals. The information comes from a variety of sources who were asked to give evidence to the Commission.
The volume includes a series of photographs taken in 1903 and submitted by the Assistant Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis, Sir Alexander Carmichael Bruce. Several of the photos show the congestion at tramway termini and interchanges; many of these, on the 'boundary' of the Cities of London and Westminster, were effectively created by these two inner local authorities who resolutely opposed tramways meaning that interchange to horse bus or the infant tube system was necessary thus causing much congestion. In 1906 some of this on the south side was partially solved by the London County Council who 'breeched' the cordon sanitaire by dint of finally extending their tramways across Westminster and Blackfriars Bridges, along the Embankment and through the Kingsway tram subway that they built and operated. However in many other places the edge of city termini persisted even into trolleybus days.
One tram terminus that stayed resolutely a terminus, even surviving for electric street traction until the end of trolleybuses in 1962, was that at Shepherd's Bush in West London. Here, from 1901, the tramways of the London United (Electric) Tramways fed vast numbers of passengers to and from the then terminus of the Central London Railway that had opened in 1900. This facility was useful, with 'through fares' available, and much used but meant there were often serious crowd control issues on both the station and the roadway outside the station as can be seen here. The single storey station building, in a light colour faience, designed by Harry Bell Measures to a generic design across the CLR, survived over a century before demolition in 2005/8 as part of the Westfield development. The various trams seen are all open top and include examples of the LUT 'W' class built by G. F. Milnes with the turnback staircases.
Photographs of congested streets : Shepherd's Bush tramway terminus : Royal Commission on London Traffic : Volume 5 - maps & diagrams : HMSO : London : 1906
The mighty Royal Commission on London Traffic that was set up to report on "the means of locomotion and transport" in the Metropolis and to report on the better organisation, development and inter-connections between the various methods of mechanical transport. The Commission was pertinent given the rapid shift to electric operation of tramways at the time as well as the many, opposing, plans for additional deep level tube lines. Volume 5 contains dozens of plans and maps illustrating the current situation in London, relating to congestion, population, workplaces as well as the contemporary transport network and proposals. The information comes from a variety of sources who were asked to give evidence to the Commission.
The volume includes a series of photographs taken in 1903 and submitted by the Assistant Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis, Sir Alexander Carmichael Bruce. Several of the photos show the congestion at tramway termini and interchanges; many of these, on the 'boundary' of the Cities of London and Westminster, were effectively created by these two inner local authorities who resolutely opposed tramways meaning that interchange to horse bus or the infant tube system was necessary thus causing much congestion. In 1906 some of this on the south side was partially solved by the London County Council who 'breeched' the cordon sanitaire by dint of finally extending their tramways across Westminster and Blackfriars Bridges, along the Embankment and through the Kingsway tram subway that they built and operated. However in many other places the edge of city termini persisted even into trolleybus days.
One tram terminus that stayed resolutely a terminus, even surviving for electric street traction until the end of trolleybuses in 1962, was that at Shepherd's Bush in West London. Here, from 1901, the tramways of the London United (Electric) Tramways fed vast numbers of passengers to and from the then terminus of the Central London Railway that had opened in 1900. This facility was useful, with 'through fares' available, and much used but meant there were often serious crowd control issues on both the station and the roadway outside the station as can be seen here. The single storey station building, in a light colour faience, designed by Harry Bell Measures to a generic design across the CLR, survived over a century before demolition in 2005/8 as part of the Westfield development. The various trams seen are all open top and include examples of the LUT 'W' class built by G. F. Milnes with the turnback staircases.