South Staffordshire Tramways



Owner South Staffordshire and Birmingham District Steam Tramways Company
Opened 16th July 1883 (steam)
Operator SS&BDTCo
Company restructured 9th August 1889 (as the South Staffordshire Tramways Company)
First electric route 1st January 1893
Operator Electric Construction Corporation (electric services only)
Taken over (operator) 20th July 1893 (Electric Construction Company, following the winding up of the EECorp)
Taken over 29th July 1897 (British Electric Traction Company) - ECCo's interests in the SSTCo
Taken over (operation) 29th July 1897 (BETCo) - electric services
Taken over (operation) 31st July 1899 (South Staffordshire Tramways [Lessee] Company - a BETCo subsidiary) - electric services
Taken over (operation) 23rd June 1900 (SST[L]Co) - all steam-worked services
Taken over 31st January 1900 (Walsall Corporation) - lines within the municipal boundary, immediately leased back to the SST(L)Co under two leases (3 years and 21 years)
Taken over 31st December 1901 (West Bromwich Corporation) - lines within municipal boundary, leased back to the SST(L)Co for 21 years (ran from 1903)
Took over (operation) 3rd November 1903 (Birmingham and Midland Tramways Limited - a BETCo subsidiary) - newly converted Spon Lane and Bromford Lane lines
Taken over (operation) 1st January 1904 (Walsall Corporation) - services in Walsall, on expiration of the main 3-year lease
Taken over 5th March 1904 (Handsworth UDC) - track/infrastructure within the municipal boundary, leased back to the SST(L)Co until the 30th June 1911
Last steam service 15th June 1904
Ownership transferred 1st July 1904 (to B&MTL) and administered by the newly formed Birmingham and Midland Tramways Joint Committee
Taken over (operation) October/November 1904 (B&MTL) - SponLane and Bromford Lane services
Taken over 3rd May 1906 (Wednesbury Corporation) - track/infrastructure within the municipal boundary, leased back to the SST(L)Co for 21 years
Taken over 1st January 1909 (Dudley Corporation) - track within the municipal boundary; immediately leased back to the SST(L)Co for a period of 30 years
Taken over (operation) 1st July 1911 (Birmingham Corporation) - services in Handsworth, on expiry of the company's lease
Parent company name changed 13th August 1912 (from B&MTL, to the Birmingham District Power and Traction Company)
Last SST(L)Co-operated service 31st March 1924 - as a consequence West Bromwich lease expiry
Taken over (operation) 1st April 1924 (Birmingham Corporation) - West Bromwich to Dudley via Great Bridge
Taken over (operation) 1st April 1924 (Wolverhampton District Electric Tramways Limited - a BETCo subsidiary) - Darlaston to Wednesbury, Wednesbury to Walsall, and Darlaston to Walsall services
Taken over (operation) 1st April 1924 (Dudley, Stourbridge and District Electric Traction Company - a BETCo subsidiary) - Wednesbury to Dudley, via Tipton
Taken over (operation) 1st September 1928 (DS&DETCo) - Darlaston-area services previously operated by the WDETL
Parent company name changed 18th December 1929 (from BDP&TCo to the Birmingham and District Investment Trust Limited)
Taken over (operation) 2nd March 1930 (SST[L]Co or B&DTL) - services in Darlaston that the DS&DETCo had been working on behalf of the SST(L)Co
Last tram service withdrawn 30th September 1930
SSTCo and SST(L)Co wound up October and December 1930
Length 22.6 miles (steam); c18 miles (electric)
Gauge 3ft 6ins

Button description (1883 to circa 1899) Uniforms not worn

Button description (circa 1899 onwards) Wheel, magnet and electrical flashes
Materials known Brass; chrome; black horn; nickel
Button Line reference [113/16]

Comment Uniforms were not worn by steam tram crews prior to the late 1890s, but were then provided; it is currently unclear what buttons these bore, but given the date, probably the standard BETCo pattern.

The history of BETCo-owned tramways in the Black Country is a complex one. The BETCo essentially started by acquiring an interest in several local tramways (Dudley and Wolverhampton Tramways; Dudley and Stourbridge Steam Tramways; and South Staffordshire Tramways) in 1897, then rapidly expanded its influence by gaining control of several other tramways. On the 1st July 1904, the BETCo transferred its shares in these companies to Birmingham and Midland Tramways Limited, a company which it directly controlled. The six tramways (later seven) were thereafter managed as a single concern by the Birmingham and Midland Tramways Joint Committee (from October 1915, the Birmingham and Midland Joint Committee of Electricity, Tramways and Motor Omnibus Undertakings), which comprised board members from the individual concerns:

- Birmingham and Midland Tramways (via the Birmingham and Midland Tramways Limited)
- City of Birmingham Tramways (via the City of Birmingham Tramways Company) - until 1912
- Dudley, Stourbridge and District Electric Tramways (via the Dudley, Stourbridge and District Electric Traction Company)
- Kidderminster and Stourport Electric Tramway (via Kidderminster and District Electric Light and Traction Company) - from October 1915
- Kinver Light Railway (owned by the DS&DETCo)
- South Staffordshire Tramways (primarily via the South Staffordshire Tramways [Lessee] Company)
- Wolverhampton District Electric Tramways (via Wolverhampton District Electric Tramways Limited)

The B&MTJC worked in partnership with many local authorities, some of which owned the tramway lines within their municipal boundaries, but leased them to one of the B&MTJC's constituent tramway companies. Many of these authorities harboured transport ambitions of their own, which were ultimately to be the downfall of the B&MTJC's network, the last of its services being taken over by Walsall Corporation in 1930.