Trams continued – A Bridge Too Far?

January 1903 and the tram lift idea was dead. Halifax Tramways Committee was adamant that trams would not travel for safety reasons up or down Salterhebble Hill. The future looked bleak for the Greater Elland district however Elland Council had a plan. They requested that Halifax transfer its powers under the Tramway Act relating to the Elland district to Elland Council. The cunning councillors had negotiated a tram route from Halifax via Salterhebble along Wood Bottom to Elland Bridge and hence via Briggate to Elland Town Hall (and then linking up with Brighouse and on to Dewsbury!) with a private company, British Electric Traction. Responsibility for the ‘hazardous’ Salterhebble section would rest with the private company. Please note that Elland did not suggest a route via West Vale and Greetland Council was not impressed. Anyway all this was academic because Halifax was not going to cede powers to a private company.

A year passed and this time British Electric Transport proposed a route to West Vale then Elland, travelling via Salterhebble. Halifax declined but suggested their own scheme, probably conscious of lucrative fares en route, from Salterhebble along Stainland Road to West Vale then along Long Wall to Elland. The hill obviously being deemed safe for trams! Just the one obstacle – the railway bridge across Stainland Road. The bridge could not be raised so Halifax Tramways decided that the route could be negotiated by removing the trolley arm from the overhead wire. Without power the tram wouldn’t move. Would the passengers push the tram under the bridge? It was then pointed out that the distance from the road surface to the crown of the arch was 15ft 6ins, which would leave no room for the top deck (open air) passengers. Perhaps they could push the tram?

Elland Council would have nothing further to do with the scheme once they realised the cost of improving Long Wall and Jepson Lane. Greetland Council showed foresight and decided that the road under the railway bridge should be lowered to accommodate a full tram and overhead power wires. Hence the dip in the road that we see today (a downside the silted drains but a neat solution for the time).

Bit by bit the tram line was laid. By July 1905 the tracks had reached the Shears Inn, the West Vale terminus. On 3rd August 1905 a special tramcar left Halifax Town Hall for the formal opening of the route. The tram was driven by Councillor A. Wadsworth, Chairman of Greetland Council, along Stainland Road to the terminus. A huge crowd greeted the tram upon arrival.

The cost of building this extension and lowering the road by 2ft. 4ins. was £12,590 (well over £1 million today). Number of tram accidents on Salterhebble Hill – zero.

 

David J. Glanfield
Greater Elland Historical Society