TO VICTORIANS more used to going anywhere on foot, or by horse or bicycle, the arrival of the tram was a thrilling, if not bone shaking, experience.

The first of the new fangled modes of transport in the late 1880s were those pulled by horses.

With many areas of East Lancashire built on steep inclines, it was often necessary to add an extra horse to make the long drag uphill – the spare horse then being walked back down again, ready to help the next up tram.

One of the routes that needed this extra horsepower was the journey out of Blackburn centre, from the town hall, to Billinge End.

Many of Blackburn termini were on the Boulevard, through the Wilpshire route, which started in Penny Street.

In the 1930s, the Old White Bull Hotel in Salford, was the terminus for the trams to Intack and Church.

The road was very narrow after the trams climbed Eanam towards Copy Nook and the tracks were laid close together, so that two trams could not pass at the same time.

In the earlier days of the tram, the upper decks, which seated around 30 passengers, were open to the elements and not popular in the rain.

Burnley introduced steam trams in 1881 and began the switch to electric 20 years later, in 1901.

The very first broke down in Westgate on its trial run and had to be hauled back to the depot by horse.

The next one exploded on its first outing, while several prosecutions for smoke emission from these steam locos resulted in them temporarily being withdrawn, in favour of horse drawn vehicles.

Six days before Christmas in 1923 the number 10 tram crashed in Briercliffe Road, killing a young passenger and the conductor and injuring several more.

Coincidentally the same tram had been wrecked at exactly the same spot in 1919.

In the second incident, the tram was beginning its steep climb towards Harle Syke, when a lorry, belonging to Stanworth Bros of Barden Lane, skidded and collided with the tram which was pushed into Sunderland’s newsagent’s shop.

Burnley’s last tram ran in 1935, three years after the first buses were introduced.

New electric cars started to run on the route between Darwen and Blackburn on October 16, 1900.

The Telegraph reported that the road had been in a state of disorder and upheaval for some weeks, as old lines were removed, new ones fitted and points were set up, to the general consternation of many.

However, order was soon restored out of the chaos and the smart electric cars were up and ‘flashing crisply’ on their way.

The old steam trams, with their attendant reek and greasy trail were not exorcised completely, though, so that the big contrast between old and new was most apparent when they passed on the road.

The electric versions in use – seven of them in total – belonged to Darwen Corporation, though those to be provided, by an arrangement with Blackburn Corporation, did not actually appear for some weeks afterwards.

Decked out in vermilion livery, they could carry 60 passengers and among the modern features was an electric push button system of communication between the guard and the driver, used when passengers intimated their desire to alight from the vehicle.