In the late 19th century, Glossop and Hadfield, which sit at the base of Longdendale in the South Pennines, were spread-out settlements with many works and factories strung along the routes between them.

Although the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway had opened stations at Glossop, Hadfield and Dinting in 1844-5,[2] urban public transport, to connect the areas where workers lived with the town centre mills, did not exist.

The first service came with the introduction by the Glossop Carriage Company in the early 1890s of a horse-drawn bus from the Norfolk Hotel at Howard Town to the Commercial Inn at Bankbottom in Hadfield, which ran three times daily.

Additionally, the Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley and Dukinfield Joint Board (SHMD) network was being developed to run to Mottram, only 2 miles (3.2 km) from the county boundary, which may have offered the possibility of a future connection.

[6] Edmunsons advised the Corporation that, should it wish to establish a tramway in the future, it would be much cheaper to do those works at the same time as the power and lighting supply were installed than to put one in later.

[3] It was planned as a 4-mile (6.4 km) inverted C, with the north-west terminus in Hadfield, and the north-east at Old Glossop, joining relatively undeveloped stretches of roadway peppered with factories and large mills.

By the end of the war in 1918, a run-down Glossop Tramway was left with a backlog of repairs after several years of minimal investment and labour shortage.

[6] Terminal troubles began after the war with the tramway facing significant costs needed for works to renew its track, and also public dissatisfaction with the service.

In June 1920, a ten-day strike was held by the tram crews disgruntled at their reduced working hours and to improve wages, though they did not win the dispute.

A final offer was made to offload to the Council in November 1927, this time to hand over the tramway, whose infrastructure was reaching a dangerous state, for free if the borough agreed to buy electricity off the UESCo.

A proposal by Councillor Braddock that the Hadfield end of route should extend to Post Street in Padfield was rejected on the grounds that it would not be economical.

Upon opening in 1903, the service was operated using seven double-deck tramcars manufactured by G. F. Milnes of Hadley, Shropshire, which had reversed stairs and were painted in dark green and primrose.

[3] Numbers 1-7 were supplemented in 1904 by a British Electric Car Company (BEC) single-deck tram with a custom-made truck of 6 ft wheelbase,[10] which ran the shuttle to Whitfield.

The UESCo's offices and combined electricity generating plant and tram depot was accessed by a gap between houses on High Street West and across a bridge over Glossop Brook.

[3][13] The tram shed contained four pits while the power plant included a high-speed steam engine, made by Belliss and Morcom, with a direct drive to the dynamos, constructed by Thomas Parker of Wolverhampton.

It began by issuing a militaresque outfit consisting of a double-breasted tunic with five pairs of buttons and upright collars, which bore metal insignia stating 'UESCo' on one side and the employee's number on the other, and peaked caps with a brass badge reading either 'Motorman' or 'Conductor' in script lettering.