Greenock and Port Glasgow Tramways



Owner The Board of Police of Greenock
Opened 7th July 1873 (horse) - Gourock Toll to Rue End Street (in Greenock)
Operator (lessee) Vale of Clyde Tramways Company
Opened 18th July 1873 (horse) - Gourock Toll to Gourock Pier, owned by the Vale of Clyde Tramways Company
Operator VofCTCo
Opened 1st November 1873 (horse) - Gourock Pier to Ashton, owned by the VofCTCo
Operator VofCTCo
Opened 29th November 1889 (horse) - Rue End Street to Port Glasgow line, owned by the Greenock and Port Glasgow Tramways Company
Operator G&PGTCo
Taken over (lease) 15th May 1893 - Gourock Toll to Rue End Street
Operator (lessee) G&PGTCo
Taken over (ownership) 1st February 1894 (Board of Police of Gourock) - Gourock Toll to Ashton
Taken over (operation) G&PGTCo - as the lessee of the Board of Police Gourock
Taken over 1899 - controlling interest in the G&PGTCo acquired by the British Electric Traction Company Limited
First electric service 3rd October 1901
Last horse service 7th November 1901
Operator (lessee) G&PGTCo
Ownership transferred 24th September 1913 (Scottish General Transport Company - a wholly owned subsidiary of BETCo)
Name changed 3rd August 1928 - from the G&PGTCo to the Greenock Motor Services Company
Closed 15th July 1929
Length 7.4 miles (horse); 7.42 miles (electric)
Gauge 4ft 7¾ins

Button description (horse era) Uniforms not worn

Button description (electric era) Wheel, magnet and electrical flashes
Materials known Brass; chrome; nickel; black horn
Button Line reference [113/16]

Comment The history of the Greenock and Port Glasgow Tramways is, for a fairly straightforward single route system, one of the most complex in the British Isles, with at one time, four owning entities (the Boards of Police of Greenock and of Gourock, the Vale of Clyde Tramways Company, and the Greenock and Port Glasgow Tramways Company) and two sections operated independently of each other (by the VoCTCo and the G&PGTCo), before everything eventually passed into the hands of the BETCo, which subsequently electrified the line.

During the horse-tram era, no uniforms were worn, so marked buttons almost certainly never existed (see link). The BETCo (owner from 1899) had a common approach to all its subsidiaries, so staff working the electric services (from 1901 onwards) would have worn the standard BET 'Magnet and Wheel' button.

The Scottish General Transport Company was expressly set up by BETCo to manage its tramways (and their motorbus operations) in Scotland, namely, the Greenock and Port Glasgow Tramways Company, the Airdrie and Coatbridge Tramways Company, and the Rothesay Tramways Company.

The VoCTCo also owned and operated a line on Govan (see link), though this was geographically unconnected to its Gourock to Greenock line.