Site of Greenfield Road tram terminus, Colwyn Bay

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Site of Greenfield Road tram terminus, Colwyn Bay

Photo of tram at Greenfield Road terminusElectric trams from Llandudno used to terminate near the top end of Greenfield Road. The old photos, courtesy of the L&CB Tramway Society, show how the two tracks – one for each direction – narrowed into a single-track stub which petered out in the middle of the road.

The upper photo shows a double-deck tram after arriving at the terminus in the early to mid-1950s. Notice the long pole on top of the tram which collected electricity from the overhead wire. It was sprung to ensure continuous contact and always trailed. If it faced the direction of travel it would quickly be pushed to one side. Before the tram began its next journey from the terminus, the conductor would use a rope to pull the pole down from the wire and walk in a semi-circle to the other end of the tram, where he returned the pole to the wire.

The lower photo was taken from the top deck of a tram waiting for another tram to depart from the terminus stub.

Photo of trams at Greenfield Road terminusWhen the tramway opened to Colwyn Bay in 1908, the terminus was by the top of Station Road. The track was extended along Abergele Road to Old Colwyn in 1915. In 1930 that extension was abandoned, except for the section from Station Road to Greenfield Road, where trams terminated from then until the entire tramway closed in 1956.

Beyond the tram in the upper photo is the large clock that’s still bracketed to the front of the Clock House. The Clock House was once the licensed premises of SK Williams, who supplied drinks to retailers. In 1908 he noticed that many bottles of lemonade and lager had disappeared from his yard on two nights. A police constable hid himself in the yard and at 11pm saw James Hamill – recently dismissed from his job as a Clock House cellarman – taking lager from a case.

With thanks to the Llandudno & Colwyn Bay Tramway Society

Postcode: LL29 7RU    View Location Map

Footnotes: Recollections of catching a tram here

I was brought up in Old Colwyn and once a month, as a treat, we would go to Llandudno on the tram and return to Old Colwyn by bus (to avoid changing from tram to bus in Colwyn Bay with all our shopping). I remember one occasion when a fully-enclosed ‘streamlined’ double-deck tram was waiting at Greenfield Road. I particularly liked this tram, but it was only going to Rhos, so we waited for the next tram, an open-top double decker. It was a fine day so we went upstairs. I was really excited when we crossed Bodafon fields. On the return journey, the tram behind us in Llandudno got to Penrhynside before our bus, but we got to Colwyn Bay first. John Davies

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