FLEET DETAILS: Toastrack Car No.88 and ’Works’ Cars No.’s 1 & 2

TOASTRACK TRAM No.88
This car was built, after much debate, as an experiment, after there had been a public clamour for this type of tram.

It was built at Intack Depot Works in 1908, utilising the bogie side frames and electrical equipment from the Water car No.1. These being Brill 22E Maximum traction bogies, B.T.H. K10 controllers and 2 x 37½h.p. GE 58-4T motors. New wheels and brake gearing was fitted. Seating was for 40 arranged on five full width crossbench seats in the middle section and 2 + 1 in each end section. The middle section was completely open and the ends only had panels to waist height. A trolley mast, slightly taller than those fitted to the U.E.C. single-deck cars, was fitted to a flat roof.

The total weight of the car was 9 tons, 2cwt. the motors weighing 1 ton, 18cwt. and the two trucks were 3 tons, 4cwt. each.

Dimensions:

The under frame was built of oak, with steel channels and angles. the body being supported with a 1inch. rod iron truss to prevent sagging. All the upright posts were of pitch pine, and the horizontal rails of one piece pitch pine. The roof frame was constructed of iron and ash, the roof itself was of pitch pine one inch tongued and grooved boards and covered with canvas. The waist panels and dash were made of canary wood.

The car made its debut run on May 27th 1908 and went into public service on May 30th. It was at first used on the Wilpshire route, but as the saying goes “..there’s nowt so queer as folk...”, and those who had clamoured for it promptly boycotted it. The Corporation persevered with the tram, trying it on other routes, but with much the same result, and it was ‘retired’ to the depot around 1912, and apart from brief flings as a corrugation scrubber in 1919 and a works haulage car in 1925, remained derelict on a siding in front of the old steam tram depot at Intack until finally being broken up along with the U.E.C. single-deck cars in 1939.

WORKS CARS

No.1 THE WATER CAR
Built by Hurst Nelson Limited of Motherwell in 1900, this was basically a large water tank mounted on a frame and a pair of Brill 22E Maximum traction bogies. It was fitted with 2 x 37½h.p. GE 58-4T motors and B.T.H. K10 controllers. Livery was all over olive green and the title ‘BLACKBURN CORPORATION TRAMWAYS’ was placed along the tank side in an arched styling in gold shaded letters.

It’s main task was to clean out the grit from the grooves of the track by creating it’s own rain storm and scrubbing with large rotating brushes mounted at an angle under each end. It proved to be a very expensive mistake, and was scrapped in 1907, some of it’s parts being used to construct the 'Toastrack' tram No.88.

Dimensions:

From around 1908 the water tank was mounted on a Brill 27G-bogie truck (Ex-Burnley Corporation), and was towed behind a regular service car.

No.2 THE HAULAGE CAR
This was the only electric 4-wheel car owned by Blackburn, it’s origins though are rather unknown, but it would appear it was constructed at Intack depot around 1913/14 using several parts from No1 not used in No.88. It was mounted on an ex-Burnley Corporation Brill 27G bogie truck. The livery was all over olive green. no documentation is known as regards its motors, but it was fitted with B.T.H. R28 controllers. Its main tasks were to pull Permanent Way materials to the places of work. The car was withdrawn from service around 1925, when No.88 was converted to a haulage car, and was stored on a siding until being scrapped in 1939 along with the U.E.C. single-deck cars and ‘Toastrack’ car No.88.