When Keighley Corporation’s horse-drawn trams were replaced by electricity in 1904, local postcard producer G Bannister commemorated their demise with this witty epitaph: “In Affectionate Remembrance of the Keighley Horse-Cars which succumbed to an Electric Shock, May 29, 1904. Gone But Not Forgotten.”
This photograph illustrates both the spartan conditions under which the drivers worked, and the casual dress of the conductor collecting fares on what seems an over-crowded upper deck.
Keighley’s tramcars were drawn by a total of 30 horses, in four shifts.
Appealingly, their names have survived. Fourteen were mares: Star, Janet, Nell, Dot, Bell, Queen, Molly, Kitty, Dinah, Whitelegs, Kendal, Biddy, Susan and Lucy. The rest were Bob, Major, Billy, Buck, Sweep, Joss, Prince, Sullivan, Briton, Harry, Hawk, Pilot, Jack, Sam, Mick and Tom.
Within days of being taken out of service, they had all been auctioned off, together with their harness, six tramcars and other equipment, for £804.
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