Having written about the tram travelling up Park Road and past the Ancient Chapel recently (click here to view that post) I recently acquired this modern print of a photograph dating from about the same period of a tram taken on Croxteth Road.
For me it is very easy to identify this as being taken on Croxteth Road just at the junction with Brompton Avenue. Just out of shot on the right was Sefton Park Presbyterian Church, then still the church of John Watson, otherwise known as best selling author Ian Maclaren. This tram stop was, according to a number of accounts, identified by the conductor to passengers as “Dr Watson’s Church”. I have written about this Church before here.
It must have been an important junction, the trams seem to have made relatively long stops there, they certainly appear on postcards of Sefton Park Church, the crew happily posing for the photographer, so they must have had reason to hang around.
Detail of a postcard view of Sefton Park Church, showing a tram waiting in the same spot
There are also clearly extra crew members included here in the photograph, with an inspector stepping on to the tram. Was this, perhaps, a place where crews changed over? On the top deck you can see the seats that could be pushed to face the other way when the tram got to the end of the line.
And to the right of the tram stand an elegant Edwardian couple.
velvethummingbee 
Good afternoon, Revd. David.
The junction at Croxteth Road/Brompton Avenue/Ullet Road was the terminus for the number 15 tram. At one time, as it was serving the gentry who lived around Sefton Park, it was a ‘First Class Tram’. The furnishings and upholstery were quite plush.
My Gran would tell the tale of a posh lady who boarded such a tram at the terminus and found one the seats occupied by a tramp. She addressed him “Are you aware, my man, that this is a First Class tram?” He replied “Yes ma’am, I know dat but it’s me birthday and I’m givin’ me backside* a treat.”
* the term used was more colloquial than ‘backside’ as you can imagine.
When I was growing up in York Avenue my Mum, Dad and I would often take the 15 to/from town rather than hang around waiting for a bus (80 or 73). That was in the late 1940s / early 1950s when there was no such thing as a First Class tram.
Thank you for the chance to reminisce.
In fellowship,
Richard Banyard (Heswall)
Sent from my iPad mini
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Hi Richard,
Ha ha! That is a brilliant story. I had a feeling it must be some sort of terminus or stage post of some sort, thanks for confirming that. I didn’t realise it was a number 15 either, that is interesting. I spent many an hour waiting for an 80, 73 or 72 at the bus stop nearby when I was young, even that stop has moved now. I never knew trams but I feel quite nostalgic for them!
All the best,
David
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