British Guiana Tramcars

Algernon E. Aspinall in the 1914 edition of “The Pocket Guide to the British West Indies”, describes the “admirable” Georgetown service of electric tramcars provided by the Demerara Electric Company as plying four routes daily, through the city, at 15-minute intervals. They stopped, he noted, along the route at places marked by white poles, to pick up and drop off passengers.

The trams traversed along lines named the (1) Belt Line, which went from the company’s office, Water and Coal streets, crossing Camp Street, the cricket ground on New Garden Street, Middle Street and crossing Camp Street and Main Street  into Water Street. (2) Sea Wall Line: From the sea wall (a place called the Platform) to Main Street, Bentinck Street, Water Street, Lombard and Broad streets, Croal and Camp streets and Camp Road. (3) La Penitence and Church Street Line: La Penitence, Stabroek Market, the company’s office, Church Street, Water Works, New North Road and New Garden Street before returning along the same route. The East Bank Line(4) went along Main Street through Water Street; Lombard Street, Albouystown and La Penitence along the public road, running through the Ruimveldt and Houston plantations to the terminus at Peter’s Hall.

According to Allen Morrison in his article “The Tramways of Georgetown, British Guiana”, on tramz.com website, a street railway began ferrying passengers in the city in 1877, which was acquired in 1880 by the Georgetown Tramways Company. In 1899, the Georgetown Tramways Company was itself acquired by the Demerara Electric Company, which had also purchased the British Guiana Electric Light and Power Company.

Demerara Electric Company then ordered 14 open electric trams from the St. Louis Car Company in Missouri, a tram maker in the US. The previous vehicles were provided for the Georgetown Tramways Company by the John Stephenson Company in New York.

The new tramway in Georgetown was declared opened February 25, 1901, and in the following year, two more trams were ordered and installed along the city’s streets. Another two more were added in 1909 though this time purchased from a British company. The East Bank line was established by the Demerara Electric Company when it built a line south of the city to Peter’s Hall.

Single fare was 5 cents while tickets purchased in strips of three, were 12 cents. There was also a children’s fare and a special fare for cars to be used for “trolley parties”. Transfer tickets from one line to another were free.

However, the July 2, 1929 Jamaica Gleaner newspaper would later report the Demerara Electric Company as informing the Georgetown Town Council in June the same year that due to the reduction in passengers on its tramcars, the company would cease its service at the expiration of its licence in January 1930.

According to the report, in an interview with company manager G.B. Lomer, he stated that the company had performed its own investigations earlier in the year to determine the feasibility of keeping the lines running, and had concluded that the tramways “could only be operated with heavy annual deficit”.

The manager noted that the increase in the use of motor cars and bicycles – what he called modern conditions – had led to passenger decline. The tram service was discontinued in February 1930 and the lines dug up.  They were taken out of the city and used to ferry wood and fuel, while the rest was sold to an overseas buyer. (Photos from tramz.com)