This cache commemorates the tram terminus at Cross Gates.
You might be aware that, along with many UK towns and cities, Leeds once had an extensive tram network. There is plenty of evidence of it's existence if you know where to look. Across Leeds there are examples of generous central reservations where trams were sgregated from traffic, buildings that were tram shed in a former life, overhead wire support poles. Occasionally, when utility companies dig up the road, 100 year old tram tracks are exposed.
The first line opened in September 1871, running from Leeds to Headingley. Further routes were opened over the next few years, to Kirkstall, Wortley, Hunslet and Roundhay. Originally operated by horse-drawn tram cars, and after an unsuccessful trial of steam-trams, the route from Sheepscar to Oakwood was converted to electric operation in 1891; it was the first time an overhead wire and a trolley pole system was used in the UK.
Leeds Corporation took over the lease in 1894 and commenced an expansion and full electrification of the still modest 22 mile network. By the 1950s most suburbs could be reached by tram, with around 124 miles of track laid. Here's a link to a map of the network as it was in 1945.
Increased competition from buses and wider car ownership led to an almost full extinction of trams in the UK (only the system in Blackpool has survived). The last routes to survive ran from the city centre to Temple Newsam, Halton and Cross Gates.
The final service left the terminus here at Cross Gates on 7th November 1959. Later in the evening a fleet of ten trams ran a special tour of the remaining lines into east Leeds, and that was that.
Work immediately started in removing the infrastructure for this 'outmoded' method of transport. The closure of the Leeds team network left only two systems running; of these, Sheffield lasted until the following year, while Glasgow continued running trams until 1962. Since then, local and national government has realised that trams are actually a valuable part of urban transport, and since the 1990s new networks have reopened in six UK cities. Despite various attempts, a revival of trams seem to have alluded Leeds. As of early 2021, a new push for some form of rapid transit within the city is underway.
You might wish to visit the former tram terminus. If you do you will see the former reserved track in the form of a wide, grassed central reservation in the middle of Crossgates Lane (note that locally there are two differect spellings of Cross Gates). No other remnents of the tram system survive here. The former Regal building survives; after it closed as a cinema it became an ASDA store. Today it is a bingo hall and home furninshing shop. On the site of the terminus is a modest memorial to the Barnbow Lasses (see this nearby cache for more information).
The cache can be found near to the posted co-ordinates. You can find the location of the container, a 35mm type container, by clicking on the link below and solving a moderately difficult jigsaw (pro tip: set up a Jigidi account first so your progress can be saved, although most of you should be able to solve this in a couple of hours).
https://www.jigidi.com/s/OTQTEZ
The roads around here can be very busy so please use pedestrian crossings. I've been quite kind to you; although the general area is (in usual times) busy and somewhat overlooked, the hidding place is a little more secluded. Good luck.
Congratulations to roxybowie on their FTF.