Tram lines which conveyed East London residents along Fleet Street 100 years ago have been removed from their resting place during the Fleet Street reconstruction and are stockpiled in a BCM building yard.
The old tram service ran in a circular route up Oxford Street, down Botha Road in Selborne, past where Ham’s Club is today, along Stewart Drive in Berea, across to the East London Golf Club, down the hill through Marina Glen to Moore Street, along the Esplanade, up Currie Street and across Fleet Street to rejoin Oxford.
The original service began in 1900, but was reconstructed and electrical trams began ferrying passengers from 1910 until 1935, when a more flexible bus fleet replaced them.
Historian and former East London Museum director Gill Vernon, who was tasked with drawing up a heritage impact assessment (HIA) ahead of the roadworks, said the tram tracks had no significance because the museum already had examples of tracks removed from Oxford Street a few years ago.
She said late historian Keith Tankard had “mapped the route very carefully” so there was no need to hold on to the tracks.
“When you hold onto something, it means it is telling you something new.”
However, she said should any sign of a turntable be excavated, particularly in the area of the fire station and the traffic circle at the bottom of Oxford Street, she would like to be notified.
“There was a terminus near the fire station where the trams were kept overnight, so there may have been a turntable to turn them the right way round and that would be of interest.” She said no evidence of timber sleepers had been found and the wood – probably high quality Rhodesian teak or Australian wood – had probably been removed when the service stopped running due to a wood shortage at the time.
Vernon said repairs to Fleet Street over the decades had merely tarred over the tram lines.
“This was well worth doing.”
East London Museum director Geraldine Morcom confirmed the museum was in possession of tram tracks and bolts that had been removed from Oxford Street.
Border Historical Society chairman William Martinson said the tram lines were an interesting link to East London’s past.
“They are physical evidence of an earlier transport system. I imagine there are very few people left who remember using trams.
“They are a tangible link to that earlier era.”
BCM spokesman Sibusiso Cindi said the position of the tram lines had been recorded and that only old drainage pipes and electrical cables as well as concrete, asbestos and old pipelines had been excavated. — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
Pulling history up by the roots
The old tram service ran in a circular route up Oxford Street, down Botha Road in Selborne, past where Ham’s Club is today, along Stewart Drive in Berea, across to the East London Golf Club, down the hill through Marina Glen to Moore Street, along the Esplanade, up Currie Street and across Fleet Street to rejoin Oxford.
The original service began in 1900, but was reconstructed and electrical trams began ferrying passengers from 1910 until 1935, when a more flexible bus fleet replaced them.
Historian and former East London Museum director Gill Vernon, who was tasked with drawing up a heritage impact assessment (HIA) ahead of the roadworks, said the tram tracks had no significance because the museum already had examples of tracks removed from Oxford Street a few years ago.
She said late historian Keith Tankard had “mapped the route very carefully” so there was no need to hold on to the tracks.
“When you hold onto something, it means it is telling you something new.”
However, she said should any sign of a turntable be excavated, particularly in the area of the fire station and the traffic circle at the bottom of Oxford Street, she would like to be notified.
“There was a terminus near the fire station where the trams were kept overnight, so there may have been a turntable to turn them the right way round and that would be of interest.” She said no evidence of timber sleepers had been found and the wood – probably high quality Rhodesian teak or Australian wood – had probably been removed when the service stopped running due to a wood shortage at the time.
Vernon said repairs to Fleet Street over the decades had merely tarred over the tram lines.
“This was well worth doing.”
East London Museum director Geraldine Morcom confirmed the museum was in possession of tram tracks and bolts that had been removed from Oxford Street.
Border Historical Society chairman William Martinson said the tram lines were an interesting link to East London’s past.
“They are physical evidence of an earlier transport system. I imagine there are very few people left who remember using trams.
“They are a tangible link to that earlier era.”
BCM spokesman Sibusiso Cindi said the position of the tram lines had been recorded and that only old drainage pipes and electrical cables as well as concrete, asbestos and old pipelines had been excavated. — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
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