Wigan Album

A very typical Edwardian scene. Lovely photo. I would love to have walked amongst that crowd ...

Because there is just one set of tram rails in this picture of Standishgate,
but there are two overhead electric wires, I am thinking that there must
have been a Token system to make sure that only one tram at a time was
on this single line in order to depart from or arrive at Market Place.

The current Natwest Bank to the left, formerly Parr's. Sad to see those buildings on the other side have gone.

I was thinking that as well Veronica, I love the long skirts, and shawls.

Precious memories how they linger

Ray - regarding the single set of tram tracks - street tramways like Wigan's didn't generally have any electrically-interlocked token system like those used on single line railways.

They relied on Line of Sight working with regular, strategically-positioned crossing loops.

The idea was a tram driver could see that his track was clear all the way to the next crossing loop before departing from the one he was in. There was an official rule like "inbound cars to the town centre get priority over outbound trams" for when two opposing trams wanted to use the same section.

All well and good in normal circumstances, but I wonder what happened in thick fog? Lucky those old trams had those big, round electric lights on the front!