By early January 1899 the electric cars had not arrived and the work on the Witton and Preston New Road routes was nearing completion. After an inspection by the Board of Trade, it was found that, due to the steepness of Preston New Road, additional brakes would be required, and G.F.Milnes were duly instructed to fit these to the cars in production.

Arrival of first Electric Trams
On Monday January 30th, three tramcars arrived from G.F.Milnes and were taken to Simmons Street depot. On the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights, at midnight, trials were made along Preston New Road. On the afternoon of Thursday February 2nd, the first appearance during the daytime was made and attracted a large crowd. The car was driven from Sudell Cross to Billinge and back and then to Witton and back to the Simmons Street depot. On the invitation of Alderman W.Thompson, Chairman of the Tramways Committee, the members of the Council and representatives of the press were invited to take part in the trip:

“The inside of the vehicle is very roomy, and people entering the car are able to pass passengers who are seated without treading on their feet. The ventilation has not been over-looked, and as the interior is lighted by electricity, lamps being dotted here and there, it will be possible for passengers to read without straining their eyes. Outside the seats are double, and the value of this arrangement is sure to be fully appreciated in damp weather. When the service begins there will be eight cars on the Preston New Road and Witton routes. Mr Thompson explained that the delay of the cars had been caused by the non-arrival of the motors...”

In February 1899 it was proposed to look into the possibilities of purchasing land in Simmons Street to allow for the extension of the depot, however, land could not be found and alternatives were looked into.

On Saturday February 11th, a man fell to his death from the top deck of a horse car. The man, Mr J.Hubberstey, a commercial traveler from Liverpool, boarded the car at Salford Bridge at 9:50p.m. and. according to the conductor, Thomas Rauner, was under the influence of drink ‘..though not so bad as he could not look after himself...’. The passenger sat at the back of the top deck for the journey up Preston New Road. When the car reached Dukes Brow it pulled up at the stop, at that point Mr Hubberstey stood up and according to a witness walking along Preston New Road, the car gave a ‘slight jerk’ as it started off again, and the deceased fell over the handrail of the steps and into the road. The driver, Issac Birtwistle, stated at the inquest that after he pulled up ‘..none of the horse gave a jerk...’ The jury at the inquest returned a verdict of ‘Accidental Death’

Inspection by Board of Trade
On the morning of Tuesday March 7th, Major Cardew R.E. made an official inspection of the Preston New Road and Witton routes on behalf of the Board of Trade. the inspector, who was accompanied by the Town Clerk, Mr R.E.Fox and Mr A.S.Giles, the Manager, went over the two routes and stated his satisfaction with the construction. It was expected that a certificate from the Board of Trade would be received ‘...in a few days time...’

Description of New Trams
The trams purchased from ‘Milnes’ were open-top, unvestibuled cars and were mounted on Brill 22E maximum traction bogies, supplied by Messrs Laing, Wharton & Down. Each bogie was fitted with one of ‘Siemens’ 35h.p. water-tight iron clad motors, the method of supporting the motors was what was known as the ‘nose’ suspension. These motors were capable of exerting a pull of 1,100lbs for one hour continuously at the tread of a 20ins wheel, at 6¾m.p.h. with-out over-heating. The weight of these motors was about 17cwt. with gear and gear case. The magnet case was of steel, cast in two halves, each half containing two of the four poles of the motor, which had four wound poles. The case was easily opened, giving immediate access to any part of the machine. Besides this there were two doors, one above and one below the commutator, so that the brushes could be got at. The brushes were of carbon and the brush-holders follow-up the wear of the commutator, so that the current did not have to traverse long lengths of carbon when the commutator was reduced in diameter. The commutator segments were of hard drawn copper, and were of sufficient depth to allow for two inches reduction in the diameter.

The gearing consisted of a forged steel pinion of 19 teeth and 4½ins. width of face, accurately cut from the solid, gearing into a cut cast steel spur wheel of 90 teeth, the two giving a gear ratio of 4.74 to 1. These gears ran in oil in a cast iron oil-tight case fitted over the motor spindle bearing as well as the car axle bearing. The controllers are ‘Siemens’ series parallel shunt type, the various arrangements of motors in series and parallel are made by means of a number of quick-break switches, specially designed for high tension currents, having patent renewable carbon contacts. These switches are actuated in the necessary order by means of cams mounted on one shaft, and provided with a removable controlling handle. The controller gives nine working positions. The case of the controller also contain the reversing barrel, interlocked with the controller proper so that the reversing lever could only be operated when the latter was in the off position A separate switch barrel was provided in each controller for the purpose of cutting out a defective motor in the event of it being disabled, and the car could be brought home by means of the remaining motor.

The over-head collector gear was of the swiveling type, and consisted of a swiveling trolley head, mounted on a weldless taper steel tube. The trolley wheel ran on a patent ‘metal line’ brush, which needed no lubrication, and giving, it was stated, better electrical conductivity than those using a lubricated bearing. The framework carrying the bearing swivels round a vertical axis being carried on a single row of balls. The standard carrying the pole consisted of a steel tube fixed to a malleable cast iron base, within which a second steel tube rotated on balls, and carried the spring. To the top of the inner tube was fixed the casting, which carried the trolley pole socket. The spring was readily adjustable through hand holes in the base. A catch was provided for holding the pole in a horizontal position when required. The lighting of the cars was carried out by means of ten 16 C.P. lamps contained in the bulkheads on the inside of the roof. These were arranged in two circuits of five each. The switches actuating these were placed in tool lockets on the platforms at each end of the cars. The two main switches were carried under the canopy at each end, and consisted of a high-tension carbon quick-break type, controlled by a powerful spring, the catch of which was released by the pull of a cord within reach of the driver. Besides the above, each car carried a watt-hour meter, two main fuses, lightning arrester and choking coil. These cars became known as ‘Siemens’ cars, due to their electrical equipment, and though in many cases this equipment was later altered, the name stuck. The numbering continued on from the horse and steam trailers, so these cars were numbered 28 - 35. Hence the curious fact that no electric service car was ever numbered below 28. The livery was olive green and ivory, the latter confined to the window surrounds and ‘rocker’ panels, with large gold fleet numbers on the dash panel. Seating was 30 in each saloon, the upper deck being fitted with tip-up seats ‘...to prevent inconvenience in wet weather.’

The cost of these trams was:

Each tram cost a total of £739, excluding consultants and solicitors fees. Which, for the time, was a very reasonable figure for a bogie car, some of the London United cars cost more than £1,000 each.

The cars were at first housed in the Simmons Street and Intack depots. To accommodate them in the Simmons Street depot, the horse cars were transferred to Intack along with the horses

Opening of Electric Service
The electric service on the Preston New Road began operations on Monday March 20th, with great success for during the day 3,780 passengers travelled on the route. The Blackburn Times reported that several horses were frightened by the new mode of transport, but no serious accident occurred. The opening of this system meant hat Blackburn had the first electric over-head tramway in East Lancashire.

On Wednesday March 29th there was an official opening ceremony with all the usual Victorian splendour that always accompanied such civic occasions. Two trams, No.’s 28 and 31 were provided, with No.31 being gaily decorated with flags and buntings. On board were various local dignitaries, including the Mayor, Eli Heyworth and the entire Tramway Committee, except Alderman Thompson, who was absent through illness, as well as representatives of Preston, Burnley, Accrington, Darwen, Salford and Huddersfield Tramways. The two trams made a special trip up Preston New Road to Billinge and back to Town. On the return trip a rather curious incident occurred, which although somewhat alarming at the time, was not of a serious character. Some of the bunting of the decorated car caught the over-head wire and began to smolder, fortunately the ‘fire’ was soon extinguished.

After a further journey to Witton and back the party made it’s way to the town Hall, where the Mayor said it was his greatest pleasure “...to declare the electric tramways open for public traffic...”. All the guests were entertained to a luncheon, which was served in the Council Chambers by a Mr Agar of Manchester. After the mayor had toasted the Queen, Mr A.Siemens proposed “...prosperity to the Blackburn Corporation Tramways undertaking...”. He further stated : “...the tramways were an undertaking that municipalities should take under their control...”, and he hoped that the undertaking would result in Blackburn to the great advantage of the ratepayers. The first week’s working had been very satisfactory, though Mr. Siemens said he was sorry that his firm had been behind with the construction of the system, but this delay was to be attributed to the great engineering strike of 1897-98. Mr Siemens was grateful that the Corporation had seen fit to entrust the construction of the tramway system to an English firm. He stated he was well aware that the Americans were ahead of us in the employment of machinery, and that if the English were to compete then”...we must also employ machinery...”. In replying Councillor Crossley said that “Many innovations were introduced by the consultant engineers, with the able assistance of Mr Giles, and I we have a more perfect system than is in operation in America. I am sure that the work carried out by Messrs Siemens Bros. & Co. will stand the test of time...”. He went on to say that the first week of operations of the Preston New Road route had brought in receipts of £108, with passengers carried totaling 26,000. This compares to receipts of the last week of horse operation being £66

Fares for the New Service
The fare for the new electric service was fixed at 1d. for the whole journey, and at the same time it was decided that all route’s fares should be reduced to 1d. Except on the Church route where the fare would be 1d. from Salford to Intack, 1d. from Intack to Church and 1½d. from Salford to Church. The Corporation stated that the establishment of the 1d. fare scale would be as an experiment and “..if it is successful the charge will remain at that figure, but should it be found that the cars are not sufficiently patronised the old scale of fares will be reverted to...”.

It was also announced that, following the practice adopted on most electric tramways, fixed stopping places would be introduced, “...this will add to the convenience of working people, and able the Corporation to operate a more prompt and regular service. It also tends to lesson the cost of working. But of course the trams will only stop when there are passengers to be taken up or set down..”.

The following is a list of stopping places for the Preston New Road section:

Outward - Railway Station, White Bull, Victoria Street-Church Street corner, Crown Hotel, County Court, Town Hall, Sudell Cross, Household Stores, New Park Street, Park Gates, Duke’s Brow, Adelaide Street, Leamington Road, Fox & Grapes, Lancaster Place, Granville Road, St.Silas’s Road, Billinge and terminus.

Inward - same as far as Sudell Cross then, Library Street, Victoria Street, Theatre, Tram Office and Railway Station.

Electric Routes
A complete list of electric route openings is as follows:

The route that traversed Preston New Road to Billinge was known as ‘PRESTON ROAD’, that name being carried on the indicator blinds, and all references to the route from herein will be by that name, where Preston New Road is mentioned, it is referring to the road itself. The Queen’s Park route was always known as 'Audley', though the name ‘QUEEN’S PARK AUDLEY’ was carried on the blinds.

All routes were what were described as ‘out-and-back’, that is to say: Town Centre - Outer Terminus - Town Centre. The only exception to this was the Preston Road and Cherry Tree routes which formed a ‘round-trip’ by running: Boulevard - Billinge - Boulevard - Cherry Tree - Boulevard, and an hour was allowed for the complete journey. Despite this there was no through fare for the whole route, a second fare having to be paid at the Boulevard in either direction. During the first years of operation it was possible to obtain a single fare from the Griffin Inn, on the Cherry Tree route, to Sudell Cross on the Preston Road route, which was a throw back to the horse tram days.

A curious fact with regards to early operations was that the Town Centre terminus for the journey to Billinge was on the Boulevard, but for the journey to Witton it was outside the White Bull Hotel. Once the Witton to Cherry Tree extension was opened in 1903, both routes terminated on the Boulevard.

When all the routes had been opened, the route mileage was 14½, which was equivalent to 27 miles of single track. The Corporation doubled the old steam and horse tracks where possible and in difficult places, such as under bridges and narrow roads, interlaced track was installed. The rails were the 88lbs per yard type, though wherever new track was laid, heavier track was used. The rails were mostly single bonded electrically with the ‘Neptune’ type of bond, though a small section of track was double bonded. These bonds had a cross-section of 1.66sq.ins. Cross bonding, between the rails and also between tracks, was carried out about every 100yards.

The poles for carrying the over-head wire, which in the centre of town and along Preston New Road as far as Montague Street, were placed in the centre of the road, were made by a firm called James Russell Ltd. of Wednesbury and had a slender tapered design with the Corporation Coat of Arms on the base of each one. Every forth centre pole carried a light on the top0 and all centre poles had two 32C.P. incandescent lamps fitted one third of the way up. Also accompanying the centre poles were two bollards, or ‘street refuge’ as they were called, to the same general design as the bases of the poles. On all other routes the poles were placed on the left side of the road as the trams left town, except on the Witton route, where they were placed on the right hand side. Messrs Lacey, Clirehugh & Sillar gave special attention to the design of the poles and arrangements of the over-head wire, much thought was given to the aesthetics of the system. The poles were four grades in strength, in order to meet the varying stresses occasioned by curves. The two lighter types of poles, used for carrying brackets, consisted of two lap-welded taper steel tubes shrunk together, with cast iron moulding placed over the joint. The two heavier types used for pull-off and anchor posts, were made up of three parts shrunk together in the same manner. All the poles had cast iron ornamental brackets, their decoration consisted of wrought iron scrolls fixed in the four angles between the body of the pole and the bracket arm. The bracket arms varied in length from five feet in the centre pole construction to 16 feet in the case of side pole construction. The trolley wire was supported on what was known as the ‘rigid system’, the wire in every case being attached to hangers on the bracket arms, no span wire being used. Where side poles were used both running wires, on double track, were to one side and, to allow for this, the trolley masts of the trams were placed off centre. Double insulation was used throughout the system, sleeves of insulating material being inserted between the metal of the hanger and the bracket arm. The trolley wire was No.’s 0, B and S gauge, soldered to 15ins. gun metal ears. Where telegraph or telephone wires crossed, guard wires of a special form were used. The over-head was suspended at a height of 21ft. 3ins. above the track at the bracket arm and the length of span averaged at about 125ft.

The chief feature of the tramway system was that the whole of the apparatus, with the exception of the car trucks, was made in this Country, so for the first time in the history of modern electrical tramways, English contractors had manufactured motor equipment, car controllers and the usual paraphernalia. The total cost of electrification of the system, excluding the cost of the cars themselves, was £150,000

Electrically-driven Boiler feed pumps

The Power Station
As stated earlier, the power for the tramways was provided by the generating plant at the power station of the Corporation and Electric Lighting Works in Jubilee Street. The generator was installed by Siemens Bros. Ltd. and consisted of two sets of ‘Bellis’ two crank compound engines each capable of generating up to 250h.p. working non-condensing with 115lbs of steam at the stop valve, when running at 380r.p.m. These engines consumed 22lbs. of steam per I.H.P. hours, and are so governed that the variation in speed is 1.9% from full to no load. Both engines had been fully tested at the works of Messrs G.E.Bellis & Co. prior to installation and again at the power station after installation, with highly satisfactory results. The economical performance was found to be fully up to the specification requirements, and the results of the governor trials were somewhat remarkable.

It will be noted that with the full load thrown off as suddenly as possible, the momentary variation of speed was only slightly in excess of, and the permanent variation rather less than, 2%. Taking the half load speed as the mean speed, it follows that the greatest departure from the mean speed under any conditions of load is only about 1½% momentary, and less than 1% permanent.

Electrically-driven condeser set

Directly coupled to each of these engines was a Siemens H.B. 24/32 compound wound dynamo of 120kw., each machine so arranged that it could be used for either tramway or street lighting purposes at 550 volts for tramway or 250 volts for lighting. For this purpose each machine had two commutators, and two separate windings on each armature. On the side of the machines were fixed switch frames, with the necessary arrangements for coupling these windings in series or in parallel and also for connecting these circuits thus arranged to either the traction or lighting bus bars. In the tests on these machines they gave a final temperature of 60 degrees F. rise above the atmosphere after run of 16 hours at 140 amperes and 550 volts. The tramway switchboard consisted of 7 enameled panels, one for return feeder panel, and one for Board of Trade testing panel. The panels carried the following instructions:-

Machine Panels-
One double-pole 200 ampere knife switch
One single-pole 200 ampere knife switch
One maximum current out for 250 amperes
One field breaking switch
One field regulator and switch
One ammeter for 250 amperes

Feeder Panels -
One ammeter for 220 ampere fuse
One 200 ampere knife switch
One 200 ampere fuse

In the central panel were two voltmeters, reading 150 - 550 volts, while the Board of Trade testing panel was provided with two recording ammeters reading 0 - 20 and 10 - 220 amperes, two recording voltmeter reading 0 - 10 and 450 - 550 volts, and two watt-hour meters.

Along the track at a distance of approximately half a mile intervals, section boxes, made of cast iron, were placed on the edge of the pavement near to a traction pole. The feeders from the power station led to these and were connected to bus bars mounted on a slate base on porcelain insulators. From this bus bar four high tension switch fuses connected with the section insulators on the trolley wire by cables leading up the inside of the posts. A lightning arrester was connected between the bus bar and earth. The terminals from the pilot wire were also brought up on this slate base for portable telephone connection and testing purposes.

The feeder boxes were placed at the following locations:

Church Section:
Adelphi Hotel
Shackleton Street
Wellington Inn
Intack (this fed the depot)
Wolfendale Farm
Hare & Hounds (Oswaldtwistle West End)
Church Bridge

Darwen Section:
Darwen Street
Infirmary
Albion Hotel
Oakfield Road

Wilpshire Section:
Salford Bridge
Larkhill
Popular Street
Cemetery
Brownhill (Roundabout)

Preston Road Section:
Sudell Cross (Fed Simmons Street depot)
Montague Street
Granville Road

Cherry Tree Section:
Jubilee Street
Harrison Street
Griffin Inn
Feniscowles

Audley Section:
Darwen Street Bridge
Maudsley Street

Each of the last outermost boxes on each route then had a direct feed back to the generating plant.

Once the Preston Road route had been opened to electric traffic, the ‘Falcon’ horse trailers, No.’s 23-27, used on this service were transferred for a short time to the Cemetery section, running alternatively with the steam engines. This route is the only one in Blackburn that is recorded to have been traversed by all three modes of traction

Witton route opens
Eleven days after the beginning of operation, the Witton route was opened on March 31st, but without the same celebrations. The ‘Oldbury’ trailers, No.’s 17-22, were withdrawn from service. At one point during the year all three modes of power, horse, steam, and electric, were in operation.

Although the Cemetery route had passing loops, it would appear that these were not always recognised by the drivers, who would carry on until an oncoming vehicle was encountered. It became a daily sight to watch a steam tram and horse tram pass on a single track. The manoeuvre was accomplished by the driver and guard of the horse tram alighting from their vehicle and placing a point bar in the groove of the rail, they would then lift the car bodily, and whilst holding the horses reins, would pull the horse s to the side, thus throwing the car off the rails, after running to the side of the road to allow the steam car to pass, the car and horses were pushed and shoved until the car rested back in the groove once more. Needless to say, the passengers were requested to alight whilst this act was performed.

By May passengers for the whole system had increased to 401,652 for the month, with receipts of £2,000.10s.8d. A new uniform was also adopted for the drivers and conductors of the electric trams, being of dark blue with a lighter blue facing, the cost of equipping the men with these uniforms was £243. In addition to the drivers and conductors it was also necessary to employ men at busy times, such as football match days, where two men would be required to walk, one in front and one to the side of a steam tram, waving a red flag as a safety measure.

Wage increases
At a Council meeting in May it was put forward that the wages of the drivers and conductors on the Darwen section, ex-Blackburn & Over Darwen Tramway Company employees, should be increased and their hours of work reduced to fall in line with the pay and conditions of the Blackburn crews. It was stated that the Darwen section men were working 82 hours per week and it should be reduced to the same 70 as had been granted to the Blackburn men. But the Committee stated that, due to the agreements with Darwen Corporation, nothing could be altered until the expiration of the 9-month lease.

New Trams ordered
In May tenders were sought for the construction of 8 new electric trams to the same design as No.’s 28-35. After the delay from G.F.Milnes for the first cars, the contract went to Dick, Kerr & Company Limited of Preston and, after due consultation, so as to provide an ideal service once the system was fully electrified, the order was increased to 40 cars. In July a further order for 20 was placed with Dick, Kerr Ltd. for delivery in 2 years time, this contract had a clause inserted that allowed the Corporation to cancel without incurring any penalties. The reason for this being that the Committee were unaware of how popular, or not, the trams would be, and therefore how many cars would be required. Also by not specifying a firm delivery date the cars could be obtained at £163 each lower than would normally have been the case.

In July another Public Works Loan was authorised for the erection of a small depot at Regent Street, to be used for the storage of permanent way materials, and the relaying of the permanent way along the Accrington Road section. This loan was for £38,133 and was to be repaid on the same terms as the previous loans.

Second-Hand Steam engines purchased
Also in July 7 steam engines were bought from the North Staffordshire Tramways Company, who also operated a 4ft. gauge system. These engines had been built in 1883 by Bayer Peacock Limited to the Wilkinson Patent design, which differed from the ‘Green’s’ engines in having a vertical boiler and, instead of a condenser, their exhaust was super-heated in the firebox and emitted through the chimney. They had a very open look, as there was also no windows as such, the roof being supported by downrails. These engines were allocated the numbers 15-21, and spent most of their working life in Blackburn on the Cemetery route, normally hauling one of the Ex-Blackburn & Over Darwen ‘Milnes’ trailers. In total these engines cost £525, or £75 each! The reason for purchasing these loco’s so late in the steam era was that the ‘Green’s’ engines were showing signs of wear and tear, and not always conforming to regulations, so in order to keep the system fully operational, extra loco’s were required. This would also enable a quicker and more efficient service to operate on the Church and Cemetery routes. The sum of £210 was expended on over-hauling these engines prior to entering service.

During the Summer of 1899 a short loop was constructed in Darwen Street, just below Jubilee Street and this was to be the terminal point for the electrical service to Darwen. The auditing of the tramway’s accounts was given to Messrs Ashworth, Mosley and Company for a fixed fee of £35 per annum.

In September the Tramway Offices were connected to the telephone exchange, No.547.

For some reason in October the first contract with Dick, Kerr Ltd. was rescinded on the recommendation of the Committee, and the order was placed with British Thompson Houston Limited (B.T.H.Ltd.). Ironically, much to the apprehension of the Tramways Committee, this order was sub-contracted to G.F.Milnes, and at the same time the design was altered.

The salary of the Tramways Manager, Mr Giles, was fixed at £200 per annum, and the wage of the Traffic Manager, Mr Cowell, was fixed at £3.10s. per week. A contract for pre-printed tickets, for use in a ticket punch, was given to the Glasgow Numerical Company Limited.

Alterations to Services
Also in October a re-arrangement of the services was undertaken in the hope of improving the public services and both increasing the revenue and reducing the working expenses. On the Darwen section the service was increased from 20 minutes to a 12-minute interval on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; from 15 minutes to 12 minutes on Sundays and Wednesdays and from 15 minutes to 10 minutes on Saturdays. The fares were reduced from 5d. all the way to 3d. On the Church and Cemetery sections the services were increased on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 15 minutes to 12 minutes and on Sundays, Wednesdays and Saturdays to 10 minutes from 15 minutes. The fares for all the way were reduced from 3d. and 1½d. to 2d. and 1d. respectively.

The services on the electric sections of Preston Road and Witton were also altered, the service being increased from 15 minutes to 10 minutes for all days. The fare for the Billinge End to Railway Station section was reduced from 2d. 1d.

With the arrival of the extra engines, the horse cars on the Cemetery section were withdrawn from service, and although they were offered for sale there were no buyers, and they were eventually scrapped at Simmons Street depot.

Sale of Horses
The remaining 41 horses were sold by auction at Simmons Street depot on Wednesday October 25th by Mr J.H.Birtwistle, auctioneer. There was a large attendance of tramway companies, farmers, horse dealers and tradesmen from all over the Country. Lots consisting of harnesses, reins etc.. were sold first for a total of £66.19s.3d. The 41 animals, chiefly of the thick, short-legged breeds of Wales and Westmorland, were sold for prices ranging from 38 to 13 guineas. Among the purchasers were the tramway companies of Manchester and Glasgow, the highest price paid was for ‘Lady’, a 6-year old chestnut mare. The complete sale realised the sum of £1,121.3s.3d. This income was put directly into the capital account to offset any deficits on working expenses. It was reported that from March 1899 the horse had cost £1,936 to keep whilst working the Cemetery section, and had realised receipts of only £1,315, a loss of £631.

Shortly after the arrival of the steam engines from North Staffordshire Tramways, a driver from that company, Mr A.G.Grundy applied for a job as driver with Blackburn Corporation Tramways, he joined along with two other drivers from the same company, and ended up driving his ‘old’ loco’s again. Mr Grundy relates several incidents that occurred during his time in Blackburn, the most amusing of which happened shortly after he joined. He was driving his engine along when a man drew his attention to the fact that smoke was emitting from the chimney, and, this being against regulations, the man told him to put a stop to it. Mr Grundy replied, not knowing who he was”...you’d better go and sit on top of the chimney then...”, The ‘man’ turned out top be the Sergeant of Police who was in charge of licensing and administration of carriage laws in the area. The indiscretion cost Mr Grundy seven days suspension from duty without pay.

Although Mr Grundy was offered a position of driving the electric trams, he went to work for the Potteries Electric Traction Company driving steam buses in 1901. Later he joined the Staleybridge, Hyde, Mossley and Duckinfield Tramways, becoming General Manager in 1929, a post he held until his retirement in 1944.

In November a decision was made to allow the Meter Inspector of the Electricity Department a free pass for travelling on the trams whilst going about his business.

In December it was decided that it would be better to have enclosed vestibules on the new trams and G.F.Milnes were instructed to incorporate this feature during building. This action was partially due to the number of complaints that had been received from crews with regards to them being at the mercy of the weather during the cold winter (remember the steam tram drivers had the warmth of the fireboxes), meanwhile, to help with this problem the Corporation ordered leggings for all the crew.

Towards the end of 1899 advertising hoardings were placed around the Regent Street depot by the Blackburn & District Bill Posting Company Limited.

A proposed tramway route to Guide was mooted around this time, which would have taken the trams from the junction with the Darwen lines under Darwen Street Bridge and proceed along Park Road and Grimshaw Park and turn left into Haslingden Road and climbing passed the Queen’s Park Hospital and on to Guide. However, the proposed route was deemed to be un-economical and the idea was abandoned.

Work begins on Darwen route
Work commenced on the re-laying and reconstruction of the Darwen route, and for this and subsequent routes, construction was carried out by the Tramways Department, rather than sub-contract the work, thereby saving considerable sums of expenditure.
For the construction of the over-head system for the Darwen, Church and Cemetery routes more poles were ordered, but this time from Robert W. Blakewell & Company Limited of London. They were to the same design as the ‘Russell’ poles, but with a planer base, and, like the others, were sunk 4ft. into the ground for stability.