The Llandudno & Colwyn Bay Electric Railway Limited

An electric tramway operated between these two North Wales seaside towns from 1907 until 1956. Extensions were proposed at both ends of the line but only that to the Queen's Hotel at Old Colwyn was constructed.The lines, which were mainly double track from 1929 , ran both through the streets and also on private track particularly in the Craig-y-Don, Penrhynside and Penrhyn Bay areas. An unusual feature was a private toll road on the sea front at Penrhyn Bay. The tramway was in view of the sea at various points and ran alongside it at Penrhyn Bay and Rhos-on-Sea. The only depot was located in Tramway (now Penrhyn) Avenue, Rhos-on-Sea.

A map of the original Ll&CBER
Click here for a larger version (300k jpg)

The tramcars were originally 4-axle, clerestory-roofed, long single deck saloons (Nos 1-14).These were joined in 1909 by four 2-axle convertible cars (Nos 15-18). The fleet was increased in 1920 when the Company took delivery of four open toast-rack bogie tramcars. 1933 saw delivery five replacement single deck tramcars from Accrington Corporation (Nos 1-5) and late in 1936 ten 4-axle open top double-deck trams (Nos 6-15) were purchased from Bournemouth Corporation and proved to be very popular with holidaymakers. The majority of the original cars from the 1907 and 1909 batches were then withdrawn from service. Finally, two totally enclosed streamlined bogie double-deck trams were obtained from Darwen Corporation in 1946.

The line between the two resorts was extremely popular despite intense competition from Crosville buses. More than 2.5 million passengers were carried annually with the section between Llandudno town centre and Craig-y-Don being the busiest . Late in 1955 strenuous efforts were made by enthusiasts to preserve the line and its famous tramcars but agreement could not be reached on the price, the Company steadfastly believing that their secure future lay in the operation of buses. Their hopes were never realised and after five years intense competition against Crosville the Directors accepted an offer of £40,000 for the goodwill and The Llandudno and Colwyn Bay Electric Railway Ltd ceased its operations on 27th May 1961.

One tramcar did survive however. No.6, built in 1914 for Bournemouth Corporation, was purchased for preservation and was displayed by the British Transport Commission in their museum at Clapham, London until 1974 . It then returned to Bournemouth and has been restored back to No.85 , the fleet number it carried during its life on the South coast. Locally, the tram depot survives on Penrhyn Avenue as an Express Parcels delivery/collection depot although its frontage been extended towards the road.