Norwich Electric Tramways served the city of Norwich

Norwich

Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...

 in Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

 from 30 July 1900 until 10 December 1935.

Infrastructure

Work started in June 1898 and first routes opened in July 1900. The network was essentially complete and fully operational by the end of 1901, but there were minor additions and changes in 1918 and 1919.

The network was radial, with routes based around the hub in Orford Place . From Orford Place the lines ran along:

• Haymarket, Gentleman's Walk, Market Place, St Giles Street, Earlham Road to a terminus at the entrance to Norwich cemetery
• Castle Meadow, Bank Plain, Redwell Street, St Andrews Street, Charing Cross, St Benedicts Street, Dereham Road to a terminus at the junction with Merton Road
• Castle Meadow, Bank Plain, Redwell Street, St Andrews Street, Charing Cross, St Benedicts Street, Barn Road, Norwich City railway station
  Norwich City railway station
  Norwich City railway station was located in Norwich, England and is now closed.-History:The station was opened in 1882 by the Lynn and Fakenham Railway, and later became the southern terminus of the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway line from Melton Constable...
  
  , Station Road, Oak Street, Sussex Street, St Augustine Street, Aylsham Road to a terminus at the junction with Berners Street
• Castle Meadow, Upper King Street, Tombland, Wensum Street, Fyebridge Street, Magdalen Street, Magdalen Road, Denmark Road to the depot in Silver Road at .
• Castle Meadow, Prince of Wales Road, Norwich Thorpe railway station, Riverside Road, Bishopbridge Road, Gurney Road (past Britannia Barracks) to a terminus on Mousehold Heath
  Mousehold Heath
  Mousehold Heath is an area of heathland and woodland which lies in north east Norwich, England and a designated Local Nature Reserve . It is now mostly covered by broad-leaf semi-natural woodland, although some areas of heath remain and are actively managed....
  
   at . A later extension across Mousehold Heath to a munitions factory enabled a goods service between the factory and the exchange sidings at Norwich Thorpe station.
• Castle Meadow, Prince of Wales Road, Norwich Thorpe railway station, Thorpe Road to a terminus at
• Red Lion Street, St Stephens Street, Norwich Victoria railway station
  Norwich Victoria railway station
  Norwich Victoria was a railway station in Norwich in Norfolk and the former terminus of the Great Eastern Main Line. It was opened in 1849.The station was closed to passenger traffic in 1916 but remained open for goods traffic. After the Second World War it was used only to supply coal to the...
  
  , Queens Road, Bracondale to a terminus for Trowse railway station
  Trowse railway station
  Trowse was a station on the Great Eastern Main Line just south of Norwich. It was opened around the same time as Norwich Thorpe, and was intended to provide a short commute from the outer suburbs of Norwich. It was closed during the Second World War as a cost-cutting measure...
  
   at
• Red Lion Street, St Stephens Street, Norwich Victoria railway station, Queens Road, City Road, Long John Road to a terminus at
• Red Lion Street, St Stephens Street, Norwich Victoria railway station, St Stephens Road, Newmarket Road to a terminus at its junction with Unthank Road at
• Haymarket, Gentleman's Walk, Market Place, St Giles Street, Unthank Road to a terminus at its junction with Mile End Road at

There were also some lines that were disbanded prior to 1924:

• Chapel Field Road
• King Street
• Heigham Road

There were some lines used for access only:

• Chapel Field North, Theatre Street, Rampant Horse Street
• Magpie Road

Tramcars

The fleet, in a livery of maroon and ivory, initially consisted of:

• 40 Brush open top double deck tramcars
• 10 open top double deck trailers

Closure

In 1933 the Eastern Counties Omnibus Company bought the tramway system and began the process of shutting it down and replacing it with motor buses. The last tram route to close, in 1935, was Newmarket Road to Cavalry Barracks.

External links

• A Norwich Electric Tramways cap badge.
• A Norwich Electric Tramways button.
• Norwich Electric Tramways uniformed conductor and motorman, and cap badge.
• Webpage with map and photographs of Norwich Electric Tramways
• Former tram depot building, which was colocated with the tram sheds.

See also

List of town tramway systems in the United Kingdom