What is Southampton Corporation Tramways?
[[File:Southampton 45.jpg|right|thumb|250px|[[Southampton Corporation Tramways No. 45]] is now preserved at [[Crich Tramway Village]], and is seen on 24 September 2008 at Glory Mine.]] '''Southampton Corporation Tramways''' was a [[transport]] company that opened in 1879 and closed in 1949. At first the [[tram]]s were [[horse]]-drawn, but later they were powered by electricity. ==Background== [[Southampton]], a city of the [[United Kingdom]] located in [[Hampshire]], was becoming bigger in the [[nineteenth century]]. The [[population]] was 27,000 people in 1841. This was because the docks were becoming much more used. Also, a railway openened in 1839 and a [[Horse|horse-drawn]] [[Bus|omnibus]] service started at as well. By 1843 a regular service was running from the station to [[Millbrook, Hampshire|Millbrook]], [[Totton and Eling|Eling]], [[Bitterne]], [[Shirley, Hampshire|Shirley]], [[Portswood]], [[Totton and Eling|Totton]] and [[Romsey]].<ref name=Tram>{{cite book | first = John| last = Horne| year = 1979| title = 100 years of Southampton Transport| publisher = Southampton City Transport / Southampton City Museums| id = ISBN }}</ref> Because of this, by 1861 the population had become 42,000. By 1872 [[tram]]ways were a lot more popular. The British and Foreign Tramway Company contacted Southampton Corporation with an idea to set up a tramway in the town. Lots of people were against the idea. The Corporation did not allow tram tracks to be put in the High Street and Above Bar. The British and Foreign Tramway Company stopped thinking about the idea.<ref name=Tram/> In 1876 Southampton Corporation saw that their [[public transport]] was not as good as the public transport in other cities. The Southampton Tramways Company was made to build a new tramway system. The tramway started to be built in the summer of 1878.<ref name=Tram/> ==Southampton Tramways Company== [[Image:Horse tram, Southampton.jpg|thumb|A historical view on the tram in Southampton.]] The first tram ran on [[5 May]] [[1879]]. The tramway m