Tynemouth
and District Electric Tramways
Summary
The Tyneside and District Electric Traction Co Ltd was a
subsidiary of the much larger British Electric Traction
Company Ltd (BET), a concern
which at its zenith either owned, part-owned or leased
almost 50 tramway concerns across the British Isles. The
photos below clearly show Tynemouth staff wearing the
familiar and largely regulation BET uniform. Although
jackets appeared to vary somewhat between BET systems,
as well as across the decades, the cap badges, collar
designations and buttons invariably followed a standard
pattern.
The tunic was a double-breasted, cross-over style, with two
rows of five buttons and upright collars; the latter
carried individual letters on the right-hand side (probably
’T D E T’, though these cannot be made out on
the photos below) and an employee number on the left, all
presumably brass.
Caps were military in style with a glossy peak, and carried
a standard brass BET ‘Magnet & Wheel’ badge
(see below) above an employee number.
Inspectors most probably wore a single-breasted jacket with
hidden buttons and upright collars bearing
‘Inspector’ in embrodiered script lettering.
The standard ‘Magnet & Wheel’ cap badge was
probably worn, but with a script-lettering
‘Inspector’ badge in place of the usual
employee number.
Images
Conductor and motorman posing with Tramcar No 3 at Whitley
Bay in 1915. Image kindly supplied by Beamish Museum
Limited (see link), image copyright Beamish Museum
Limited.
Conductor and Motorman (No 3) posing on the steps of their
tramcar - date unknown. Note that the conductor is not
wearing an employee number on either his cap or his
left-hand collar; instead, the latter bears a standard BET
‘Magnet & Wheel’ badge. Image kindly
supplied by Beamish Museum Limited (see link), image copyright Beamish Museum
Limited.
Standard British Electric Traction Company ‘Magnet
& Wheel’ cap badge - brass