History

The first tramways in Leicester started horse-pulled operation in 1874, by the Leicester Tramways Company. The first route was from the Clock Tower

Clock Tower (Leicester)

The Haymarket Memorial Clock Tower is a major landmark and popular meeting point in Leicester, United Kingdom. It is located roughly in the middle of the area inside the ring-road, and is at the point where five major streets meet, and also close by to the junction with Cheapside.The Clock Tower...

 to Belgrave

Belgrave, Leicestershire

Belgrave is an electoral ward and administrative division of the city of Leicester, England, consisting of the Leicester suburb of Belgrave in its entirety....

. This was soon followed by lines to West Humberstone and to Victoria Park

Victoria Park, Leicester

Victoria Park in Leicester, England is a public park of 69 acres . It is in the south-east, just outside the city centre, backing on to the University of Leicester and close to the Leicester railway station....

, which opened in 1875. 1878 saw further extensions, of the Victoria Park line along London Road to Knighton Road, and new arterial routes along Aylestone Road in the south, and to Woodgate in the north.

Leicester Corporation took over the tramways in 1901, under the Leicester Corporation Act, and a conversion to electric trams took place in 1904. This was accompanied by a large expansion, with links to Highfields, Clarendon Park, Western Park, and Narborough Road. Further expansions took place from 1915 to 1927.

From the 1920s the Corporation Transport department had run a motor bus service, and these started to replace trams in 1933. The last tram ran in 1949, on the Humberstone Road line. The main depot, at Abbey Park Road, continued in use as a bus depot by First Leicester

First Leicester

First in Leicester is the trading name of Leicester Citybus Ltd., a bus company owned by the First Group. It runs buses in the city of Leicester, England...

, the successor to Leicester Corporation buses, until 2007 when a new depot opened on Abbey Lane. The site is to be redeveloped as flats. Another depot stood next to the Bell Hotel on Humberstone Gate.

Network and routes

Section	Opened	Electrified	Closed
Clock Tower - Folly Inn, Belgrave	1874	1904
Clock Tower - Humberstone Gate - Humberstone Road (Ash Street)	1875	1904	1949
Clock Tower - London Road - Victoria Park Road	1875	1904	1949
Victoria Park Road - Knighton Drive	1878	1904
Aylestone Road	1878	1904	1947
Clock Tower - Churchgate - Woodgate	1878	1904
London Road - Melbourne Road - Humberstone Road	1904		1933
Clock Tower - High Street - Braunston Circle	1904
Braunston Circle - Hinckley Road - Western Park	1904
Braunston Circle - Narborough Road	1904
Hinckley Road - Fosse Road - Woodgate - Great Central Street - High Street	1904
High Street - Groby Road	1904
Belgrave Road - Melton Road	1905
Fosse Road - Braunstone Gate	1915
Clarendon Park - Welford Road - Aylestone Road	1922
Groby Road - Blackbird Road - Abbey Park Road - Belgrave Road	1924
Humberstone Road - Coleman Road	1927		1938
Humberstone Road - Uppingham Road - St Barnabas Road - East Park Road - Evington Road - London Road

Route numbers were introduced in 1932.

Trams

From 1904 the tramway used a fleet of 99 double deck trams, supplemented by an additional 40 in 1905. Twenty new trams arrived in 1913/1914 for an experiment with "pay as you enter" boarding. The last new, numbers 161-178, came into service in 1920.

The National Tramway Museum

National Tramway Museum

The National Tramway Museum, at Crich, in Derbyshire, England, is situated within Crich Tramway Village, a period village containing a pub, cafe, old-style sweetshop, including the tram depots. The village is also home to the Eagle Press, a small museum dedicated to Letterpress Printing including...

holds tram No. 76, which was introduced in 1904 with electrification and stayed in use until 1947.