PUBLIC TRANSPORT

From the 1850s, after the freeing of turnpikes, horse omnibuses plied along Birchfield and Lichfield Roads. A company was formed in 1869, taking in several independent operators, and services were provided up Wheeler Street and Lozells Road, up Alma Street to Six Ways, and to the Park up Church Lane. On high days and holidays there were char-a-banc services to the Park and Lower Grounds from Birmingham. In 1882 Aston Local Board and Birmingham Borough Council combined to lay tramlines from Corporation Street to Aston Cross. The 3ft 6in tracks were laid in granite setts down the middle of the water-bound macadam 'horse road'.

The Birmingham & Aston Tramway Company was given a lease to operate the first local steam-powered cars with two-deck trailers. From Aston Cross lines were laid to Witton Road via Park Road and Witton Lane, with a loop along Witton, Bevington and Trinity Roads. The Lichfield Road lines were extended to Salford Bridge in 1885 but the low railway bridge at Aston Station would permit only single-deck trailers to pass: a depot was built for these near Cuckoo Road. Salford Bridge was humped and impassable for trams, so horse-buses continued to ply thence to Erdington. Also by 1885 the Central Tramway Company was running steamers along Newtown Row, Birchfield Road, Lozells and Witton Roads. Their depot was off The Broadway. Lower Grounds and the Park were so popular that on Saturdays the cars were always overloaded. Horse-buses still served High Street, Potters Hill, and Victoria Road.

In 1887 Aston Urban District Council lined Wheeler Street and Lozells Road to Soho Road: this route was extended by the newly-created Borough along Victoria Road, so that there was thereafter a tramcar service from Soho Hill to ; Lichfield Road. The year before a depot had been built at Witton Cross and proudly labelled 'Borough of Aston Manor Tram Depot'.

In 1906 the low brick and stone arches which carried the Grand Junction Railway (London North-Western) across Lichfield Road were replaced by girders so that double-decker electric tramcars could go from Birmingham city centre to Erdington across the rebuilt Salford Bridge (1904): but the clearance was still so small that the overhead cables had to be splayed out on either side. By 1914, when all the leases had expired or been bought out, the tram services were wholly owned and operated by the City. The following year a petrol 'bus service was started by the Midland 'Red' Company from Aston Cross to Fort Dunlop.

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