Bolton Corporation Tramways



Owner Bolton Corporation - tracks within Bolton
First horse service 1st September 1880
Operator (lessee) Edmund Holden and Company, on behalf of Bolton and Suburban Tramways (jointly owned by Bolton Corporation, and Astley Bridge, Farnworth and Kearsley Local Boards)
Took over 1898 tracks with Astley Bridge, following its absorption by Bolton
Took over June 1899 - rolling stock and leases of Edmund Holden and Company
Operator Edmund Holden and Company (under contract)
First electric route 9th December 1899
Operator Bolton Corporation Tramways
Last horse service 1st January 1900
Took over (operation) 13th April 1900 - Moses Gate to Black Horse line, owned by Farnworth UDC
Taken over (operation) 2nd June 1902 (Farnworth UDC) - Moses Gate to Black Horse line following expiry of the lease
Through running 14th June 1909 - from Bolton via Moses Gate to Farnworth Black Horse and on to Clifton
Through running 13th December 1913 - all Farnworth through services terminate at Black Horse
Joint operation 6th December 1926 (with SLTCo) - Bolton to Walkden via Moses Gate and Brookhouse
Took over (operation) 1st April 1927 (BCT) - all services between Moses Gate and Black Horse, and the majority of services between Bolton and Walkden (via Moses Gate and Brookhouse)
Took over (operation) 19th August 1931 (BCT) - all services between Moses Gate and Walkden
Closed 29th March 1947
Length 32.36 miles
Gauge 4ft 8½ins

Button description (Pattern 1)
Title (‘BOLTON CORPORATION TRAMWAYS’) within a raised rim, surrounding the municipal arms (a stylised shield bearing diagonal dividers) with elephant crest, all above the motto: ‘SUPERA MORAS’
Materials known
Nickel; chrome
Button Line reference [113/11A]

Button description (Pattern 2) Title (‘BOLTON CORPORATION TRAMWAYS’) within a border, surrounding the municipal arms (a stylised shield bearing diagonal dividers) with elephant crest and mantling, all above the motto: ‘SUPERA MORAS’
Materials known
Nickel; chrome
Button Line reference [113/11B]

Button description (Pattern 3) Title (‘BOLTON CORPORATION TRANSPORT’) within a raised rim, surrounding the municipal arms (a stylised shield bearing diagonal dividers) with elephant crest, all above the motto: ‘SUPERA MORAS’
Materials known
Nickel, chrome
Button Line reference [None]

Comments
The name of the corporation transport undertaking was only changed to 'Bolton Corporation Transport' in June 1949, fully two years after the demise of the tramway. However, given that tram timetables certainly bore this legend as early as 1940, even though the trams themselves never did, there is a reasonable possibility that uniforms ordered in the last few years of the tramway's existence would have borne the Pattern 3 buttons.

Bolton Corporation, together with Astley Bridge, Farnworth and Kearsley Local Boards (later Urban District Councils) built and owned the track and infrastructure of the Bolton and Suburban Tramways. The track in Astley Bridge subsequently passed into Bolton's ownership when the latter absorbed the former in 1898, whereas the track in Farnworth and Kearsley continued to remain in the ownership of the UDCs, even when Bolton Corporation purchased the assets and leases of Edmund Holden and Company in 1899.