Tramcars of the National Tramway Museum

The National Tramway Museum in Crich, Derbyshire, has a very large and diverse fleet of heritage tramcars, and aims to illustrate the complete development of the traditional British Tramcar. Where it isn't possible to show this, tramcars from places as far away as Berlin, Den Haag, Douglas, Halle, Howth, Johannesburg, New York, Oporto, Prague and Sydney have been acquired to show this. The majority of the trams at Crich are double-deck trams built between 1900 and 1930, and several have open tops. There are a few trams in the collection that were built after WWII, and these give an idea of how the British Tram Industry may have developed if services had not declined.

Unfortunately, only about of these beautiful vehicles are currently in operational condition, and there are many more on display and being restored.

Every operating day, the museum selects between two and four trams and operates them over its line to Glory Mine, via Wakebridge. In addition, there is a 1969 Berlin Tram that has been converted into an "Access Tram", which allows the less able to travel over the line.

Southampton 45 was the very first tramcar to be preserved by the Tramway Museum Society, purchased for just £10 in 1949, after the closing ceremony of the Southampton Corporation.


 * The steam tram engine John Bull has an intriguing past - it is rumoured to have fallen into the sea on its way from New South Wales to Manchester; it disappeared in Sydney; and re-surfaced in 1980.
 * Sheffield Tram No. 510, entered service in 1950 and was withdrawn, still almost brand-new, when the city's tram system closed in 1960. This tram has in fact now done more years at the museum than it did in Sheffield.
 * When made redundant, Blackpool Tram No. 166 was commandeered by the BBC, along with its sister No. 165, as an outside broadcast unit. Many seats were removed, and cameras and recording gear were mounted, to allow the illuminations to be filmed - the already congested promenade could not take any more traffic, ruling out conventional outside broadcast units.
 * Prague No. 180 had more press coverage than the rest of the fleet put together. This is because when it was transported to Crich, it was running just ahead of the "Iron curtain" of communist occupation. It became a symbol of the plight of the country. It was restored by its original manufacturers, Tatra, who later made 902.
 * The 1904 Chesterfield tramcar No.7 has had many adventures, and some great escapes! First, it survived a depot fire which destroyed many other trams. Then, it was used as a house by Mr. Eric Cocking - who had actually travelled to school in it. Finally, the museum found the tram, and now, after restoration, it lives happily amongst the operating fleet.
 * Similarly, recently restored Leeds 345 was withdrawn early due to rotten bodywork and used as a carpenters' tea shed at a Leeds depot. It was rescued by K. Terry, and for years sat at Crich. It was moved to an outside store, where later on a fire was started. When restored, parts of the lower deck ceiling were found to be singed.
 * Sheffield 74 is in fact made of 3 trams. The top and bottom decks are from different Sheffield trams, and the truck from Leeds.
 * London County Council 1622 was originally an open ended unrefurbished car, but was restored as an enclosed "rehab" car. Its bogies are ex Feltham.

Southampton 45
Southampton 45 was built 1903 by Hurst Nelson as an open-top double-deck tram with a 3 windowed lower saloon. At some stage it was rebuilt with canopies and 4 saloon windows by the Southampton Corporation Tramways, however the exact date is unknown.

This tram was the one that started the whole preservation movement, being bought by enthusiasts for just £10 in 1949. However, there was no National Tramway Museum in 1949, and so the tram travelled the country staying at many locations, including Marton Depot in Blackpool, and the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu in Hampshire. Whilst it was at Beaulieu, Newcastle 102 was also there, and together they formed an open air display, before heading to Crich in 1960.

People often comment that the tram looks out of proportion: this is due to the fact that it had to pass under the Mediaeval Bargate Arch in Southampton, and a normal tram wouldn't have fit under it without colliding. It also has knifeboard seating on the top deck for this reason.

Southampton 45 still runs to this day, and is a popular fine-weather service car.

London 106
LCCT 106 was built in April 1903, as one of 100 'B' Class Tramcars by the Electric Railway and Tramway Carriage Works, Preston, on behalf of Dick, Kerr and Company.

106 was originally an open-topped tram with reversed stairs. There were 22 seats downstairs and a further 34 upstairs. The body is of a timber construction with steel strengthening. By 1906, the reversed stairs had been altered to direct ones, and in 1911 it was rebuilt with a fully-enclosed top deck. It used the conduit style of pickup, with the skate underneath the centre of the truck, in its original state, before being converted to trolley pole when it became a snow broom.

It was withdrawn from passenger service in 1925, and was converted into snowbroom No. 022 in 1927, by removing the top deck, fitting brushes under the platforms and increasing the power of the motors. It last saw active service in this state in April 1952.

After escaping the scrapyard, 106 spent many years in storage, and the London County Council Tramways Trust began its restoration in 1970, at their Bonwell Street workshop in East London. It took 13 years to return it to service, when it was launched at Crich Tramway Village on the 15th May 1983, 80 years to the day after the opening of the London County Council electric tramway to Tooting. The tram has since covered in excess of 10000 mi in passenger service.It has been restored to represent one of 8 B/4 class cars with an open top and trolley mast. It is currently out of service following "wheel-rail interface" problems. .

Leeds 180
Leeds 180 was built in 1931 by BRUSH, and is often referred to as either Horsfield or Showboat.

It is currently in a Red and White Livery, with various advertisements.

On Tuesday, the 11th of February, Leeds 180 was withdrawn from service with electrical problems. It was revealed on February 19th that a complete rebuild of the resistance box is necessary. As of February 23rd, the tramcar is back in service, in series only.

Leeds 399
Leeds 399 was built at Leeds Kirkstall Works, and entered service in 1925.

Leeds 399 was the second passenger tram to arrive at Crich (being superseded only by Cardiff 131 a works car, and Leeds 345), however it faced a lengthy restoration, returning only to service in 1991. It is fitted with a trolley pole, without a rope, meaning that it can use trolley reversers at the terminii. It is currently in the operational pool,, after undergoing remedial work to the exterior paintwork.

Leeds 602
Leeds 602 is one of three experimental tramcars built for Leeds City Tramways, the others being Leeds 600, and Leeds 601. The tramcar is the only vehicle at Crich to use VAMBAC (Variable Automatic Multinotch Braking and Acceleration Control), and one of only 4 in the country - 2 of which are at Blackpool, and the other being at the East Anglian Transport Museum.

It entered service on the 1st June 1953, and was built by Bus Manufacturer Charles H. Roe. Leeds 602 was withdrawn at the last ever "close of play" in 1957. The design of 602 owes a lot to the Glasgow Cunarders and Coronations, due to the fact that the General Manager of Leeds at the time was A.B.Findlay, who did at one stage produce drawings of a single-decker Cunarder. Findlay used these ideas to build two identical prototypes (601 and 602), and Leeds 602 was fitted with VAMBAC equipment under the Bow Collector. In addition, all its fittings are electrical, making it a very complicated tram.

602's service life was spent working the Hunslet Route around leeds - the blind for which can be seen in the picture - and it was here until the end of its working life, when it was acquired for preservation at the National Tramway Museum. Leeds 601 was also preserved, but was destroyed soon after in an arson attack.

Once at Crich it was used in service between 1967 and 1972, before its first workshop attention in 1973. It saw further used in 1974-5, and returned to the workshop in 1977. It was back in the fleet for the 1979-80 seasons, before having a third bout of workshop attention in 1986. Following this it had a longer operational life in 1987-1995, but it was finally withdrawn due to the discovery of a leaking roof. It was resurrected on a limited-use basis for the Tramathon in 2003, and then it was withdrawn to have attention to its leaky roof. This was finally fixed, and a long-needed repaint was undertaken. It returned for the Tramathon and Enthusiast's Day in 2005, and was used for 6 days in 2006. One of which was the enthusiast's day, which allowed the oppurtunity to ride both a bus and tram built by Charles H. Roe. The tram has not been used since, and now languishes in the depot next to Halle 902.