This week on the Secret Library Leeds we hear from Becky Bavill, Library & Digital Assistant, on the aftermath of a 1950s tram accident – including a nice Keanu Reeves reference.

In September 1952, the Leeds papers were full of a dramatic incident that had happened in Oakwood.  An empty, driverless tram collided with a double-decker tram full of passengers as it left the Oakwood Clocktower stop.  The empty tram derailed, but on the double decker the conductor was thrown clear, the tram was badly damaged and all the passengers thrown about.  Worse was to come – the driver had been knocked unconscious, and the tram was careering towards a busy road at high speed.  Thankfully, one of the passengers, James Penwarden who was travelling with his wife, Edna, and little son, Roger – later treated for shock – got himself back up, got to the cab and managed to stop the tram in what I like to think was in a Keanu Reeves-esque kind of heroic act before anything worse could happen.  Fifteen people were injured, twelve passengers and three tram staff, in what everyone assumed to be a dreadful accident, possibly caused by mechanical failure.

Later in the month, Alderman D G Cowling, chairman of the transport committee revealed that they were intending to pass a special resolution of thankfulness.  Penwarden seemed a bit unimpressed, retorting that what he would like would be ‘compensation for the clothing I spoilt’(1).  Eventually he was presented with an inscribed watch as well as the special resolution.  The Yorkshire Post were unimpressed with this, describing it as ‘a shoddy piece of work, quite unworthy of a great city.  It consists of a sheet of ordinary office paper on which is pasted – not very neatly – from some copy of the printed Committee minutes, which all members of the Council receive before their monthly meeting.  It bears also the red seal and signature of the Lord Mayor of Leeds and the signature of the Town Clerk.  It is a mere paste and scissors job.  I have seen handsomer certificates awarded to prizewinners at dog shows.’(2)

To see what a really nice presentation from the Council looks like, have a look at our earlier blog post here:

The Chimney Corner: Secret Books From The Secret Library #2 – The Secret Library | Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog (secretlibraryleeds.net)

In addition to the award from the Council, James Penwarden was nominated for the British Empire Medal for his act of bravery.  This is awarded for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown.  You can find out more about this decoration here:

British Empire Medal (BEM) (George VI, Military): TOPIC, pictures and information – Forces War Records – Forces War Records

In March 1953, the report of the investigation into the accident was published – a copy of which we have here in Local and Family History at Leeds Central Library.  After an exhaustive investigation, blame was placed entirely on the actions of the driver, Basil Norris.  Whilst a driver was in the cab, it was accepted for him to rely on the airbrake, but upon leaving he should apply the handbrake as well.  Handbrake is a bit of a misnomer as it was a pretty large piece of kit that needed the operator to press down hard on a footpedal.  Norris had got out of his tram without applying the handbrake.  Not only that, he had put the airbrake in the neutral position and removed the handle.  Trams generally had a drivers cab at either end, but only one set of two handles to control the power and the brake.  When a tram came to the end of its route and would be heading back, these handles would be taken off, taken to the other end and hung up ready for the next journey.  Norris took the airbrake handle with him as he got off.  In removing the handle of the airbrake he had unknowingly loosened it and it would not hold.

This action was compounded by the fact that he flagged down a motorist to follow his runaway tram.  When he encountered the derailed tram he boarded it, replaced the handle and applied the handbrake, presumably hoping that it would be chalked up as a mechanical failure.  I can only think that he must have panicked, as many of us might have done in his position.

There was a missed opportunity to avert the incident.  When the conductor, Mr Cunningham saw the tram start to move he jumped on to apply the brake, but saw that the airbrake was missing, and when he looked for it, it wasn’t hung up anywhere.  He struggled with the handbrake; but jumped off when he couldn’t manage it.  The investigation is quite hard on Cunningham.  It does admit that his training might have been better, but it makes it quite clear that he had received training on brakes, including the emergency brake which he could have pulled quite easily.  Both Norris and Cunningham lost their jobs.

James Albert Penwarden, sales representative of Dawlish Terrace, Leeds, received his BEM from the Minister of Transport, Alan Lennox Boyd on 11^th September 1953 in London.  James remained in Leeds all his life, dying in 1968 whilst living at Primrose Gardens.  Based on information from ancestry, his widow Edna moved to Cornwall, possibly with their son Roger who had married Odette in 1967.

I don’t know if anyone in Leeds would remember the Penwarden family, or this incident, but what an amazing story to have in your family history!  Many thanks to Local History regular Lawrence Dutton for finding this incident and checking my tram facts.

(1) Yorkshire Post 10/9/1952 P3

(2) Yorkshire Post 17/12/1952 P2

(3) Yorkshire Post 10/9/1952 P3