Grimsby District Light Railway
Grimsby District Light Railway was a tramway serving the towns of Grimsby and Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire.
The Grimsby Light Railway opened in 1881 using horse drawn trams on its standard 4' 81/2 " gauge tracks, stretching from People's Park in Grimsby to Kingsway in Cleethorpes. A branch departed the main line at Riby Square to serve Freeman street. In 1901, these were replaced with electric tramways. Six trailer cars were operated until 1918, mainly on football match days, in addition to 31 four-wheeled double-deck electric cars. An open touring car was built in 1922.
In 1925, and after long preceedings, the Grimsby Transport Company bought the tramway company which became the Great Grimsby Street Tramways Company. As the rolling stock was showing signs of age, the Corporation purchased sixteen tramcars from the Sunderland District tramway.
The Freeman Street branch was replaced by trolleys buses and extended to Weelsby Road and in 1927 moved the depot to Victoria Street Depot, an old sea plane hangar. The People's Park segment of the line closed in 1928. The line from the old market to Cleethorpes remained open with high traffic but was replaced by trolley buses in November 1936. A few trams remained in operation between Riby Square, Park Street and Cleethorpes until March 1937. This system closed in 1937, the tram depot was subsequently used as bus depot, it is still in use by Stagecoach.
In July 1936, the Cleethorpes Urban District Council bought the tramway company and operated the trams, only to convert the whole line to trolleybus a year later. The line was extended to Bathing Pool. Operation was transferred to the Grimsby Cleethorpes Transport Joint Committee in 1957, but was replaced by traditonal motor buses in 1960.