Projects

Tram section pillar

LQ BID restores Edwardian era tram section pillar

As part of our ongoing efforts to celebrate built heritage across the District, LQ BID commissioned MetalCast NI to conduct a thorough restoration of the Edwardian era tram section pillar. As only a few of such pillars still survive to the current day, the restored pillar will add a unique element to the District's streetscape.

We also commissioned historian Mike Maybin to deliver an in-depth piece of research into the history of Belfast's public transport network. See link below.

The Story of Belfast Transport

This freestanding cast-iron cabinet was a ‘service pillar’ or ‘section / isolation pillar’ used to to house electrical equipment that isolated part of a tram / trolleybus route and thereby enabled engineers to work on it whilst the network itself continued to run. The electrical engineering firm of British Thomson-Houston, whose ‘BTH’ logo appears on the eastern door, is thought to be responsible for installation of these pillars as part of Belfast Corporation’s electrification of the tram network in 1905.

Located at the south end of the eastern side of Linenhall Street, close to the junction with Ormeau Avenue, this particular pillar would have served a electrified tram line running along Ormeau Avenue. It was presumably ‘decommissioned’ when the trolleybus successors to the trams were taken out of service in 1968. Due to a rise in the pavement level both doors are now jammed shut, and the whole structure itself is slightly shorter than it would have been originally (probably by around 20cm).