During the war, the policy developed by Mr Cowell, of constant replacing of track and over-head was to pay great dividends. Prior to the outbreak of war many tons of rail had been purchased, not only for renewals, but to be ‘stock piled’ in anticipation of a short supply of materials for the duration of the war, a bulk purchase was made from Edgar Allen & Company of points and rail for £572.2 s. 7d. in September. These rails cost the Corporation between £5-£7 per ton, and towns and cities who had not adopted such a policy, found that during the war were paying between £25-£30 per ton!! When it is considered that a yard of rail weighed 96lbs, the savings were tremendous. Due to Mr Cowell’s scheme, and with track and over-head constantly in good condition, the power consumption was virtually as low as at any other time.

A new tramway shelter was erected in late 1914, at Branch Road, Lower Darwen, at a cost of £49, 7s. 0d. During the year, seventeen trams were thoroughly overhauled, twelve trams received steel tyres, and 4½miles of trolley wire was renewed. In addition to the regular fleet, the department also had other vehicles listed as ‘other rolling stock’:

1 haulage wagon
4 salt wagons
1 drum wagon
1 horse drawn tower wagon
1 chain driven tower wagon

The centre traction pole at Sudell Cross was causing a danger to other ‘...vehicular traffic...’, especially at night times, so a decision was made to remove this pole and replace it with two side poles and span wire, this occurring in late September.

Following a letter to the Committee from Mr W Roberts, Recruiting Officer Accrington Battalion East Lancashire Regiment, it was agreed that all members of the Corps. could travel free on the trams when attending drills.

1915
During 1915, fifteen cars were overhauled and repainted, ten were fitted with steel tyres and eight were fitted with new lifeguards, this latter feature was to meet with Board of Trade regulations. Eventually all the trams would be fitted with these lifeguards and the cost worked out at £10 per car. A further two of the U.E.C. cars, No.’s 77 and 79 had windscreens fitted. The old tram depot at Simmons Street was re-slated and repainted.

Around this time the through running of the Cherry Tree-Preston Road was discontinued. No official reasons have been discovered, but it was possibly due to the fact that Preston Road was a busier route than Cherry Tree and the full route did not merit the amount of cars used.

In this year, the second of the war, it was reported that there were 76 employees on active service with the Military and Naval forces. Because so many men had been called to the colours and vacancies were hard to fill, Mr Cowell decided to fill the posts with women. Eventually 36 women became drivers, 70 became conductresses and twp made inspectors. The rate of wage paid to the women was exactly the same as that paid to the men, and this was years before the Equal Pay Act!! These women performed a marvellous task during a difficult time. Mr Cowell was reported to state that “...the utmost goodwill exists between male and female employees...”. By the end of the war 105 men had left the tramways, ten of whom had been killed on active service, and a former conductor, Fred Gertson, was recommended for a commission, and was awarded a D.C.M.

Abandonment of Advertising
Advertising on the exterior of the trams had existed since operations began in 1886 and many letters of complaint had been received regarding the ‘unsightliness’ of these advertisements. After due consideration and deliberation the Tramways Committee decided to abolish this practice and from 1915 onwards existing contracts were allowed to lapse. A strange situation regarding adverts, was that the ‘Siemens’ cars rarely carried them, occasionally only small adverts on the from decency panels, whilst side panels remained free from this ‘eyesore’. This was also the case with the U.E.C. single-deck cars, though they were always the subject of decoration for Civic occasions. The small coloured glass adverts, fitted to the top lights of the lower saloon of the ‘Milnes’ cars, remained, most of which were retained throughout their lives.

1916
1916 saw the fitting of windscreens to U.E.C. single-deck cars No.’s 80 and 81, in addition thirteen other cars were overhauled, repainted and fitted with new lifeguards. Four miles of trolley wire was renewed and it was reported that due to shortages caused by the war, no more trolley wire renewals would take place. In March, some highly interesting facts and figures were given to the Tramways Committee and included the following information regarding operations during 1915/16:

Total borrowing powers.....................£408,174
Amount actually borrowed................£342,474
Gross capital expenditure.................£336,258
Population served by tramways..........200,000
Traffic Revenue.................................£65,466. 5s. 9d.
Total revenue....................................£68,410. 1s. 9d.
Car Miles.............................................1,091,050
Passengers carried.............................12,246,151
Total electric units used........................1,678,976
Total units per car mile................................1.53
Average car used per 14 hour day...................31
Average car miles per car per day..................105
Average speed per hour in m.p.h.......................7.5
Average fare paid per passenger......................0s.1.20d.
Average number of passengers per car mile........11.22
Average fare paid per car mile..........................0s.0.76d.
Profit for year end March 25th, 1916.....£1,756.16s. 2d.

On Saturday July 15th ‘Siemens’ car No.29 was in collision with a motor car near to Wilpshire. The driver of the motor was blamed for the accident and the costs of repair to the tram was demanded from the car owner:

4 Plate glass windows @ £2, 4s. 3d. each........£4.17s. 0d.
Timber........................................................£1. 0s. 0d.
Rubber Strips....................................................8s. 0d.
2 Steel step risers..............................................2s. 0d.
Labour, Varnish & Sundries...........................£1.13s. 0d.
Total...........................................................£8. 0s. 0d.

In early August, Miss Mary Muir was appointed as Blackburn’s first lady Inspector, and received a new uniform trimmed with gold braid.

A three year contract with Briggs, Jones and Gibson Limited for the supply of uniforms was entered into in September. The first order was for £17. 8s. 6d. followed by further orders in October for £34.19s. 6d.; November for £10.16s. 4d.; December for £50.19s. 5d. and in January 1917 for £34. 1s.11d.

Cost of tramway uniforms:
Motormen Tunics...........27s. 6d.
Trousers.......................16s. 0d.
Overcoats.....................32s. 6d.
Caps..............................3s. 9d.

Conductors (same as motormen)

Conductresses Costumes..........52s. 6d.
Overcoats................................32s. 6d.
Gaiters.....................................3s.11d.
Serge hats.................................3s. 9d.

Although the committee had always stated their fondness of four motored bogie trams, it was decided, for economic reasons, to experiment with one of the ‘Milnes’ bogie cars, and two of the 35h.p. motors, supplied as spares in 1913, were fitted to car No.48 in place of the 4 x 20h.p. motors in November 1916. The experiment proved unsatisfactory, especially after the war when road traffic increased, and the fully laden car was difficult to control on two motors.

1917
Through running to Accrington
Early in the year a through running agreement with Accrington Corporation was finally made, and Accrington provided three cars for the service, which began on February 1st, but not without problems. The low height of the bridge at Church, which prevented Blackburn running the four top covered cars on this route, again caused problems as all Accrington’s trams were top covered from new, and so three cars used for this service had to have their top covers removed, these cars were No.’s 9, 10 and 17, ‘Brush’ built 4-wheel cars. In later years Accrington had ‘low height’ cars constructed especially for this route. An oddity of this service was that in order to balance the mileage covered by both authorities, under the running agreement, one Accrington car each day had to make a short working from Blackburn town centre to Intack and back to Blackburn before resuming normal running duties. As the destination of ‘INTACK’ was not on the Accrington tram blinds, a board was specially made bearing ‘INTACK’ and was displayed by hanging it from hooks in front of the destination box.

Traffic revenue figures for the year ending March 31st, 1917 were as follows:

Fatality on the Audley Route
A fatal accident occurred on May 14th, when a two-year old child was knocked down and killed by a single-deck car on the Audley route. The car, driven by Thomas Ainsworth was travelling at about 4m.p.h. at a point along Lower Audley Street, just below Mayson Street, when the child ran into the road a yard or so in front of the tram, although the driver applied the emergency brakes, he could not prevent the child from being hit. Driver Ainsworth stated at the inquest that “...the slower the car is travelling the longer it take for the electric brakes to activate...”. The driver was exonerated from any blame.

The Tramways Managers report in 1917 had some interesting comparisons:

The number of units per car mile worked out at 1.64 as against 1.53 in 1916. The cost per car mile was 2.48d. as against 2.13d. This was accounted for by an increase of 15% in the price of electric current

War Shortages
By the early summer of 1917, the stockpile of rail, purchased at the start of the war, was depleted, the was had dragged on longer than any one had expected, and emergency measures had to be taken. The original lightweight rail used on the Preston Road route was so badly worn that it was becoming a danger to the public safety. The service between Witton Stocks and Cherry Tree was suspended from June 11th and seven lengths of track were removed, four at the terminus and three from the crossing at the top of Feniscliffe Brow. These rails were to be used to re-place the worn out track on the Preston Road section. As the Cherry Tree route was less profitable than the Preston road, especially the section that was removed, it was felt more viable to take this action rather than purchase new rail at astronomical prices, if, in fact, it could be purchased at all. Fate intervened at this point, as through the Offices of the Ministry of Munitions, Birmingham Corporation expressed their willingness to supply the track-work required to replace that on the Preston Road route at a cost of £416.10s. 0d. The Committee gave instructions for this to be done and that the Cherry Tree route should be re-laid as soon as possible. This was accomplished by June 27th, and the normal service was resumed.

In October Robert Parkinson & Company were contracted to make ‘used ticket’ boxes for the trams at a cost of £8. 2s. 6d. These were fitted to the bulkheads just below the nearside windows on all classes of trams.

During 1917, fifteen more cars were fully over hauled and repainted, and U.E.C. single-deck cars No.’s 83 and 84 had windscreens fitted. There was more damage to the cars than normal reported in this year and this was put down to the changes in staff and nightly blackouts. despite the wartime shortages several purchases were made throughout the year which included:

J.H.Butcher - Transfers............................................£7. 5s. 4d.
H.Dowler & Sons Ltd. - Uniform badges.....................£2. 3s. 6d.
Brecknell, Munroe & Rogers Ltd. - Trolleypoles........£30. 0s. 0d.
Flemming, Birkby & Goodall Ltd. - Trolleywheels....£129.17s. 0d.
Hudson & Bowring Ltd. - Lifeguards.........................£70. 0s. 0d.
British Thompson Houston Co. Ltd. - Motors...........£312. 0s. 0d.

1918
Although finances were beginning to look quite healthy, the fare structure was partially altered in June 1918, and included some increases:

Church section:
To or from Railway Station and Wellington Inn..............................1d.
To or from Wellington Inn and Old Mother Redcap.........................1d.
To or from Old Mother Redcap and Spread Eagle...........................1d.
To or from Spread Eagle and Commercial Hotel, Church.................1d.
To or from Railway Station and Old Mother Redcap........................2d.
To or from Old Mother Redcap and Commercial Hotel, Church.........2d.
To or from Railway Station and Spread Eagle................................3d.
To or from Railway Station and Commercial Hotel, Church..............4d.

Darwen Section:
To or from Railway Station and Infirmary......................................1d.
To or from Infirmary and Fernhurst Hotel......................................1d.
To or from Fernhurst Hotel and Borough Boundary, Darwen..............1d.
To or from Railway Station and Albion Hotel...................................1½d.
To or from Albion Hotel and Borough Boundary, Darwen................1½d.
To or from Railway Station and Branch Road, Lower Darwen.............2d.
To or from Railway Station and Borough Boundary, Darwen............2½d.

Audley Section:
To or from Audley Range Church and Queen’s Park.........................1d.
To or from Railway Station and Audley Range Church.......................1d.
To or from Railway Station and Queen’s Park.................................1½d.

No alterations were made to the Preston Road, Wilpshire or Cherry Tree services.

Re-organisation of Services
Due to the continuing hostilities, causing a shortage of coal at the power station, a reorganisation of services was introduced on August 18th 1918, in an attempt to reduce the costs of running the services, to this effect all Sunday morning services were suspended, services commencing at 2p.m., and ceasing on all days at 10p.m. from the town termini, and a revised list of stopping place was issued. with less stopping the trams would, therefore, use less power and there would be a saving in current consumption. This measure resulted in a 10% reduction in car mileage, therefore decreasing receipts heavily. Although a plus factor in all this meant that less coal was used at the power station, thus helping to meet the needs of the Country during this depressed time.

The last three U.E.C. single-deck cars, No.’s 82, 85 and 87 were fitted with windscreens. During the rebuilding of No.85 it was fitted with experimental roller bearings, which involved the armature housing being bored out and ‘Hoffmans’ roller bearings being applied to the armature shafts. In October the Toastrack car No.88, was taken out of ‘retirement’ and converted to a corrugation scrubber and cleaner, the old brushes from the works car No.1 being fitted.

The high inflationary period of the 1914-18 war, and continuing until 1921, made many tramway authorities begin to look at whether trams were the “...transport mode of the future...” or if buses, or other forms, should be considered to be a better alternative. Track costs in 1921 were three times higher than in 1914.

The running costs of the tram fleets gave authorities a good indication of their financial state. With the aid of hindsight, the tramway historian Ian Yearsley has discovered that on the whole tramway undertakings with a costs to revenue percentage of less than 60% in 1918, had a three times better chance of surviving into the 1940’s, though Liverpool were a notable exception, having 74.38% in 1918. In Blackburn the policy mentioned before, introduced by Mr Cowell in 1907, and the stock piling of rails and other materials prior to 1914, helped to create a good financial condition. Blackburn did better than most of it’s East Lancashire neighbours during the 1914-1918 period. With the exception of Darwen Corporation, both Blackburn’s costs and revenue per car mile were the highest, due to in part it’s all bogie tram fleet, giving the ability to carry a greater capacity of passengers in one go than those undertakings with 4-wheel cars. In 1914 Blackburn’s cost per car mile were 9.17d. against a revenue of 13.92d. per car mile. This had risen by 1918 to 10.59d. and 17.69d. respectively.

The figure giving the percentage of the revenue taken up by the costs are more significant. In Accrington this rose from 58.69% in 1914 to 63.48% in 1918, likewise in the same period, Darwen rose from 71.81% to 87.53% and in Rawtenstall from 61.40% to 62.19%. Of Blackburn’s neighbours only Burnley Corporation’s fell, from 71.49% to 70.33%, it will be noted that this authority also operated only bogie cars. Blackburn itself notched up the most remarkable figures covering this period, the percentage falling from 65.88% to 58.34%.

To give the full story, the capital account needs to be noted, which always depended on the way in which renewals, repairs and replacements happened to fall due. By 1918 Blackburn had borrowed £342,474 and repaid £117,984 with £127,824 in a sinking fund towards capital repayments and interest on the outstanding amount.

Expenditure for 1918 was £4,679 higher than it had been the previous year and was due in part to the increase in the wages of the workmen and a higher cost of materials. A total of fourteen cars had received a complete overhaul and repaint during the year, and all the street traction poles and fittings between Salford Bridge and the Cemetery, on the Wilpshire section, had been painted and wires renewed or repaired where needed