Rolling stock for the opening was obtained from Saville Street Foundry and Engineering, who were based in Sheffield, England.

In July, a local joiner called James McBride built two toastracks fitted with roofs, which were numbered 13 and 14.

Despite an initial refusal, British Electric Traction made repeated approaches, and in 1901 a deal was agreed.

[1] In advance of the sale, the Tramway company agreed to apply for permission to carry out the upgrade, and to negotiate the right to continue to operate the trams from 1902 until 1936.

This required negotiations with the Rotheway Commissioners and because the track extended beyond the borders of the burgh, with Bute County Council.

[3] Once this was obtained, the tramway was sold to British Electric Traction in 1901, who acquired the existing trackbed, 19 trams, and 41 horses.

[9] As well as building the track, Dick, Kerr effectively supplied 15 of the initial 20 bogie vehicles, which were manufactured by Electric Railway and Tramway Carriage Works, a company that they had set up.

[4][10] British Electric Traction acquired McKirdy and McMillan in 1902, a company that ran seven horse buses, and some 70 brakes and cabs.

The trams could run at 25 miles per hour (40 km/h) on the reserved track, whereas they were restricted to slower speeds on the public roads.

The tramway began to experience competition from motor buses in the 1920s, and started their own bus service between Port Bannatyne to Ettrick Bay in 1925.