Found this:
http://www.greatorme.org.uk/tramhistory.html"August 23rd 1932 – The Great Orme Tramways Company was shaken by its first major accident, an accident waiting to happen, Car No. 4 was descending the steep 1 in 3.7 stretch at Tabor Hill at the upper end of Old Road when the drawbar suddenly broke and the car became detached from the cable. The car left the rails on the reverse curves at that point and crashed into a wall resulting in the deaths of the driver and a 12 year old girl passenger. The driver was Ted Harris and the girl was Margaret Worthington whose father worked for the tramway at halfway station and continued to work there until he retired many years later. Ten passengers received serious injuries and others received cuts and bruises. Lt. Col. Anderson held an inquiry on August 29th and ordered the line to remain closed.
It appeared that the fracture in the drawbar had resulted from it having been made by Craven Bros Ltd of Manchester, specifically at Henry Sutcliffe’s request (he was looking for maintenance economies), from ‘Vibrac’, a particular steel alloy quite unsuited for this purpose and that this arose because the manufacturers had not been told of the use to which the drawbar was to be put. A similar drawbar fitted to Car No. 5 had fractured only two days earlier, happily without tragic consequences, but the significance of that occurrence had not been recognised. The drawbar that had failed on Car No. 4 was produced by the police. It was made to a uniform thickness of ¾ inch in order to give clearance when running in the 1¼ inch conduit slot. It was found to have worn down by ⅛ inch through rubbing on the sides of the slot since being fitted new just one week earlier on August 15th 1932.
The inspector’s report, published on February 2nd 1933, drew attention to the serious breaches of the statutory regulations (not least that the emergency brakes had been disconnected in 1906 and never re-connected) which had continued over many years, and for which the management were responsible. Claims lodged by injured passengers totalled £14,000 and in consequence of the report, the insurance company repudiated liability. "
Was your Grandfather the driver of the tram when the accident occured? If so what a terrible double tragedy for your family
The text states that Margarets father worked on the tram too or could that be the same person as your Grandfather? Incidently as the drivers name was Ted Harris - I'm wondering if he was any relation to my family.
