1946 Swansea & Mumbles Railway

Just stumbled across a wonderful silent 1946 Swansea & Mumbles Railway film (link below). Apart from the sight of these magnificent trams---interior footage as well as exterior---there is a glimpse at 2:08 of an AEC Q s/d bus, a Dennis Lancet ditto and an AEC decker (S Wales Transport?), all stationary. At 2:32 a very brief rear-end view of another s/d bus, also stationary.
I wonder how many staff and passengers could have guessed that the S&M had only another 15 years to run. How I wish I'd made the effort to hitch down there... www.youtube.com/

Ian Thompson

12/11/15 - 12:00

Thank you so much for alerting us to this splendid film - I have also regretted never seeing these enormous majestic trams, and the scenery of the area is fascinating also.

Chris Youhill

13/11/15 - 06:28

An interesting clip, Ian. The Swansea & Mumbles features in an online video "Trams By The Seaside", which may or may not still be available. I bought mine over 20 years ago. I believe - no doubt someone will correct me if I'm wrong - that the operation was a subsidiary of the South Wales company.

Pete Davies

13/11/15 - 09:53

This is an absolutely fascinating clip. I was aware of this system, as it's closure was recorded in one of the first Buses Illustrated magazines I ever owned. Weren't these that largest trams operated on British soil? I was surprised to see that a pair of trams was in use. Was this always the case on this system? It would mean that just over 200 seats were available for each journey - I think they were 106 seat cars - no doubt someone will correct me on that.

Michael Hampton

13/11/15 - 11:50

Double car running can't have been what always happened as there are also clips of a single car.
I would think it was something done at times when demand was know to be high.
Does anyone know what pathway allocation system was used for the single track section/s?
Would it have been something like the railways staff or token systems?

John Lomas

13/11/15 - 15:27

I have found another film, it is of the last run and the aftermath. http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-mumbles-railway-1804-1960-last-journey-1960/

John Lomas

The film only works if you are in the UK I am afraid, maybe BFI is connected to the BBC.

15/11/15 - 07:52

The film of the closure can also be found on YouTube.
It can be found here https://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=5jDBgM0FOYo
Perhaps that will work for everybody.

Stephen Howarth

Does not work for me I'm afraid, I just get a You Tube home page the film is restricted to UK viewing I think.

15/11/15 - 07:54

There's a lot of confused information about the ownership of the SMR on the internet - I'm assuming my copy of "Great British Tramway Networks" by the Light Railway Transport League ("32s net" when published in 1962, but Ł12.50 when purchased at Barter Books, Alnwick in 2014) might be correct.
The line was owned jointly by the Swansea & Mumbles Railway Limited ("Swansea end") and the Mumbles Pier & Railway Co ("Mumbles end"). Would the Mumbles company have owned the section from Southend/Oystermouth down to the pier (and hotel) that was a later construction, associated with the pier/hotel development?
A 999y lease of the line was obtained by the Swansea Improvements & Tramways Co in 1899. This was transferred to the associated South Wales Transport Co Ltd in 1927. In 1958/59 SWT purchased the owning companies and then promoted an Act of Parliament to dissolve the owning companies, and ultimately abandon the line.
Now in doing so I think SWT must have acquired freehold of the Mumbles pier and hotel - one of the first annual reports of the NBC refers to the disposal of the Mumbles pier/hotel complex.
The section of line from Southend/Oystermouth to Mumbles Pier was the first to be closed (11.10.59), to allow construction of a (barrier-controlled? - read that in an edition of "Omnibus" from years ago) bus-only road to the pier. Full closure came on 05.01.60 - I read somewhere that a small section of the reserved way was retained as a dedicated busway to allow the replacing SWT buses to by-pass a particularly difficult traffic junction.
Note how the cars only have doors one side - the landward side, this was to avoid sea-spray entering the cars.
Also note at 1:20(ish) the tram passing under the "Slip Bridge": this was removed in 2004 (although the, now derelict, abutments remain). Its removal is a bit of an issue with residents ("Google" "Slip Bridge").
It was originally planned that the vacated SMR depot would replace Neath & Cardiff's cramped facilities - but in the end this didn't happen, and N&C built a brand new garage.

Philip Rushworth

18/11/15 - 11:39

Further to the 'Any Other Thing' on the Swansea and Mumbles Railway posted by Ian T, I have these 2 items in my collection.

One is a picture of a double car set, which I think shows off the impressive size of them, and, I am sure they could carry more than the 200+ passengers mentioned by Michael Hampton, with ease.

The second item is a letter from the South Wales Transport Co Ltd, which shows their controlling interest in 'The Swansea Improvements & Tramways Co. and The Mumbles Railway and Pier'.
It is interesting to see that the cost for the hire of a 51 seat Double Decker is Ł1.13s.4d. I wonder what the profit was on that?

Stephen Howarth

18/11/15 - 15:06

Stephen, assuming it was not a long run, Ł1 13 4d doesn't seem impossibly cheap for 1937 - exact 400 old pence, or 51 x slightly less than 8d each.

Stephen Ford

09/12/15 - 17:06

Today's value of the 1937 Ł1/13/4d is Ł105.14p!

Chris Hebbron

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