On the 26th of May 1905 tram no. 47 jumped the tracks and crashed into Vyes Grocers now a hairdressers, the shop manager’s daughter, tram driver and conductor were all badly injured. 
As you can see from the picture the building was badly damaged and had to be shored up before the tram could be removed.
The old Ramsgate Sands Station in its incarnation as Olympia.
The old Post Office in Ramsgate High Street
The London Boat in Ramsgate harbourWhen I published up these cards I thought some of them needed a bit of text click here for the pictures in a larger size.
Michael, the tram crashed into Vye's which used to be where the flats are now to the right of the passage. Peter's barbers is on the left of the passage. If you look on the left of the grocer's building you can just make out the 'Alma' pub which is no more being part of the same development. I've got more photos of the crash and one of the old 'Alma' which I'll publish shortly.
ReplyDeleteif you look on google earth you can clearly see the modifications that still exist on the current building which is on the corner of bellevue and plains of waterloo.. peters barbers is on the opposite corner. imagine travelling up th eplains of waterloo towrds bellevue and going almost straight on ... thats the building the tram hit. you can still see the unusual inset to the building exactly where the building was damaged. you can still see the door and window to the left of the photo and the bay window still exists above and to the right of the crash area. you can see also the terraced housing stretching into the distance, again they are still there.
Deletehttps://www.google.es/maps/@51.3347585,1.4234805,3a,75y,354.66h,92.24t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sYcwl1ZQfJLfnq3XMs61PVQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en
DeleteDominic, I am afraid your description of the crash is wrong. The bus was travelling down Bellevue Road from the direction of Holy Trinity Church and when its brakes failed, left the tracks and careered into Vyes/the Alma pub. Other photos from that time clearly show the layout of the tracks.
DeleteThanks Mitch for putting me right, now you mention it I remember the Alma from my teens it had a very flexible attitude to under age drinking.
ReplyDeleteRe the Olympia incarnation - how did they manage to make the building look do grim in comparision in it's final days ?
ReplyDeleteYour post is included in a blog in spanish "Tram Accidents in Lima, Peru"
ReplyDeleteRegards
Saludos desde Peru
ReplyDeletehey
ReplyDeletejust registered and put on my todo list
hopefully this is just what im looking for, looks like i have a lot to read.
You forgot Andrew Jackson’s Big Block of Cheese with nary a macaroni in sight.
ReplyDeleteAt one time the bar on the Ground Floor of the Olympia was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest bar in Britain. The Coronation Ballroom was of course upstairs.
ReplyDeleteI remember well shopping with my mother in Vyes. The shop had a wooden floor, various types of biscuits were in tin boxes with glass hinged lids and arranged at an angle for the customers to see inside. She often used to buy broken biscuits. Ham was sliced wafer thin on a slicing machine.