St. Helens Corporation Transport
1919-1974
The involvement of St. Helens Corporation in the working of the local
transport system commenced on 1st April 1897, when the 9½-mile
single-line track operated by the St. Helens and District Tramways Company was
purchased. Construction of the line had first started in October 1880, under the
St. Helens and District Tramways Act of 1879, and had been operated initially by
horse trams, until, in 1883, the Company obtained powers to operate steam trams.
The introduction of steam was delayed, probably by lack of finance, and it was
not until 1890 that steam trams began running. By this time, the old Company had
been purchased by a new Company, registered, however, in the same name, but
finally trading as the New St. Helens and District Tramways Company. Having purchased the tramway track, St. Helens Corporation obtained powers
enabling it to increase and electrify the system. At the same time a new 21-year
lease was agreed with the New St. Helens and District Tramways Company. The
first electric tram ran on 20th July 1899 over the Dentons Green
route and other sections quickly followed. Connections with the South Lancashire
Tramways system, at Haydock, and the Liverpool and Prescot Light Railway, at
Brooks Bridge, were made in1902.
In 1914 the Company tried to renegotiate a new lease, but failed,
consequently little investment in the system took place after this. When the
lease on the system expired in 1919, the Corporation took over and set about
refurbishing the fleet. Eight new cars were ordered, but, in the aftermath of
the Great War, manufacturers faced severe difficulties meeting orders. As a
result, the new tramcars did not arrive until 1921, joining the 36 taken over
from the Company in 1919.
The St. Helens Corporation Act of 1921 granted powers to run motorbuses and
trolleybuses, although it was 1923 before the Corporation commenced services,
hastened, no doubt, by the intrusion of Ribble Motor Services and Lancashire
United Transport into the area. The first routes opened on the 17th
August 1923 between Holme Road, Eccleston and Ormskirk Street, and to Washway
Lane, Haresfinch, using a single Guy BA. At this time the question of licensing
was in the hands of the local authorities and in 1925 the Corporation imposed
restrictions on private operators, including Ribble Motor Services, in order to
protect their trams and buses from competition. In June 1927 the Corporation
purchased the St. Helens and District Motor Service Company, which had been set
up in 1915, with a little persuasion from the Corporation, to provide transport
services in areas lacking access to the tramway system. Eight vehicles and a
garage were involved.
By 1924, the state of the tramway track between Prescot and Rainhill was giving
cause for concern; heavy road traffic along this route was causing undue wear
and tear on the lines. Consideration was given to replacing the trams with
trolleybuses and a Provisional Order was obtained in 1924, but in the event only
the section between Nutgrove and Prescot was converted. Four single-deck Garrett
trolleybuses inaugurated the route on 11th July 1927. Such was the
public response that it was decided to convert the Parr route and this was taken
over by trolleybuses on 30th July 1929.
A jointly operated bus service with Lancashire United, between St. Helens and
Earlestown, commenced on the 1st September 1927, and on 28th
June 1928, a joint service with Ribble and Lancashire United, serving Warrington
and Southport, started. Because of the scale of St. Helens Corporation's
operations (unusually for a municipal undertaking, St. Helens held a tours and
excursions licence), which reached as far afield as Blackpool, agreement was
sought by the local independent operators for a restriction on these activities,
which posed a threat to their livelihood. The outcome gave the Corporation the
right to run buses unchallenged within a ten-mile radius of the town hall, while
the private hire and excursion trade was left to the local operators.
In March 1929 the Corporation decided to renumber the entire fleet, with numbers
1-49 being allocated to the tram fleet, 50-100 to the motorbus fleet and 101
onwards to the trolleybus fleet. Over the years St. Helens renumbered vehicles
in its fleet several times until in 1954 a system using a prefix letter was
adopted. This remained in use until 1965 when it was discontinued. Single-deck
vehicles, however, were not allocated a prefix.
Although the bus network had been developed substantially over the first few
years, the tramway remained the mainstay of the transport system in the early
twenties. In April 1927 a through service to Wigan commenced, jointly with the
South Lancashire Tramways Company and a through service to Liverpool was
proposed. However, Liverpool Corporation was against the idea, claiming
difficulties arose through a variety of reasons. St. Helens duly applied for
licences to run buses, at first by an extension of the Prescot service and then
later jointly with Lancashire United. Liverpool refused the applications and the
matter was referred to the Minister of Transport, but eventually dismissed. In
1930 local authority licensing was taken out of their hands and placed under the
jurisdiction of Traffic Commissioners, which helped to bring the parties
together, wary of an imposed settlement. By 1931, St. Helens ran bus services to
Liverpool, jointly with several operators, including Ribble, Lancashire United
and Wigan Corporation.
Plans to extend the Dentons Green trolleybus route to Eccleston in 1933 fell
foul of Whiston Rural District Council, who opposed the erection of trolley
wires in Eccleston, and, as a result, only part of the route was served by
trolleybuses. However, as the tramway system was slowly abandoned, both
trolleybuses and their motorbus counterparts were employed on replacement
services. The final tram ran in service to Prescot on the 31st March
1936 and the following day trolleybuses commenced a circular replacement
service, although Liverpool Corporation trams still served Prescot, on St.
Helens owned track, for another 13 years.
In 1939, the first year of the Second World War, fuel economies were demanded
of motorbus operators, although trolleybuses were exempt. This resulted in
severe cuts to the bus services in St. Helens and some services were withdrawn
altogether. In time these proved to be too severe and some routes had to be
re-opened. During the War, vehicles were dispersed at night to minimize the
danger from aerial attack. As it happened, St. Helens largely escaped serious
damage during the War, but the condition of the vehicles, especially some of the
older trolleybuses, deteriorated badly from the effects of the weather. Some
renovation work was carried out in 1942 and ten trolleybuses built on chassis
intended for export to Johannesburg were diverted to St. Helens by the War
Department. Ten utility Guy Arab II's were also delivered during the war years.
Following the cessation of hostilities, St. Helens Corporation set out to
improve and increase the services. In 1947 additional parking space was opened
at Jackson Street, and a route numbering system was introduced for bus services.
Improvements were made to the trolleybus infrastructure, which necessitated an
increased power supply, provided by four additional sub-stations. A half-hourly
service to Speke was inaugurated in February 1947, operated jointly with
Crosville Motor Services, which brought their buses into St. Helens for the
first time. The postwar housing developments led to increased demands on the
public transport sector and the closure of the Widnes to Rainford railway line,
which served St. Helens, in 1951, initiated a phase of new and increased
services.
In 1951, however, the General Manager submitted a report to the Transport
Committee, concerning the trolleybus system, the infrastructure of which was
nearing the end of its useful life. The costs of replacing the wiring were
considered, but found not to be justified, since buses duplicated most of the
trolleybus workings and the system could be temporarily maintained by cannibalizing
other sections of wire. In the circumstances the Council decided
upon a gradual replacement of the trolleybuses by buses and an initial date for
full withdrawal was set for 1962. In the event, by 1958 only the Prescot Circle
service was left and this was converted to motorbus operation on the 30th
June of that year.
The decline in passenger numbers, experienced by many transport undertakings in
the early fifties, also affected St. Helens Corporation. In 1956 over 60 million
passengers were carried, however, in the following years there was a steady
decline in numbers. The closure of many of the local collieries and the gradual
decline of industry throughout the area also contributed so that the regular net
surplus generated by the transport system became a regular net deficit. Staff
shortages also caused great problems and prompted the Corporation to revise some
services accordingly. The unreliable nature of the services coupled with the
rise of the motor car led to even more passenger losses. By 1967, passenger
numbers were down to just over 43 million a year and the Corporation introduced
one-man operation as a method of combating the difficulties. Three 1963
Marshall-bodied AEC Reliance's were converted for one-man operation and they
were introduced in April 1967 on the 22 (Eccleston-Sutton) and 79 (St. Helens-Rainhill
Stoops) routes. Subsequently the Corporation pursued a policy of acquiring high
capacity single-deck vehicles suitable for one-man operation and a number of AEC
Swifts were purchased to fulfill this role.
The Transport Act of 1968 was brought in to help rectify some of the problems
facing bus operators at the time. It also allowed for the creation of Passenger
Transport Executives, Merseyside PTE being one of the first so designated. St.
Helens, however, lay outside the PTE catchment area for the time being, although
some of its operational areas, such as Prescot, fell within the PTE's
jurisdiction. The Local Government Act of 1972 created the new Merseyside
County, which included the boroughs of St. Helens and Southport. As a
consequence, on the 1st April 1974, the transport undertakings of
these two municipal undertakings were absorbed into the Merseyside PTE, and at
midnight on the 31st March 1974, St. Helens Corporation Transport
passed into history.
In producing this history reference has been
made to the following sources;
Directory of British Tramways (Keith Turner, PSL 1996); Local Transport in St. Helens
1879-1974 (Maund & Ashton:Venture 1995); PSV
Circle Fleet History PC22 (1989).
| History
1919-1974 | Tram Fleet List 1919-1936 | Trolleybus
Fleet List 1927-1958 | Bus Fleet List 1923-1974 |
|