Trams, as well as a form of transport were also a point of civic pride for a lot of Local Councils, and West Ham Corporation was no exception.

The tram would also be used to celebrate major events, and before the open top bus ride which we see now days when the local football team has a major success, an open top tram would be used.

As well as a Railway link, a part of Beckton was also fed by a Tramway system.

This system was not run by, as expected East or West Ham, but instead the Tramway came under the control of Barking Council.  

Because it was only a mainly a workman service for the Factories and the Gas Works at Beckton, it was not a popular service, but it had one thing that no other London Tramway had, as a part its track system it had it’s own Bascule Bridge (see Drawing).

On the 6th June 1937, Bus No.622 was the first Trolley Buses to run a service in West Ham.

This was not the first `Trolley` to run in West Ham, this had been 25 years before.

In 1912 at the annual conference of the Municipal Tramways Association (which was hosted by West Ham Corporation Tramways) on the 25th to 27th September, an Austrian Cedes-Stoll was the first trolleybus (run by West Ham Corporation) to carry passengers on a London public highway, Greengate Street, E.13.

Eastern Counties Railways first opened a workshop at Stratford in 1839.

The most famous Locomotive Superintendent at Stratford was James Holden, the man Holden Point is named after.

In 1891, the Great Eastern Railways works set a world record when on the 10th December, 85 men built a six-wheeled couple engine and tender in 9 hours, 47 minutes.

Ferries across the Thames at Woolwich

Nobody really knows when the first ferry was used to cross between the banks of the River at Woolwich reach, but it is believed that this may have been the crossing point for travellers from Colchester to Dover and as far back as the Iron Age.

The first official record of a Ferry service was in the 14th century.

Opening Ceremony It was built to provide a more reliable connection between North and South Woolwich, as the bad winter fogs often stopped the Woolwich Free Ferry from operating. It also provided a route for services, including a 20” water main with risers coming up through a number of shafts. The tunnel owed much to the efforts of Will Crooks MP (1852-1921), hero of the 1889 docks strike and later Chairman of the LCC's Bridges Committee.

The tunnel was commissioned by the LCC It was designed and built by Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice (1861-1924) chief engineer to LCC who also designed the Rotherhithe Tunnel (1908) and Vauxhall Bridge (1906). An earlier tunnel was begun under the Thames here in 1876 by J.H. Gratehead (1844-1896) but was not completed.

The lifts had manually operated gates. The gates and the lift mechanism were replaced in the early 1990s but the original wood panelled lift cage is still in place. The lifts can carry 40 passengers

The tunnel was dug by hand and is 1655 feet long and is10 feet below the river bed. The people of North Woolwich refer to the tunnel as ‘the pipe’. It is often used a filming location for TV dramas and adverts.
Photo: © Copyright Nigel Cox and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence at www.geograph.org.uk

The tunnel was opened by the London County Council in 26 October 1912. It cost £87,000. The tunnel provided a pedestrian link under the River Thames between North Woolwich and Woolwich

The Woolwich Free Ferry opened in 1889. The pier was demolished after the new ferry terminal was opened in 1966. The tunnel was designed as an alternative river crossing and opened in 1912.