Bristol's once mighty tram fleet is to be scrapped and replaced by buses

On the evening of Friday 11th April 1941, Bristol was under blitz.

The last Kingswood tram was heading home to the depot, up Two Mile Hill, into Regent Street, and past the Clock Tower. Suddenly the lights went out and the car ground to a halt. The St. Philips Bridge Power Station had been bombed and all power to the trains had been disconnected.

Left without power, driver Webster and conductor Brittan decided to push - one or two onlookers joined in and soon the tram was sailing down High Street to the depot.

The handbrake wasn't applied until the tram had swung through the depot gates; and onto the tightly curved fan outside the main shed.

This blitz marked the end of the Bristol Tramway System and all the remaining cars were eventually towed to the Kingswood Depot and destroyed.

Late in 1940 the Government asked the Bristol Tramway Company to undertake the assembly of imported army vehicles.

Kingswood depot (owing to the withdrawal of the trams) became available early in 1941 and a large assembly shed was erected in record time on the adjoining allotments.

A staff, many from Ireland, was organised and when production had got into full swing a peak output of 240 vehicles per week was reached and kept going.

Vehicle types assembled covered the whole range from jeeps to snow ploughs and up to 40-ton tank transporters and during the course of the contract 44,000 vehicles were assembled for the British, United States and Canadian armies.

In 1947 the company was asked to manage the Ministry of Supply's engine repair programme and this was undertaken at the Kingswood works until the project closed down in 1959.

During the 12 year period 75,000 engines of 55 different types were overhauled.

'Not one Bristol tram was saved ? - No one complete Bristol tram exists today'

Kingswood Depot had been converted to include a breaking yard with scrap sidings laid on the allotments to the rear of the depot.

A large hole had been made in the depot wall and tracks had been extended on to the sidings for the trams to come finally to rest. But the 'Funeral Run' as this became known, was not at all popular with local people.

Trams en route to Kingswood for breaking were mobbed and at least 10 were to receive such extensive damage that the depot had to despatch crews to tow in the wrecked vehicles. One tram caught fire and another had the control handle removed and had to be driven with the aid of a bicycle spanner.

There was accommodation for forty trams on the sidings and they were destroyed at the rate of one per day 97 number 208 being the first to be dismantled.

The body was loosened and was pulled over before being burnt.

Top deck seats were sold as garden benches and the metal that remained after burning was sold as scrap.

The work was started in a portion of Lysaght's works, but Lysaghts themselves were just starting tank production and soon wanted the shed that was being used for vehicle assembly.

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