| South Staffordshire Tramways Company | |
| Locale: | Wednesbury |
| Open: | 15 July 1883 |
| Close: | 1 April 1924 |
| Status: | Closed |
| Propulsion System: | Steam then Electric |
The South Staffordshire and Birmingham District Steam Tramways Company which became the South Staffordshire Tramways Company operated a tramway service from their depot in Wednesbury between 1883 and 1924.[1]
The Staffordshire Tramways Order of 1879 authorised the construction of the steam tramway which was operated by the South Staffordshire and Birmingham District Steam Tramways Company. The company depot was at Kings Hill, Wednesbury.
Routes and start dates were as follows:
In addition there were 12 passenger trailer vehicles from the Starbuck Car and Wagon Company and 22 from Falcon Engine & Car Works.
Modernisation of the services was initiated on 26 August 1889 when the company changed its name to the South Staffordshire Tramways Company. A programme of electrification followed shortly afterwards, and on 1 January 1893 the routes from Walsall to Bloxwich and Darlaston to Mellish Road via Walsall had been converted.
The British Electric Traction Company purchased the electric lines on 11 June 1899 and transferred them to the South Staffordshire Tramways (Lessee) Company[2] and leased the remaining lines from 23 June 1900.
Walsall Corporation purchased the track within their boundary on 1 January 1901 and leased them back until 31 December 1903, by which time the Walsall Corporation Tramways were in a position to operate their own services. The Company worked joint services with Walsall Corporation Tramways on the routes from Wednesbury, and from Darlaston, to Walsall.
West Bromwich Corporation followed suit on 31 January 1902, and later Wednesbury, Handsworth and Dudley Councils, purchasing tracks within their boundary to converting them for electric traction. They were leased them back to the Company.
Electrification progressed as follows:
On 9 October 1912 a through service between Colmore Row, Birmingham to Darlaston, via Handsworth, West Bromwich and Wednesbury started. On 26 May 1923 it was extended to Bilston (over the tracks of the Wolverhampton District Electric Tramways Company).
The generating-station was situated near to the Birmingham Canal on the Darlaston and Walsall Road. A canal basin was formed alongside the station for the delivery of coal. The station comprised an engine-room by, a boiler-house by, an octagonal chimney-stack high, and detached oil-stores and outbuildings.
The boiler house had three Lancashire boilers working at per square inch. Each boiler was by, with internal flues in diameter, with five cross-tubes.
The engine room housed three compound horizontal engines and three dynamos. At 100 revolutions per minute, with a pressure of per square inch, each engine developed . At 450 revolutions per minutes the dynamos gave an output of 260 amps at 350 volts.[3]
The South Staffordshire Tramways Company came to an end on 1 April 1924, when the services were split between Birmingham Corporation Tramways the Wolverhampton District Electric Tramways Company, and the Dudley, Stourbridge and District Electric Traction Company.