Sunderland Corporation Transport

[obsessedorwhat]

  Grandfather was an electric tram driver - on old Sunderland history sites, there's a lot of info about the trams (pics/history of the company etc) but we are interested in finding out specifics about our gransfather re routes he worked etc.  Can't find anything relating to, say, employee records for the Corporation - does anyone know if realistically these would still exist for family research?

The years he worked are vague as we cannot get info on his employment with the Corporation, but for sure he was a tram driver up until 1942 and possibly just prior to WW1 (with 4 year gap as he enlisted) so a continuous period, possibly, between 1919/20 to 1942.

Thank you for any help/suggestions.
 

[stanmapstone]

My father worked for Sunderland Corporation Transport and I don't think you will find any employee records. The last tram ran in 1954, and ownership of the bus fleet was transferred to the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive in 1973, ending the Corporation's connection. What was your grandfather's name as there might be a mention of him somewhere.

Stan

[obsessedorwhat]

Stan, his name was John Alfred Holborg, he lived in the Roker area.  Judging from a picture of him in his tram uniform he was very young when he started, so well over twenty years he was doing this job.  I think it must have been a hard job, he did work in all weathers - your Dad, too, maybe.  I thought as nothing was coming up in my searches there would be few if any employee records.  But worth checking, shy bairns and all that!!

Many thanks.

 

[stanmapstone]

From what I can remember the hardest part of the job was the "split shift" system and the irregular meal times, which I'm sure affected my father's health. Also, for the conductors, was the  environment inside the trams, especially upstairs where smoking was allowed, and nearly everyone smoked then  For the drivers the winter must have been hard, no heating, and they stood all the time. There weren't many routes he could have worked on, but as they changed over the years it would be difficult to list them. You could try contacting Sunderland Local Studies, http://www.sunderland.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1557 who may be able to help, but according to their site they do not hold employee records, and Tyne and Wear Archives, http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/archives/ do have some Transport and General Workers Union records, but not employee  records.

Stan

[obsessedorwhat]

  Thank you so much Stan for that info.  What an insight it has given; I knew it was a hard job but it seems much harder than I imagined, having to stand etc.  Yes it seems to have been a punishing regime for the people who worked on them, as you say, including for your own father; my granda suffered long term effects from wounds he sustained in WW1 so a combination of these and his working on the trams most assuredly contributed to his far too premature death,very sad to say. 

Thank you  also, for those links which I am going into; I hadn't thought about possible Union records too.