Bournemouth & Poole Buses & Trams

Generation of electricity for the Poole tramways and the Christchurch extension was supplied by the Bournemouth & Poole Electricity Supply Co. Ltd.
The Bournemouth tramways however, were supplied from the Bournemouth Corporation owned generating station at the Southcote Road Depot. This was located adjacent to the London & South Western Railway line and goods yard. It was equipped with four Lancashire coal fired boilers with four Bellis & Morcom triple expansion engines coupled to generators. This gave the system the power required at 550v d.c.

In the centre of the town, power was originally fed to the tram cars by an underground 'side slot conduit' system. This was to avoid unsightly overhead wires etc. The rest of the tracks were fed from overhead lines, although by May of 1911 the entire system used overhead wires due to high replacement costs of the worn conduit system.