The theme of the first few months of TfBs existence has been one of making contact.

BATH & N. E. SOMERSET COUNCIL

held a series of public consultation meetings on the Local Transport Plan at which TfB was well represented. When we discovered that our message had become lost somewhere between the consultation and the councillors, we submitted a 14 page written report and, just to make sure, sent personal copies to key coucillors.

'CONNECTING THE WESTERN RIVERSIDE'

was the title of a public consultation at Green Park which aroused great interest. TfB members were much in evidence during the exercise and made a substantial contribution to the event. The consultants had not been told of our existence and had already been wondering about using lightweight trams to solve their problems, even going so far as to contact Disneyland for advice. They were surprised to find that we had located a source of the trams they needed and will now be looking closely at our suggestions.

FOXHILL

We have been talking to the consultants for the Foxhill project, who showed great interest in TfB, even though it lies mostly outside their immediate brief.

WESSEX WATER

We also approached Wessex Water which has a transport problem, with many of the staff for their new site at Claverton Down coming from outside Bath. The idea of a comprehensive tram service from all the Park+Rides is one which appeals to them.

SOUTHGATE

The Southgate consultation took place before TfB had really found its feet, but we have now caught up and are in the process of submitting a report showing how trams could give the project the 'spark' it really needs.

BROUGHAM HAYES

A recent proposal to put an hotel and a music facility for Hayesfield School on the old police garage site at the bottom of Brougham Hayes was interesting from the transport point of view. To make best use of the site and avoid generating traffic, the site was only designed with a fairly minimal number of parking spaces. We have pointed out to the developers that such a scheme can only work if the public transport is good; and the proposed tram stops in Victoria Bridge Road and at the top of Brougham Hayes will be just what they need to make their plans viable.
There are so many projects in Bath where transport is a key factor, that, we are hard put to keep up with each new plan as it is announced.

SOUTH WEST REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY

At the regional level, a new government body, SWRDA has been formed. We have submitted a document as part of their consultation process stating clearly our hopes that they will support light tramways as part of the transport infrastructure needed to further the development of the South West. We had already contributed to the South West Regional Planning Conference in a similar vein.

LOCAL ORGANISATIONS

Local organisations have expressed interest in our proposals. We have given talks to Bath West Rotary and Bath Rotary clubs and the Bath Association of Graduate Women. If you are a member of a local group and think it would help to spread the word, why not ask for a talk?

THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN

No, not a printing error but the name of the Osaka daily newspaper. Imagine our surprise when we were contacted by e-mail by an enthusiastic Japanese reporter who had found our website and wanted to write an article on how cities around the world were using trams to tackle pollution and congestion. A copy of the 12th August evening edition is now in our 'resource centre' for anyone who wants to read the article - complete with pictures of Broad Street jammed with traffic and the Pullman TPL tram outside Blackpool tram depot.

Planning a tramway is a complex matter, so how do we avoid frightening-off enquirers with the complexity of the process?
A website proved to be just the thing, like a loose-leaf book you can skip around the pages in any order you choose. You don't have to get bogged-down in detail and you can always delve deeper if you want to.

WHATS ON OUR WEBSITE

The website is growing all the time but to give some idea, at the last count it contained 123 pages of text, 47 pictures and 48 maps and drawings. It also has links to other websites across the world, so you can look at tram scenes from Hong Kong or find out when Croydon tramway is due to open.
Local information is also included, with links to The Bath Chronicle, local institutions and even the pollution monitoring equipment on the A4.
Other useful information includes fare tables for British tram systems, in case you were thinking of paying them a visit or just wanted to compare the prices with the bus fares in Bath.
Another feature is a comprehensive alphabetical index to help you hop straight to the item you want to see.

'WHAT'S ON' IS ON

Most important for the rapidly changing situation we find ourselves in, is the 'What's On' Page. When something happens which changes our plans overnight, we can post it on the 'Web' in the time it takes to make one 'phone call.

'THE HIDDEN ADVANTAGES

Website are the 'in' thing as far as business is concerned. Give executives officials or politicians your website address and they know you really mean business. You can achieve more with a slip of card displaying a bit of gobbledygook than you could with a glossy hundred-page brochure.

WHAT IF I DON'T HAVE A COMPUTER?

TfB tries to spread information as widely as possible. We send articles on forthcoming events to The Bath Chronicle and Radio Bristol.
A telephone call to Adrian on:
01225 335974
will keep you up-to-date on any last minute changes to events.

HOW TO FIND IT

If you do have a computer (or use the ones in the Library) the appropriate gobbledeygook is in the panel below:

THE CITY CENTRE CIRCLE
is crucial to the whole tram system, it not only provides an easy link between all the other routes but also ensures that passengers coming into Bath from the suburbs actually arrive at the end of the street they want to visit, not some distant car park or bus stop.

Our walk on 14th April began with a visit to Kingsmead Square, where evidence of the previous trams could just be discerned, we made contact with the City Centre Circle. Following this in the preferred clockwise direction, took us towards the Theatre Royal.

SAWCLOSE CAR PARK

B&NES proposes to close this soon, which will give the trams an easy sweep around the corner.
One theme, which recurs during tramway planning is whether to cater for present-day conditions and risk having to make expensive alterations as conditions change, or whether to plan something which will be controversial until the sense of it becomes obvious in the future.

MINERAL WATER HOSPITAL

This is a case in point. At present many patients arrive by car, they have no choice; but the tram is much more 'disabled-friendly' than a car, so should it stop right outside the hospital? If it does, we face hard criticism for making car-borne patients trek from the other side of the road (a long way if you find walking difficult). If it doesn't stop there, a year or two after the tramway is opened we shall look foolish for not anticipating that more patients would want to arrive by tram than by car; then the tracks will have to be re-aligned at great expense.

UPPER BOROUGH WALLS

illustrates the advantages of trams well. The narrowness of these streets makes the prospect of one bus per minute chugging along unthinkable - even with gas power, particulate traps and all the other environmental improvements we are promised for the future. A tram, on the other hand, safely confined to its track, silent and with no exhaust, is a completely different matter.
The shops along this route all need deliveries of goods, and some need access for collections too. We were able identify side roads, courtyards and other access points which would ensure that these services could continue; the tramway is there to promote commerce, not prevent it.

NORTHGATE STREET

The turning circle of a tram is amazingly tight considering it is a railed vehicle, but the junction with Upper Borough Walls, where the Lansdown and Batheaston services would turn off, has a very tight corner. Continental tramways deal with this situation by dividing the tracks some way back from the junction. The tram going to the left is guided to the right hand side of the road from where it can swing across the other track, following a more gentle curve.
Fortunately the one-way system allows this ploy to be used here and a special phase of the traffic lights would permit the tram to sweep safely across the 'wrong side' of Northgate Street' before heading off past the main Post Office.

GRAND PARADE

To avoid taking wires across the front of the Abbey, the tram tracks run down Bridge Street and along the Grand Parade. The wires so far would be suspended between the buildings on either side of the road, but along the Parade they will have to be supported by poles. By placing these close to the buildings, they can be kept out of the line of sight from the weir below. Bath's famous view of the Pultney Bridge will be unaffected.
Tram poles can also be used for street lights and what an opportunity they would give for an architectural competition to see who could come up with the most practical and elegant design.

TERRACE WALK (Bog Island)

is where the University and Bathampton routes turn off;

BATH SPA RAILWAY STATION

presents a dilemma similar to the one at the Mineral Water Hospital. It would be difficult to justify tram priority which might impede access by other forms of transport and yet it is clear from experience all over the Continent that trams would rapidly become the major interchange mode of transport with trains. At present Badgerline claims only 1% of passengers are interchanging between the railway and their buses.

SOUTHGATE

The present plan for Southgate is to put the Bus Station on the river bank, at the site of the old Corporation Power Station. With the trams running, it would make more sense to free-up the riverbank for prestige uses and put the bus station in Avon Street, along with the coach park. A route south of the Forum and the Ambury multi-deck car park (if that isn't demolished and the land put to better use) would serve this.
Finally we returned to Kingsmead Square and the branch to the Western Riverside, Twerton, Weston and Newbridge - but more of those another time.

TRIP TO ROUEN

Alison McNair and Jeremy Paterson-Fox have been on a fact-finding trip to Rouen. They report they were very impressed by the modern tramway and the way it is totally integrated into the whole of the city's public transport
system. They also brought back some videos which promote the system, we hope to show them at one of our meetings.

TRIP TO WOLVERHAMPTON

Adrian Tuddenham and Peter Provest have visited the new Midlands Metro which recently opened. Although too much like a railway to fit into Bath, the low fares and 6 minute service show what we should be aiming for. The old adage, "Never run after a tram or a woman, there'll be another one along in a minute", certainly proved true for the trams - they didn't investigate the women.

ADVERTISING SPACE

We have been offered space to put up a poster in the Environment Centre and the possibility of mounting an exhibition when they move into new premises in Green Park this Autumn.

MORE ADVERTISING SPACE

Peter Provest spotted some interesting-looking notice boards at Bath Bus Station, which didn't seem to be fully used. Jenny Sutherland has investigated and obtained permission for us to use them for TfB display material. She and Helen Cox will be drawing up some posters.

AVON VALLEY RAILWAY

We have had a meeting with Chris Kemp, General Manager of the Avon Valley Railway. They are planning to extend thir track to Saltford and eventually to Bath. B&NES was concerned that this will generate extra road traffic at the proposed terminus in Newbridge and asked them for proposals to deal with it. We would be delighted to help, and there is even a distant future possibility of an interurban tram service to Bristol.

BATH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Some members of the Bath Chamber of Commerce have realised what a tremendous boost in the commercial activity of Bath will be generated by a tramway. They have asked if we can give them a talk.

CROYDON

The new Croydon Tramlink is rapidly approaching completion with the first trams on test in the streets. Opening is scheduled for November.

BRISTOL

Andy Spearman of Bristol City Council recently gave a talk to the Bath Railway Society. He described the planning process now under way and confirmed that the first Bristol tram line is on schedule for opening in 2003.

SOUTH HAMPSHIRE

The L.R.T.A.s magazine 'Tramways and Urban Transit' reports that the public enquiry for the South Hampshire tramway proposals has now been completed.

EVENTS PAST

BATH'S LAST TRAM

The date was 6th May 1999, the 60th anniversary of the last tram to run in Bath: the venue was the Ballroom of the Bath Tramways Sport and Social Club, the residence of the Bath Tramway manager and the speaker was Colin Maggs M.B.E., the renowned expert on the trams of Bath.
What better commemoration could there have been.
The evening began in a jovial mood with a group of astonished bus drivers being asked to help lift a piece of tram rail and a complete tram staircase (recently rediscovered by Peter Davey) into the venue. Colin's talk continued the light-hearted vein, surveying each of Bath's tram routes in turn whilst Peter Davey kept us informed of progress by turning the destination linen of a surviving route indicator box to the appropriate display.
It is a tribute to the enthusiasm and knowledge of the speaker that members were still discussing the evening several weeks later.

THE WALKS

The two TfB events since the last 'Tramlines' have both been the same. The first walk around the City Centre Circle went ahead despite dreadful weather and early darkness, but such was the interest that the majority of those who started, stayed the course to the bitterly-cold end.
The planned visit to the Midlands Metro was called off because a series of misfortunes kept the actual opening date of the system in constant doubt. Instead we arranged to repeat the City Centre walk so as to be certain of actually having an event.
Despite announcing it in the Bath Chronicle and on H.T.V. and Radio Bristol, we had a disappointing turn-out in terms of numbers; but the participants made up for this in enthusiasm.

EVENTS TO COME

We now have a full programme of events to take us to the end of the year.

BRIAN LOMAS 11 August 1999

'Trams in Action' - Brian is an expert on tramways of the Continent and a prolific source of information on every aspect of trams and how they fit into towns and actually work on a day-to-day basis. No doubt he will be showing us slides or video pictures from his own extensive collection.

ANDY SPEARMAN 13 October 1999

Andy is a Town Planner with Bristol City Counci and one of the people most closely involved with the new Bristol tram project. He has followed the planning process from its outset and will be an invaluable source of information on the right way to go about planning a tramway.

PETER DAVEY 8 December 1999

Peter is the acknowleged expert on Bristol's original trams and has a vast collection of photographs of them - many taken by his own father.
What better way to approach Christmas than a nostalgic trip through pre-war Bristol and Bath, on the top deck of a tram, of course.

Weds 11 August	Trams in Action	Brian Lomas.	BRLSI	19:30	01225 335974
Weds 18 August*	Trams in the Ukraine	Slides by Les Folkard	LRTA Bristol	19:30	0117 951 7785
Weds 8 September	TfB committee meeting		27, Purlewent Drive, Bath	19:30	01225 335974
Weds 15 September*	Video of trams	Brian Lomas	LRTA Bristol	19:30	0117 951 7785
Weds 13 October	The New Bristol Tram Project	Andy Spearman	BRLSI	19:30	01225 335974
Weds 10 November	TfB committee meeting		27, Purlewent Drive, Bath	19:30	01225 335974
Weds 17 November*	G.U.L.P. Lecture Tramway Proposals for Bath	Adrian Tuddenham	Bath University	17:15	Susan Millard 01225 826353
Weds 8 December	Christmas Talk on Old Bath and Bristol Trams	Peter Davey	BRLSI	19:30	01225 335974
To be confirmed*	Test ride on Pullman TPL tram	To be arranged by Bristol City Council	Blackpool		01225 335974

( * Meetings of other societies or groups )
BRLSI is the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, Queen Square, Bath
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