HIS week it’s the turn of the trams... all three taken from photographs in a book recently published.

These snapshots all date back to the 1940s and appear in Bury Corporation Transport, a book that’s a joint effort between Rochdale author Colin Reeve and former Bury Corporation Transport driver Tom Fish.

Many of the photographs in the book were supplied by David Barrow, a Bury-born-and-bred retired Beloit Walmsley engineer, whose interest in the subject dates back to when he was just 15.

He has contributed to and written for several magazines about buses and trams — forms of public transport which receive less interest than they deserve, he believes, when compared to trains.

So in a second bid to right this wrong — we featured other pictures from David’s collection in June — we show off a tram which can be seen near the parish church, with many pedestrians milling around, all the way back in 1947.

The story about the second tram shown here is unclear, but it appears to have seen better days — isn’t that a smashed window at the front? Is there a window missing upstairs? Was it a case of vandalism? Or are they mere reflections of the light on what looks like a dark and miserable day?

We may never know, but we do know it dates back to 1949 and was taken in Walmersley.

The last photograph features a pair of trams, both adorned with advertising on the front, while a car and a truck are seen not far behind.

The trams are shown in an almost deserted Market Street, again near the parish church. It was taken in the year in between the other two photographs – 1948 – and it just about shows the famous “umbrella” shelter on the right.

As for Mr Fish, Bury Archives points out he was a local transport enthusiast, who sadly died before publication of this book, published by Glossop-based Venture Publications.

Tom was born in London, became a joiner and moved to Bury.

This is where he became a bus driver in the 1960’s during an era when the town ran its own buses, sparking off an interest in local public transport which still inspires many to this day.