Mexborough & Swinton Tramway

The Mexborough & Swinton Tramways Company was a tramway system in South Yorkshire, England, founded in 1907. Its routes served Manvers Main Colliery, Wath upon Dearne and towns of Rotherham, Rawmarsh, Swinton and Mexborough. The company was owned by the National Electric Construction Co which ran other networks in England.

The company became the Mexborough and Swinton Traction Company in 1929 following the introduction of trolleybuses on all its routes only to become part of the British Electric Traction Group in 1931.

The network

The Mexborough and Swinton operated a standard gauge RailGauge|ussg network from the Rotherham borough boundary (the point where the main road crossed the Greasbrough Canal close by Rotherham Road railway station to the Old Toll Bar at the Mexborough - Denaby which opened in 1907.

In 1915 the company opened two trolleybus routes, the first ran from Mexborough town centre to Manvers although failing to reach the main gates of the colliery due to a low bridge below the Midland Railway line; the second ran from the Old Toll Bar to Conisbrough, the terminus being just two miles away from that of Doncaster Corporation's tramways. Manvers is the only locality in England to have had a trolleybus before a tramway.

When first opened in 1907, the tramway was worked on the Dolter stud collection system, the reason given for this being the unsightliness of conventional overhead wiring, however it was converted to the overhead wire pick up system in August 1908.

In the Dolter system the current was supplied from metal studs placed between the rails that became live with the passage of the tram, then were meant to become dead. The studs at Mexborough repeatedly remained live and the Board of Trade eventually ordered operations to cease and the trams were stopped for the few weeks it took to replace the system by overhead wires.

Mexborough & Swinton's lines were in contact with other tramway companies' line in two localities. It met the Dearne District Light Railways at Woodman Inn, Swinton, and the Rotherham Tramway at the borough boundary.

Rolling stock

The tramway passed beneath two low bridges at Parkgate and Swinton. Because of this the sixteen Mexborough trams and the Rotherham trams used for through joint service to and from the town were fitted with low-height top covers.

The tramways were closed and the routes became operated by twenty single-deck trolleybuses in 1928 and 1929. The company also removed the word "tramways" from its title and replaced it with "traction" to reflect this change in vehicles. The "Mexborough and Swinton Traction Company" was born.

References

* Official company (Mexborough & Swinton Traction Company) 60th anniversay handbook, (1962).