Three ‘new’ buses entered service on January 1st 1949, which were Leyland PD1 with Crossley 56-seat bodies, and were numbered 102-104. These vehicles had arrived in June and July 1947, along with No.’s 95-101, but were not put into service for a further 18 months. This was due to the whole batch having high-bridge bodies which wouldn’t fit under the bridges where there were tram wires, so the Department decided only to operate seven of the batch until tram routes with bridges had been abandoned, this enabled the Department to save money in not having to licence the vehicles.

Intack-Church section closed
In accordance with the Transport Managers recommendation, the section of track between Intack and Church was closed on January 16th, 1949, the Transport Department giving "NOTICE OF ABANDONMENT OF TRAMS BETWEEN INTACK AND CHURCH", and a bus service was introduced.

For the bus service a list of Fare Stages was published:

Boulevard-Lambeth Street
Lambeth Street-Intack
Fountain Inn-Redcap
Spread Eagle-Church
Boulevard-Intack
Intack-Church
Boulevard-Redcap
Boulevard-Spread Eagle
Wellington-Church
Boulevard-Church

Maximum fare for the service was given as 4½d. single and 7d return for the full Boulevard to Church journey.

In view of these alterations a new timetable for the remaining tram service from Salford to Intack was introduced from Monday January 17th:

This allowed the withdrawal of a further seven cars, reducing the fleet to eighteen trams. Of these cars, two were the open top cars No.’s 53 and 59, which were amongst the last open topped cars operating in an industrial setting in Britain. The eight trams that had remained open toped were, in later years, confined to ‘extra’ car duties, were also often seen after a snowfall, as the larger wheels on these cars prevented the motors from fouling in the snow. With less use than the ‘standard’ fleet, they would also be in better mechanical condition, and this would account for then not being amongst the first cars to be scrapped.

Alterations were made at Intack depot, some of the pits were filled in with concrete and a yard at the back of the depot was covered over to be used as a fitting shop for the buses. It is interesting to note that, between 1945 and 1949, the Corporation purchased 83 omnibuses to replace just 40 trams! The service fleet of trams was by now confined to the 4-track section of Intack depot, the 5-track section was being used for the storage of trams awaiting scrapping. The scrapings themselves took place either in the yard in front of the works depot or on one of the roads of the storage fan. The method of scrapping involved the unbolting of the top deck, after all interior fittings had been removed, and then one end of a steel hawser was fastened to the deck and the other end to another tramcar, which was then driven down the yard, hopefully pulling the other top deck with it, which resulted in “.. a neat pile of matchwood...”, the lower deck was then dismantled manually, after which the pieces were taken round the back of the depot and burnt.

The last ‘Tramway Replacement Fleet’ of buses arrived in July and August 1949 and totalled 20 Guy Arab 6LW’s with Crossley 56-seat double deck bodies and were numbered 120-139. No more work was carried out on either the trams, the track or the over head beyond what was absolutely essential.

In April 1949, the “Light Rail Transit League”, a group of tramway enthusiasts, made their one and only visit to Blackburn. ‘Milnes’ car No.41 was hired for the occasion and a tour of the two remaining routes was undertaken. The trip also included a visit to Intack depot, where they inspected the last two open top cars, No.’ 53 and 59, by now both were in a semi-dismantled condition. After a word with the depot foreman, car No.53 was driven, minus all upper-deck fittings, except the trolley mast, amid a multitude of sparks from the over head wire onto Accrington Road and back to it’s final resting place. This being the last recorded ‘run’ of an open top car.

On July 2nd, the Darwen Borough Boundary section was closed and the victorious bus took over the following day. A revised fare and stages were introduced on the buses, with fewer stopping places and an increase in fares. The justification for this being that the resumption of the through service could begin, thereby making a quicker service.

Closing Ceremony
The date was set for the closure of the last route, that between Salford and Intack, which was to be September 3rd. With the end in sight, Blackburn made plans to ensure that the last tram would go out in a blaze of glory. Car No. 74 was chosen to make the historic last journey and went into the paint-shop to receive a repaint, along with silver bogies, though the customary lining out was omitted, due to time and cost. A multitude of flags and buntings was attached to the car, as was a banner proclaiming ‘BLACKBURN’S LAST TRAM’ in orange lettering, with the inscription ‘1899’ at one end and ‘1949’ at the other in black numerals, which was the entire length of the saloon and was placed on the decency panel. the car was also decorated with light bulbs coloured red, blue, green and yellow.

The Blackburn Times for September 9th, 1949 reported the last tram journey as follows:
‘LAST TRAM’S BLAZE OF GLORY’
“The turn of the handle, a flash of blue ‘lightning’ and Blackburn’s last tram began its journey home from the Boulevard to the Intack shed on Saturday night.
“Despite the hour, midnight was not far off, thousands gathered to bid goodbye to the old vehicle, almost unrecognisable in a brilliant guise of multi-coloured bulbs and buntings. Even the usual destination indicator had given way to ‘VETERAN’ at the front and ‘FAREWELL’ at the rear.
“To escort the last tram to it’s resting place. a pilot tram, filled with long service drivers and conductors, some of whom had served the old horse and steam trams, took an honoured place in front of the illuminated tram. Driver John Bullock drove the pilot tram away and looked round for the illuminated car....
“The entire length of the 1¾ mile route was lined with cheering people determined to be associated with the historic ceremony...
“The path of the last tram itself was strewn with pennies, which once crushed on the rails could be kept as souvenirs of the occasion.”
The Northern Daily Telegraph gave a roughly similar account of the nightsproceedings under the heading of “THREE BELLS AND AWAY GOES LAST TRAM - Festive lights twinkle at Blackburn”
The Blackburn Herald, under the heading “ONCE THE PRIDE OF THE TRACK - now on the scrap heap”, described how thousands of people had gathered on the Boulevard to say a farewell to the ‘Iron Steed’, while the route to Intack was packed 4 or 5 deep with people waving as the last tram passed on it’s way to the scrap heap. the report also stated that “...One witty Councillor was heard to remark, “Well, we’ve got a free tram ride at last.”....”

The last tram was driven by Councillor Weir along the route with regular driver William Dyball (41½ years service) in attendance, the conductor was Mr J Duxbury. the conductor of the pilot tram was William Perkins. After a short distance Theo Moran took over the driving of the pilot tram.

Tram Speak

..trams were all reight; tha hes to hurry up too much gedden on t’buses...

Un-named gentleman on 'Last Tram Night'

Afterwards, guests were entertained at the Town Hall, where a number of souvenirs were presented. The Mayor and Mayoress, Mr Potts, Mr Dyball and Mr Duxbury were presented with momentoes made from wood and glass of an old tramcar. Ex-employees were entertained at Intack depot.

The Northern Daily Telegraph quoted driver James Berry (41 years service) as mourning the passing of a weather forecasting method:
“If the noise of the wheels on the joints of the rails carried along way, you could be sure it was going to rain”

An interesting fact was that technically speaking car 74 was not the last tram to run on the public highway, as it was not the last tram into the depot. What was supposed to happen on that emotionally charged night was the leading car, the pilot tram, in the procession should have passed beyond the depot entrance and changed it’s trolley pole round, whilst the passengers alighted, and then gone into the depot, to be followed by No. 74, which should have stopped just short of the depot points. What actually happened in the excitement was that No.74 followed beyond the points and therefore, had to go in first. Unfortunately no seems to have made a note of this ‘last’ tram, but it was the talk-of-the-town for many weeks after.

It is ironic that the father of the General manager had driven the last steam tram into the depot nearly 50 years previous, and Mr Potts Senior was a special guest at the final ceremony, and was bestowed with the honour of driving the last electric car into the depot.

After all the ceremonies had passed off, the remaining trams were then scrapped at Intack depot, though three open top bodies were sold to F.Foster & Son’s, Construction Engineers, Weir Street, with the proprietors intention of converting them to week-end bungalows, however, he could not obtained permission for siting them, so they were put in the Weir Street yard and used as stores, and were still there, albeit in a very neglected condition until the late 1960’s. One exception to the normal form of scrapping was the last car No.74, which was taken into the paint shop, where painter Brian Harrison was given the task of completely stripping the paint off. The panels and all wood-work were then dismantled and craftsmen from the body shop made coffee tables which were presented to every member of the Tramways Committee.

With the abandonment the local authority ceased to have control over the time-tables, fares and stopping places, all these would now fall under the jurisdiction of and be subject to the approval of the licensing authority.

During the years 1901 to 1949 there were 102,130,316 units of electricity consumed by the trams and between 1989 and 1949 the trams paid the sum of £86,002 in rates to Blackburn and £8,400 to other authorities.

Tramcar Expenditure:

Despite the age of the trams, almost 50 years old, they were still very smooth running right up to the end of the system, even considering the state of the track latterly. A tramway enthusiast on his first visit to Blackburn in 1949 described riding on Blackburn’s trams as “...like riding on velvet...”.

Although Blackburn had developed on what some may say was ill-planned lines, the tramway fitted in well with the geographia, and although it is sad that the tramways were not developed further, or indeed continued, it is realistic to say that today’s proposals of high-speed inter-urban light transit railways have no plans in Blackburn and it is best to remember the trams for what they were.

A complete list of route/section closures is as follows:

Memories of a tram driver
It may be interesting at this point to allow Dennis Moran, former tram conductor and driver to recount his memories of Blackburn Trams:

“ As a youngster living in Blackburn I had no other ambition than to work for Blackburn Trams and I was proud to work for the Corporation.

“My father, Theo Moran, began working on the trams in 1914 and I was very glad to follow in his footsteps. He continued to work on the trams and buses until 1950 aged 51. I began in the more humble capacity of a parcels packer straight after leaving school on my 14th birthday in January 1940. I worked from the offices in Railway Road, beginning work at 9:00a.m., having 2 hours for lunch, and as parcels were coming in to the office up till 6:00p.m. and they had to be delivered that day, it meant that often I would work until 9:00p.m. all for 14s. 0d. per week!

“Delivering parcels was a hard and sometime thankless task, but most of the time it was thoroughly enjoyable. I remember one occasion during the war when I was walking along Revidge Road with a parcel of medicine for a lady when the air-raid siren sounded. I sheltered in a doorway, as per instructions, until the ‘all-clear’ some time later. When I arrived at the customers house I was chastised by her for taking so long in getting there!

“At the age of 15½ I was promoted to the telephones, working 13 hours out of 14, and my wage was increased to 25s. 0d. It was whilst working on the telephones that I first met Mr Cowell, or ‘JH’ as he was known amongst the lads, who by then had retired, but called in ‘...just to see how things were...’ every now and then, and even then when he entered the room every one would salute him; but despite an authoritarian aura around him, he was always a very approachable fellow.

“I began conducting on the trams in 1942 as soon as I was 17 years of age with a wage of £4.10s. 0d. I spent nearly a year conducting until I joined the Royal Navy in October 1943. Many memories of the trams from this period are still with me, some funny and some poignant. One of the funniest I recall came one Saturday night in 1943 when I was conducting along with a ‘depot driver’ on the Church route. We were going to Church late on and the ‘crowd’ upstairs where in a ‘jolly mood’ and were having a sing-a-long. Coming down the single track from Reddish Gates, I could see we were going too fast and would give the points at New Barn, where the track returned to double, a good old clattering, so I held on to a grab rail. The body rocked like a ship at sea, though the trucks stayed firmly on the track. I’ve never heard a crowd of people go so quiet so quickly, I think they thought their time was up!

“I returned to Blackburn in March 1947 after my de-mob and took my old position as a conductor working with my regular driver Bill Bentham, a man who knew how to handle a tram. It was Bill and myself who had the honour of being crew on the last tram to Wilpshire on the night of December 21st, 1947, and myself and driver Fred Ingham named the first service bus to Wilpshire, a Leyland Titan PD1 No.106.

“After a fortnight’s training in 1948 I was selected to become a tram driver at the age of 22 and so began the most satisfying period of my time on the trams. Many characters worked on the trams and in the depot and offices, most I remember with great affection. I remember one particular driver, who shall remain nameless, was well known for ‘...incorrect driving...’ He would travel the short distance from Jubilee Street to Darwen Street Bridge on full power and would then have to ‘slam’ on his brakes when the traffic lights turned to red, totally against regulations, but invariably managed to get away with his misnomeaner, though he was caught out once or twice. One night when I was caught out was when I was driving the car behind this particular driver. As he was driving on full power all the time it meant that the service was becoming an 8 - 9 minutes headway instead of the 6 minutes it should have been. I decided to risk going to full power to try and gain some time just at the point where an inspector was lurking to catch drivers doing this sort of thing. Needless to say I got a telling off.

“When ‘the end’ of the trams was in sight I decided to leave the Corporation as I didn’t want a lifetime on the buses. The trams themselves hold a very special place in my heart, they were lovely to look at and quite unique, no other Town or City had trams quite like them. I have been a public transport enthusiast all my life and although I’m rather bias, I think I can safely say that Blackburn’s trams were the finest in the Country.”

Thus ended a chapter in local history and one of the finest tramway systems in Lancashire, if not the Country, and to quote from a report at the time: “...and so Blackburn bids farewell to those magnificent trams...”.

The last word
Maybe the last word should go to an un-named old man, who, on last tram night, was heard to say:
“..trams were all reight; tha hes to hurry up too much gedden on t’buses...”