Showing posts with label Judges. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Judges. Show all posts

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Streetcar Sunday - Hastings, U.K.

Hastings is located on the coast of East Sussex in England. Historically, the town has been an important fishing port and a tourist destination.

Hastings had tram service between 1905 and 1928. Initially, most of the system operated with overhead wires, except for some areas right along the waterfront, such as this one. They were operated on what was called a Dolter stud contact system, which was later determined to be too dangerous, because it occasionally electrocuted horses. So, in 1914 these were replaced with petrol electric trams. However, in 1921 this section was converted again and operated on overhead wires along with the rest of the system. In 1928 the entire system was converted to trolley buses, but there has been recent discussion in Hastings about re-introducing trams.  For more detailed history of the Hastings trams, check out this website. If you are interested in the future of trams in Hastings, you may want to check out the Hastings Tramway Club.

Hastings has another claim to fame: Fred Judge, photographer and postcard publisher. This postcard could well have been printed by Judge, especially as his shop is in the center of the photo! Here's an enlargement so you can see it clearly. Fred and his brother started producing postcards in 1903.

If it is a Judges card, the number in the stamp box would help to determine an approximate (O.K., very approximate) date. The earliest numbered series in 1906 started out at 50. This one is numbered 4719. I would guess that the card is from about 1910, whether or not it was printed by Judges. By the way, Judges is still printing postcards.

Oh, and here's what the same corner looks like today:

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