THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com  created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

TRAMOCARS NEARLY CAME TO THE GUN INN

Copyright Valerie Martin 2007

Originally printed in the Findon News in March 2007

What was a tramocar of yesteryear?   All is about to be revealed.

Over a hundred years ago the British Electric Traction Company bid to change the transport in our area.   The date was 1901 and if it had not been for controversy over who should administer their tramocars these vehicles would have been rattling down our High Street the following year and jarring the passengers on their way to Findon.  

At the initial planning stage of this enterprise, the Worthing Town Council considered a covering network of four different tramway lines and these included one running from the Worthing Town Hall in South Street northwards all the way to the Gun Inn at the centre of Findon.    Unlike trams, this form of transport would not have required rails for operation.   The inhabitants of Findon awaited the outcome of the proposed enterprise with considerable interest and anticipation.

Following a number of rather heated sessions of debates, the plans were thwarted and did not come to fruition.  This was because full control over the tramway development could not be guaranteed for the Town Council.

Not many people now realise that a 10 mph speed limit was imposed on vehicles passing through Findon in 1909..... long before the A25 bypass was constructed.  

It was not until 1924 that a New Zealander living in Worthing brought the small, red, open-sided single-deck form of transport to the town.    His vehicles were unusual in themselves with no clutch, gearbox or steering wheel.   The town's first tramocars also had canvas blinds which could be pulled down to keep off the offending rain and oil lamps for lighting the way.  The tramocars had solid metal wheels, two-handed tiller driver's controls and low entrance steps (that particularly pleased the older travelling population).   

The transport also gave any passengers a hard uncomfortable ride.   The less noise by having a quiet motor was somewhat replaced by the incessant clattering coming from the small wheels.     By this later date the company had rather limited routes and there was no mention of coming northwards as far as Findon.  A total of fifteen tramocars were used in service until the routes were replaced by single-deck Southdown buses in 1938.  

Continue if you would like to read more about The Early 1900s at the Gun Inn.

THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.