Trolley Tuesday 3/22/22 - The Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway

Interurbans are, as proven time and again on this blog, a very Ameri-centric concept. Even the word itself, "interurban" brings up more images of American railroads like the North Shore, Pacific Electric, and Key System than anything worldwide. And yet, the concept of an electric railway with full separation from a road and private right-of-ways caught on around the world anyway. In Canada, they called these kinds of roads, "radial railways" as they "radiated out into the suburbs of Toronto". At the same time as these radial railways, Canada's commonwealth owner England had their own little interurban line that was as fast and as sophisticated as their American counterparts but not called an "interurban" at all. On today's (late) Trolley Tuesday, we're Humberside as we look at the Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway, Britain's only interurban!

It's Grim Oop Norf

The Great Central Railway coat of arms, as featured on ex-GCR locomotive "Butler Henderson".
(RedRose64)

A 1914 railway poster showing the GCR's northern
connections from Liverpool to Hull.
(Science and Society Picture Library)

    Before the wires went up on the Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway (GIER), there was the Great Central Railway (GCR), a vast steam railway network that connected the industrial centers of Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, and Leeds with London and the eastern industrial ports of Grimsby and Hull. The latter two were on a wide inlet known as the River Humber, and in the early 1900s the GCR devised a scheme to build a new dock complex seven miles northwest along the Humber near the small town of Immingham, Lincolnshire. At the time, the land around Immingham was both undeveloped marshland and owned by the Crown, necessitating two Bills of Parliament to gain permission to purchase and develop the land. The second bill, the "Humber Commercial Railway and Dock Act of 1904", paved the way for the new docks as well as authorizing new connecting railways. This included a southern main-line connection from Ulceby via the Humber Commercial Railway, a ferry connection from New Holland to the Humber ferries via the Barton & Immingham Light Railway, and a railway to Grimsby via the Grimsby District Light Railway. 

The Immingham Dock station on July 1960, being served by a diesel multiple unit.
(Geoffrey Skelsey)

The Immingham Docks hydraulic and electrical power station.
(Unknown Author)

    Another phase of the Act of 1904 included considerations for worker transport, both for the docks and new lines and for the new locomotive depot at Immingham. When construction really kicked in in the late 1900s, the GCR began running steam-hauled workers' specials connecting with the Grimsby District Light Railway. However, it did not take long for them to realize the futility of running workers' specials on such a short distance when their steam locomotives could be better utilized elsewhere. Furthermore, the docks at Immingham now had a power generation plant providing electricity for the cranes and locks that could also be used to power, oh, let's say a modest electric railway at 500V DC from 6600V 50Hz AC over three substations. Furthermore, the 1906 Light Railway Order that brought about the Grimsby District Light Railway included provisions for a 1.5 mile tramway line between Corporation Bridge and Cleveland Bridge in Grimsby and a private right-of-way between Cleveland Bridge and Immingham Dock. Sounds like the perfect interurban to me.

The rail lines at Immingham Docks, circa 1912. The "Grimsby" interurban line can be seen on the very right.
(Unknown Author)

A Grim Auld Interurban

A map of the Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway.
(Geoffrey Skelsey)

A motorman and conductor in "tramway" uniforms on the GIER, with
the GCR coat of arms and letters on the car and their caps.
(Tramway Badges and Buttons)

    And so, on May 15, 1912, the Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway was inaugurated with operations as far as the eastern fringe of the Immingham Docks. The first riders for this revolutionary new line in Northern England were primarily dock workers, but some commuters and townsfolk also used the streetcar to Immingham Town. On November 17, 1913, after more than a year of operation, the final section of the GIER was opened to the Eastern Jetty of Immingham Docks. This also enabled the GIER to connect with the Barton & Immingham Light Railway, just a short walk away from their own "Immingham Dock" station. Between Corporation Bridge at Grimsby and Immingham Dock, the line was primarily single track with three 110-yard passing loops midway up the line between Marsh Road and Great Coates (more passing loops were originally built in Grimsby and between Pyewipe carhouse and Immingham Town, but the latter ones were removed in 1917). At Immingham Town, the single-track split into a double track line past "Tramcar Bridge", as that section handled a lot of passengers.

A GIER ticket provided by the
British Transport Commission starting in 1945.
(Geoffrey Skelsey)

    As for the passengers' experience, the GIER differed from other streetcar lines at the time in a lot of ways. The most notable of these differences was it's ownership by a major railway instead of a local corporation or single private business, a practice more in common with American interurbans like the Pacific Electric of Los Angeles. This also meant that after the GCR became part of the larger London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) in 1923, one could buy a ticket from London to Immingham Dock directly "via electric car". Furthermore, unlike other English trolleys that usually ran limited services on the weekends and no night services, the GIER maintained full services every day and night due to the worker's schedules at the Immingham Docks. Trolley cars were scheduled in half-hour intervals, with a full run between Grimsby and Immingham lasting about 27 minutes, while peak intervals often saw whole convoys of up to seven cars running one whole service.

One of two signals on the GIER is seen crossing Woad Lane in
Great Coats, May 20, 1961.
(George Whitchurch)

    The infrastructure for the GIER was also unique as well. The biggest oversight that one may see when looking at other equivalent interurbans is that the line was never signalled, even on the runarounds, with the conclusion being that all motormen were trained under a very rigorous schedule. It was only after World War II that two level crossings received local signals, but that was it. As for the trackwork, it was a mix of lightweight streetcar channel rail in Grimsby and Immingham Town with heavier-profile rail out along the private right-of-way. The GIER started out using American-patterned flat-bottom rail that rested on the ties themselves, but this was later switched to the more-common "bullhead" rail found on most British Railways; these used special seats to suspend the rails above the ties and give them a more "braced" appearance. Due to the use of heavier-standard rail, the wheel profiles of the interurban cars were also made to fit, with deeper flanges and wider tyres.

At Pyewipe Yard, car No. 3 meets a bus in this circa 1960 photo.
(John Law)

    The last thing worth mentioning about the GIER's operations is the "Cleveland Bridge Works", known colloquially as "Pyewipe" due to a nearby marsh. Despite being the main storage and maintenance yard of the GIER, the most unusual thing about Pyewipe was that the shed was not a shed; rather, the cars were stored outside and only entered the works when needed. This was possibly due to the Pyewipe Shed being only two tracks wide and able to only hold three cars at a time. Prior to 1940, the cars were also sent to  Dukinfield Carriage Works (in Greater Manchester) for major repairs but this came with its own challenges. From the start, the GIER had no connection with the GCR (later, LNER) mainline apart from a diamond crossing near Corporation Bridge, which made streetcar transport by train impossible. Instead, trolley cars were craned onto a low-loader provided by the Grimsby District Light Railway, which then interchanged with the LNER, a quite cumbersome but ultimately straightforward process. 

Rolling Stock in the Pyewipe

A packed fantrip sees veteran car No. 15 stop at Cleveland Bridge
Terminus in early 1961. Note the BR "Cycling Lion" logo on the side.
(Dave's Rail Pics)

Car No. 2 is seen here in LNER ownership, by which point it was 
painted a bright yellow-orange teak color.
(LNER Encyclopedia)

    Over its operating existence, the Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway rostered 37 cars total. The first eight cars were delivered in 1912 with Nos. 1-4 being 54-foot long, double-bogie cars built by Brush Electrical Engineering Company of Loughborough, Leicestershire. These cars were unlike any other trolley car built for England as they were built with high capacity in mind, able to seat 32 people with an additional 30 standees, and were also quite powerful with four Dick-Kerr DK9 50-HP motors making 200HP. Stopping was accomplished by rheostatic and magnetic braking, another stark departure from convention as most cars at the time were airbraked; it is unknown why the GIER chose magnetic brakes, but this was possibly due to knowing the high capacity expected and wanting to not have to worry about maintaining an on-board air compressor. They were originally finished in GCR Reddish-Brown "Carriage" livery. Eight more of these cars similar to Nos. 1-4 (Nos. 9-16) were constructed by the GCR between 1913 and 1915 with similar proportions and technology, but also hosted a wealth of improvements when Nos. 1-4 were rebuilt in 1920. These included the mundane-but-sensible changes like steel body panels and underfloor toolboxes, and revolutionary upgrades like carbon-shoe collectors in 1940 (to avoid sparks during wartime blackouts) and electric heaters in 1957.

"Short" Car No. 5 is seen here working with the "Tower Car" on June 21, 1953,
under BR ownership. Note the "British Railways" lettering and the center doors
cut into the car.
(John H. Meredith)

    The other class of trams built for the GIER were Nos. 5-8, another Brush Traction product that were 38-feet, 10 inches long and originally meant for an inner-city line within Grimsby Center that was never built. Their total capacity was 48 seated passengers and their DK10B 35HP motors gave them a weaker, slower performance of about 140HP. Like the larger Nos. 1-4, the smaller cars also featured magnetic brakes and were eventually modernized by the 1920s, but remained unpopular in use compared to their larger brethren. One notably-complained-about feature was the use of a single trolley pole, the rotation of which usually put the motormen or conductor at a danger of being side-swiped by a passing car; Nos. 1-4 had two poles which made changing ends much easier. After the LNER absorbed the GCR in 1923 under the "Big Four" grouping, the entire fleet was repainted in the parent railway's "Varnished Teak" livery and Nos. 6-8 were withdrawn between 1931 and 1933 due to redundancy. No. 5 was converted into a works car and mostly stayed around Pyewipe, only coming out to work on the track or other infrastructure.

The Pyewipe Carhouse on February 1, 1953, featuring (from left to right) ex-Gateshead Car No. 26,
original cars Nos. 12 and 1, and ex-Newcastle replacement car No. 6.
(John H. Meredith)

Ex-Gateshead Car No. 18 in GIER service. note the fancy wrought-iron
underguards between the trucks, which are the accursed Brill
"Maximum Traction" trucks used with much derision in the US.
(Rail Photoprints)

    After World War II, the Grimsby Corporation began promoting a 200-acre industrial estate west of the town, with only the GIER serving it as no direct road was constructed at the time. By this same time, the LNER had been absorbed into British Railways (BR), England's new nationalized railway corporation, and with that also came the GIER. Now in charge of an odd little interurban that did not fit with its corporate model, the only major act BR did to improve the GIER was provide three 1901-built ex-Newcastle Corporation Transport double-truck streetcars in 1948 (which came with upholstered seats) as the replacement Nos. 6, 7, and 8, and then nineteen 1923-built ex-Gateshead & District Tramways Company cars as the new Nos 17-33 (as the Gateshead system had just gone belly up). Unfortunately, one was dropped upon delivery and never entered service, so only eighteen Gateshead cars were available to replace the Newcastle cars. Around this time, BR also painted the fleet in a new pine green color, similar to their electric locomotives and multiple units. One of these cars (No. 17) also replaced the former Works Car No. 5, becoming "DE320224", which had the dubious distinction of being the highest-numbered trolley car anywhere on Earth. For this, No. 320224 was rebuilt with boxcar doors along both sides and was made to pull the "Tower Car", which was self-explanatory.

Ex-No. 17 is now the "320224", seen here coupled to the "Tower Car" outside of the Pyewipe Carhouse.
(Geoffrey Skelsey)

Sleepin' with the Kippers

Grimsby & Cleethorpes Bus No. 37, an AEC Regent, pulls out
of the Grimsby Bus Depot in 1962.
(UKBusPhotos)

    With the new streetcars purchased and in operation, and with the promise of postwar industry coming to Grimsby and setting themselves up along the River Humber, it seemed everything was coming up "top trumps" for the GIER with a whole new future ahead. Unfortunately, the early 1950s was the peak of the GIER with nineteen cars in service between 1954 and 1956. The demand was often so bad that convoys of up to six cars operated one service between Grimsby and Immingham. However, the biggest hit came in 1956 when the line between Corporation and Cleveland Bridges in Grimsby were closed on July 1 and replaced by buses. By late 1957, the Immingham Dock Power Station closed and power was provided by the local Yorkshire Electricity Board, giving the BR another bill to worry about. By September 28, 1959, the railway did the unthinkable and modified its schedule to now run part-day working instead of all day and night as it was before, coinciding with the closure of the middle substation. What finally killed the Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway were road improvements between the two towns that allowed buses to handle traffic both to the docks and to the new business parks, with the last trolley car running from Immingham Dock to Grimsby on July 1, 1961. At the time it closed, over 250,000 people depended on the cars for their daily commute.

A memorial headboard, now at the National Tramway Museum in Crich, Derbyshire, memorializes
that fateful event, long since passed into the annals of history.
(Unknown Author)

Surviving Artifacts

Grimsby & Immingham No. 14, on display at the National Tramway Museum in Crich.
(National Tramway Museum)

Gateshead No. 5 (formerly GIER No. 20) in all of its
original finery, looking quite like a San Franciscan cable car.
(NE2 3PN)

    Despite 24 cars being kept in running order by the time the railway closed, only one original GIER car has survived into preservation. When it was retired in 1961, No. 14 was originally stored at BR Facility Clay Cross, Derbyshire, before being sent to York to be displayed at the National Railway Museum in 1988. After two years on display, it was sent to the National Tramway Museum in Crich, Derbyshire, where it remains on display to this day alongside the ex-GIER "Tower Car", originally owned by author J.H. Price. Also joining it at Crich is ex-Gateshead car No. 20, which has now been restored to its original state as Gateshead No. 5. While it is undergoing an overhaul right now, the car has operated on-and-off in the past. The other surviving ex-Gateshead car, No. 26, now operates at the Beamish Museum in County Durham as of 2015, restored back to its original identity as Gateshead No. 10. When it first re-entered service, it was restored in the BR Green Livery it wore while in service in Grimsby, but now wears its original colors. The Pyewipe Carhouse is also in existence as of 2015, currently in industrial use.

Gateshead No. 10 at Beamish, looking quite sharp in its handsome red, white, and cream livery.
(Beamish Transport Online)

Thank you for reading today's Trolley post, and watch your step as you alight on the platform. My resources today included "Great Central, Volume Three: Fay Sets the Pace, 1900-1922" by George Dow, "The Tramways of Grimsby, Immingham, and Cleethorpes" by J.H. Price, the LNER Encyclopedia, the National Tramway Museum at Crich, the Beamish Museum, and the photo credits in each caption. The trolley gifs in our posts are made by myself and can be found under “Motorman Reymond’s Railroad Gif Carhouse”. On Thursday, we catch up with ourselves as we look at the Mexborough & Swinton Tramway! For now, you can follow myself or my editor on Twitter! Until next time, ride safe!