Our real photographic postcard was published in 1907 by E.E. Tonge from a photograph by a Mr Latchford. It shows a tramcar of Warrington Corporation Tramways decorated to commemorate the winning of the rugby league Challenge Cup by Warrington in the 1906-07 season. The cup itself is displayed on the front platform of the car.
The Challenge Cup is one of the most prestigious knockout competitions in rugby league. Established in 1896, it is open to professional, semi-professional, and amateur clubs. The 1907 victory final was against Oldham with a score of 17-3. This was held on April 27th, at Wheater's Field in Broughton, Salford. These days the final is always held at Wembley Stadium and Warrington (Warrington Wolves since 1997) have won the trophy nine times at the date of writing (2024).
The tram on our postcard was one of 21 cars built for Warrington by G.F.Milnes of Birkenhead for the opening in 1902. They seated 22 on the lower deck and 33 on the upper. Each was fitted with two BTH GE60 25hp motors and BTH K10 controllers. Cars 1-10 had Brill 21E 4-wheel trucks and 11-21 had Brush A 4-wheel trucks. They were in a Munich lake and citron yellow livery.
The Warrington tramway opened on 21st April 1902 and operated a system of just under seven miles of standard gauge double track on five routes, which radiated from the town centre. These served Sankey Bridges, Longford, the Cemetery, Latchford and Stockton Heath, this last one finally crossing the Manchester Ship Canal by the Northwich Road swing bridge. At its peak it ran 27 double-deck trams. Routes began to close from 1931 and the last car (No.1) ran on 28th August 1935, trams being replaced by motor buses.
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