The Barnsley and District Electric Traction Co was an electric tramway network serving the town of Barnsley, South Yorkshire. The tramway was a subsidiary of the British Electric Traction and services begun on 31 October 1902. In early 1898, three companies had applied for local tramway systems, the Barnsley Corporation applied in 1900 for a larger network than it finally built. In 1913, the company began to run motor buses to Hoyland and other points, Electric was dropped form the company name in 1919. the Barnsley company changed its name to Yorkshire Traction Co. in 1928 and abandoned tramway operation in 1930. Ignoring Oxford and Bristol, YTC is the largest bus operator to have originated from a tramway company in England.
The network
The Barnsley electric tramway was a standard gauge line, running from Smithies to the south of Barnsley, 2 miles south of the town centre to two termini, at Worsbrough Bridge and Worsbough Dale with a junction at the crossroads of Upper Sheffield Road and Kingwell Road at the Cutting End by the present day Cutting Edge public house. The line ran from the level crossing on Old Mill Lane, down the Barnsley town centre to Sheffield Road and split in two termini down Park Road and High Street. At the road junction south of Market Place, the left fork was occupied by the Dearne & District. Both networks were virtually next to each other at this point but never connected.
Extensions
The Barnsley tramway was to be larger than it actually were but the Great Central Railway company refused the passing of tramway tracks of its own network, and prevented authorised lines to be built. One of these lines was to push the tramway away from Barnsley towards Carlton Road to the North. Other extensions were to extend the tramway into a loop on Park Road in Locke Park and south from Worsborough Bridge down Park Road to Hoyland Common, this extension was also blocked by the GCR.
Tram depots
Sheffield Road shed
The shed stood next to the 1920s bus garage of the same company to the south of Barnsley town centre. The shed had four running tracks and an extensive yard. Overhaul workshops were situated to the back of the shed. At the end of tramway operations the depot became a bus depot exclusively, passing to Stagecoach Yorkshire and finally closing for housing development on 20 October 2008. Demolition work started in April 2009. Very little of the system survives today apart from a few sawn off overhead wire poles in the cutting of Upper Sheffield Road and the occasional piece of track unearthed during roadworks.
Rolling stock
The Barnsley & District used two types of vehicle:
