The Leaving of Liverpool A detailed record of the city’s tramway abandonment programme is an in depth look at Liverpool’s tramway, focusing on the decision by the council in 1945 to scrap the tram system in favour of buses and chronicling its ensuing decline, and the disposal of its trams.
The book begins with a brief description of the early days of horse buses and tramcars. Following on from this it looks at Liverpool Corporation’s purchase of the entire tramway in 1897 and the subsequent electrification and expansion of the network. The Second World War delayed planned cuts to the tram system, with peak hour services seeing an increase to cope with the workmen services. By the end of the war the network was in a poor state, with damage from air-raids and maintenance using second-hand or cheap materials resulting in a system requiring a considerable financial input. A costed report submitted in 1945 resulted in the decision to go with the cheapest option, a complete conversion to buses.
After the introduction, the first chapter describes the time up to the end of 1944. The following thirteen chapters each cover a full year and the last chapter ‘1958 and beyond’ covers the final stages of dismantling the infrastructure and tramcars in preservation. Details are arranged in calendar date order and recorded in a logbook style. Other information shown are route maps, the tram fleet, route profiles and the routes operated by each depot.
624 mainly black & white photographs. 19 maps. 232 pages.