Guernsey Railway

The Guernsey Railway opened as the Guernsey Steam Tramway on 6 June, 1879 with two steam tram engines, more being added later. It was later converted to an electric tramway, which began working on 20 February 1892. The system closed on 9 June 1934. This leaves Alderney as the only Channel Island with a working railway.

team trams

List of steam tram engines:

* arr. = date arrived in Guernsey

Electric trams

The line was electrified in 1892 by Siemens. Apart from an experimental line in Leeds, it was the first street tramway in the British Isles to be supplied with current from an overhead wire.

Activity since closure

Guernsey Railway Co Ltd continued in existence (as a bus operator) until 1980, when its operation was taken over by Guernseybus. [cite web| url=http://www.bristolsu.co.uk/Su/operatorshistory/guernseybus.htm| title=Guernsey Railway Company Limited & Guernseybus Limited, St Peter Port| ]

In 2004 there was a plan to run a heritage tram service and restore some original trams to operate it. The currentwhen|date=August 2008 status of this plan is not known. [cite web| url=http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/guernsey.html| title=Guernsey Tram Plan| date=2004-11-14| work=British Trams Online| ]

ources

* "The Railway Magazine", September 1934
* "100 Years of Public Transport - A Short History of the Guernsey Railway Co Ltd", by W J Carman, published by Guernsey Press c. 1978
* "Railways of the Channel Islands, A Pictorial Survey" compiled by C Judge, published by The Oakwood Press 1992, ISBN 0 85361 432 6

External links

* [http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/guernsey.html British Trams Online]