As anyone who has completed the lung-busting climb to the top of Constitution Hill will exclaim, there must be an easier way to scale one of the steepest residential streets in the UK. And over 100 years ago, there was. This week, read all about it.

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Catch you on Sunday!

Andrew.

A Tram to Townhill

The Constitution Hill Tramway, also known as the Swansea Cliff Tram, opened in August 1898. The lower terminus was at St. George Street (now Hanover Street) and the upper was at Terrace Road.

For just 1d (one penny) each way, up to 18 passengers could relax while the tram carried them up and down the hill. The service ran continuously from 11 AM to 11.15 PM, and the journey took about two and a half minutes.

It consisted of two counterbalanced cars that were fixed to a steel cable, guided by pulleys in a conduit. At the top of the hill, a winding house contained two gas engines that powered the whole operation.

Sounds like the kind of public transport solution that would thrive in that part of town - cheap, reliable, and safe. Unfortunately, the complete opposite was true.

The Beginning of the Line

In September 1894, the population of the Townhill area of Swansea was estimated to be around 10,000 people, and with a new housing development planned there, it was thought that a tramway to transport residents up and down Constitution Hill would be hugely popular.

Difficulties in letting property at the top of the (993ft long and 116ft high) slope and a potential 10,000 or more passengers coming from the West End and Cwmbwrla, were other key reasons behind the desire to get a tram service in place.

The Swansea Constitution Hill Tramway Company developed the idea for the line and it was built by the George Webb Company of Westminster.

Explaining the inspiration for the line, Councillor W.B. Westlake told the Cambria Daily Leader in September 1894, "You remember the day that we were all at Lynmouth last year… Well, I was much struck with the utility of that little line of Newnes... and I thought then that was just what we wanted at Constitution Hill."

Asked if he was confident that the tramway would be profitable, he added:

"Some gentleman who I have consulted are willing to take that risk; a risk which, personally, I don't consider great... Sufficient people to fill a car every four minutes go up Mount Pleasant, and I am pretty sure that if we provide a means - quick and cheap -of taking them up the hill, few will care about making the toilsome journey on foot."

A Stuttering Start

The initial omens for Swansea’s newest tramline weren’t good:

• A proposal to construct the line was brought before the General Purposes Committee of the Swansea Corporation in October 1895, who decided to recommend the project, subject to minor alterations.
  

• More than a year later, advertising for tenders took place, and it was hoped that construction of the line would start in January 1897.
  

• The contract to carry out the work was eventully signed in February 1897, and was due to be completed within three months.
  

• Some six months later, the line was fully built and all the equipment to enable the running of cars had arrived in Swansea and the line was ready to open.

However, it failed its first inspection on safety grounds - including brakes that wouldn’t stop the cars fast enough in an emergency, and a track layout that was deemed dangerous.

The Swansea Constitution Hill Incline Tramway eventually opened to the public on Saturday, August 27th, 1898 and was “very extensively patronised”… until it was forced to close that very same day due to a problem with the clutch mechanism.

The tramway re-opened over a week later, only to shut again within another few weeks, with “the whole of the machinery being overhauled,” reported the South Wales Daily News.

Mechanical woes weren’t the tram’s only problem. The number of passengers it carried was much smaller than its makers had anticipated. Over the next 14 months, an average of only 500 passengers per day (200,000 total) rode on the line.

What’s more, at least five people were required to run the service at any time - a driver and guard on each car and an engineer to control the winding mechanism. With fares set at just 1d per ride, there was little hope of covering the worker’s wages, let alone making a profit.

Safety issues continued to persist, too. In 1930, the South Wales Daily Post in an “It Was Thirty Years Ago” feature that “a car on the Swansea cliff railway broke past the stop block and got on the road at the foot of Constitution Hill, smashing the windows.” 

End of the line

All of the above factors contributed to the line closing for traffic just two years later on October 5th, 1901 - earning it the distinction of being one of the most unsuccessful tramways in British history.

It probably would have shut down even earlier, but its operator was closely linked to a housing development in Mount Pleasant, who, cunningly, decided to keep it running until all the houses were sold.

By 1903, the tramway was offered for sale as a whole, but there were no takers. The track, machinery and rails were sold for scrap and the Swansea Constitution Hill Tramway Company was wound up by 1905.

Return of the tram?

In later years, there were calls amongst some quarters for the tramway to return, but cheaper-to-run electric street tramways (used elsewhere in Swansea) were no match for the steep gradient of Constitution Hill.

With more and more housing being built in Townhill and Mayhill, the pressure was on to find a solution to transport people up and down the steep hill, and by the early 1920s, it arrived in the form of buses, with rachet brakes to prevent them from slipping backwards.

Fast-forward to today, and Constitution Hill is closed to any traffic going up its full length, and only open part-way coming down.

Despite all of its faults, a tramway like that built by the Victorians would be a very welcome addition to the Swansea landscape today, and even a major draw for tourism. What are the chances, do you reckon?

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