The London 'E/1' Tram

By Peter Waller

“A fine tribute to the thousand-strong fleet of E/1 trams which gave such sterling service to Londoners for nearly fifty years, including two world wars.” —Tramway Review

Probably the single most numerous of tramcar constructed for operation on Britain’s first generation electric tramways, the London County Council’s ‘E/1’ class had an operational history that stretched for almost fifty years. The first were produced towards the end of the first decade of the 20th century and the last were withdrawn with the conclusion of ‘Operation Tramaway’—the final conversion of the once great London tramway system—in July 1952.

Over the years, more than 1,000 were built for operation by the LCC with similar cars being constructed for a number of the council operated systems in the capital prior to the creation of the LPTB in July 1933. The last batch—effectively rebuilds of single-deck cars that had once operated through the Kingsway Subway prior to its modernization—not completed until the early 1930s. During the 1920s the LCC cars had undergone a Pullmanisation program and, during the following decade, a number underwent the LPTB’s Rehabilitation scheme. Moreover, with the removal of the restriction on the use of enclosed lower-deck vestibules, many others were converted to full-enclosed during that decade.

Although withdrawals commenced in the 1930s, as the tram system north of the river was converted to trolleybus operation, and others were lost as a result of enemy action during the war, a sizable number survived to the system’s final days.

This book examines the history of this important class from development through to preservation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jan 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781526709097

Peter Waller

Brought up in Bradford, Peter grew up as the city's trolleybus network gradually declined. In 1986, Peter commenced in a career in publishing, working for a number of years as Ian Allan Ltds Publisher (Books), where he oversaw the commissioning and publication of a wide range of books. The first book that he wrote was British and Irish Tramway Systems since 1945 in 1992. Since then he has written a number of books on transport subjects. Moving to Shropshire in 2007, Peter is now a full-time author and editor. He is also a director and secretary of the Online Transport Archive, a director of Shrewsbury Dial-a-Ride, a trustee of the West Shropshire Talking Newspaper, a committee member of the National Railway Heritage Awards and a past president of the Rotary Club of Shrewsbury.

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INTRODUCTION

The ‘E/1’ type tram was the most numerous built for any British tramway. In all, some 1,050 were constructed for the London County Council in various batches between 1907 and 1930 and a further 103 were completed for Croydon Corporation, East Ham, West Ham Corporation and Walthamstow UDC. Over the years, many of the cars were modified, rebuilt, refurbished and fitted with lower-deck windscreens; even in the late 1940s, a number were to be further altered by the addition of lower-deck strengthening bars. The type was the workhorse of the LCC system and later undertook a similar role for the LPTB and LTE. Whilst withdrawals commenced in the late 1930s as the LPTB’s pre-war tram-to-trolleybus conversion programme saw much of the network north of the river disappear, a significant number were still in service as the once-mighty London network finally disappeared in July 1952.

This volume is an attempt to pay tribute to this important type of tram. Pictorially, it draws heavily on the collections held by the Online Transport Archive – the late Geoffrey Ashwell, the late J. Joyce, the late John Meredith, the late Phil Tatt, the late Julian Thompson and Ian Wright – but the archive also includes the contemporaneous notes taken by J. Joyce and Julian Thompson and these have proved invaluable in adding some feel for what those present at the time were commenting on. I’d like to thank Dave Jones of the LCCTT for his detailed comments.

Although more than 1,150 of the type were built, there were detailed differences between the types and in terms of the equipment that they were initially fitted with – as shown in the accompanying table.

THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL ERA

The origins of the ‘E/1’ class lay with the earlier ‘E’ class, of which 300 – Nos 402-551 and 602-751 – were delivered in 1906. The Chief Officer (and later General Manager) of the LCC – Aubrey Llewellyn Coventry Fell – had been dissatisfied with upgrading of the earlier ‘off the peg’ electric trams supplied and, in conjunction with Hurst Nelson, undertook the design of a new standard tram. The result was the ‘E’ class; these had fully-enclosed upper-decks, open platforms and could accommodate seventy-six seated passengers. Fitted with M&G maximum traction bogies that had been developed from an earlier McGuire design, again in conjunction with the LCC – M&G had acquired the rights to the earlier design from the European McGuire company – the ‘E’ class was the first type of LCC tram to be capable of being equipped with trolleypoles as many were theoretically destined for operation on the routes south of the river that were equipped with overhead rather than the conduit (in the event only Nos 402-511 were so treated and that as late as between 1922 and 1926). Of the 300 cars of the type, all were eventually to be withdrawn during the conversion programme of the late 1930s with the exception of No 420; this had been seriously damaged in an accident shortly before the Second World War and had been rebuilt with an ‘E/3’ style body. Redesignated as an ‘E/1’ class and renumbered 1597, the car was to survive in service until 1951.

The ‘E/1’ class was developed from the earlier ‘E’ class, of which 300 were built in 1906. Pictured here on 8 August 1907 is No 506; with the exception of one car that was substantially rebuilt, all of the ‘E’ class cars were withdrawn during the conversion programme undertaken by the LPTB prior to 1940. No 506 was ultimately to be one of the first of the type to be scrapped, succumbing in February 1937. LCC official/Barry Cross Collection/Online Transport Archive

The upper and lower decks of Nos 777 and 782 are recorded here being delivered by train from the Hurst Nelson works in 1907. The tram bodies were united with their Mountain & Gibson bogies by the LCC. The two trams were destined to see more than 30 years’ service before scrapping in March 1939 and February 1939 respectively. Barry Cross Collection/Online Transport Archive

Recognising that additional trams would be required as the system grew, Fell and the designers undertook revisions to the original ‘E’ class design based on operational experience. One problem with the older cars was that use of the magnetic brake had demonstrated that the trussing of the bodies was inadequate and so the new class was designed to be slightly longer and stronger than the original. This resulted in the ‘E/1’ class being distinguishable from the older cars in being fitted with corner pillars that were 7in wider that those fitted to Class E. The result of the modification was to increase the seating capacity to seventy-eight. There was also an issue with height; as a result of low railway bridges on Clapham Road and at Balham, top covered trams of normal height were unable to pass under them. Given that the intention was that the ‘E/1’ class was to be capable of being fitted with trolleypoles (which would have exacerbated the problem), the design aimed to minimise the height. Even so, when the cars using the Clapham route were required to operate with a trolleypole after 1921, the first car to be experimentally tested had its trolleypole offset on the roof. The problem was only resolved by lowering the road under the two bridges, a process recorded in meticulous detail in an article printed in 13 April 1922 issue of The Tramway & Railway World.

The first order – for 300 cars – was divided between Hurst Nelson (Nos 752-1001) and 50 to be built at the LCC’s Union Road Works (No 1002-51) with parts supplied by Hurst Nelson. The total cost for the 300 trams was just over £300,000. The maximum traction bogies – LCC Type 4 – were again supplied by M&G with electrical equipment supplied by British Westinghouse. All were fitted with plough-carrying equipment and a number were also equipped with trolleypoles. The initial cars were received during the early summer of 1907 with deliveries from Hurst Nelson and Union Road works being undertaken simultaneously. The last entered service in early 1908.

In May the same year a second batch – 175 cars (Nos 1052-1226) – was ordered; these again were to be supplied by Hurst Nelson but were this time to be equipped by bogies – LCC Type 4 once more – provided by Heenan & Froude. The cost of this batch was £179,450 and all entered service during late 1908 and early 1909. As the system continued to grow, so did the need for additional trams and, in June 1909, a further batch of 200 – Nos 1227-1426 – was ordered from Hurst Nelson. This time the bogies were also to be supplied by Hurst Nelson. Of this batch, all were fitted with trolleypoles from new. In addition, Nos 1350-53 were fitted with double trolleypoles for use on the line from Eltham to Woolwich. The use of the double overhead on this section was required as it fell within the three-mile restricted area around the Observatory at Woolwich and thus the LCC had to ensure that the supply was fully