Site of tramway in Abergele Road, Old Colwyn

Site of tramway in Abergele Road, Old Colwyn

Photo of tramway and cottages in Old ColwynElectric trams used to follow Abergele Road through Old Colwyn from 1915 to 1930, as you can see in the old photo (courtesy of the L&CB Tramway Society and Conwy Archives Service).

If you’ve just scanned the QR codes at the entrance to Berthes Road, notice the conical roof on the corner building – it’s prominent on the left in the old photo. In the centre of the photo a tram is about to begin the climb up to Victoria Road as it travels towards Llandudno. There were two tram tracks, one for each direction.

On the right is one of the poles which held the tramway’s electricity wires above the road, with ornate ironwork helping to support the horizontal arm and a streetlamp lower down. The wires were above the space between the tram tracks. The long, sprung poles on top of the trams could swing out beyond the side of the vehicle to collect the electricity.

This section of the tramway was the last to open, in 1915. It terminated at the Queen’s Hotel. In 1930 the Old Colwyn extension was closed. From then on, the trams terminated on Abergele Road in Colwyn Bay (at the junction with Greenfield Road) until the whole system closed in 1956.

The old cottages on the right in the photo survived throughout the development of houses and shops along Abergele Road in the Victorian and Edwardian periods. They were sometimes known as the “Plough cottages”, because they were next to the Plough Inn. The cottages were demolished before the Second World War.

With thanks to the Llandudno & Colwyn Bay Tramway Society

Postcode: LL29 9PG    View Location Map

Website of Conwy Archive Service

 

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