Bakewell Show

Whilst the steam tram engine was being delivered to Manchester, Kath & I went to Bakewell show. Kath had never been before whilst I had been once - travelling on an excursion train to Bakewell in the 1950s.

1. Gloop may be useful for cleaning the concrete at Wakebridge.

2. I thought a 'bread van' was a type of bus popular with NBC subsidiaries in the 1980s.

3. The Black Country Museum was amongst the hundreds of stall holders.

Outside Works

Leeds and London

Leeds 180's truck is nearly complete and the first top deck seat on LUT 159.

RESERVED, RESERVED (2)

These are the same pictures as on the previous post. The only difference is that I have cropped them. Which do you prefer?

I received one response in favour of uncropped pictures because the background detail is often interesting. So I will only crop sparingly in future.

RESERVED, RESERVED

1. I'm not sure what the sentry box on the left is for. I first noticed it last week.
2. Glasgow 812.
3. Blackpool 49's driver and MET 331'sconductor exchange staffs.
4. 812's and 49's drivers exchange staffs.

Resplendant Sheffield 264

I have added some Glasgow pictures to the Historical Archive. I took a few colour pictures in 1961 and 1962 and will add more over the next few weeks.
This picture of 264 is dated Oct 1970 and Kath seems to have forgotton her uniform.
Seeing Lawrence working on LUT 159 last week reminded me of the hours I spent rubbing down blue and cream paintwork in the 1960s.

The Workshop at Work

1. Painting Leeds 180's underframe.

2. Remedial work on London United 159's dash panel.

3. Fettling 159's seat frames.

4. Rubbing down 159's paintwork.

Sheltering under the Bridge

The forecast was right! I sheltered under the bridge and took these pictures of MET 331, Leeds 399 followed by Berlin 3006. I then scurried to the tram shelter for Blackpool 40.

AGM day

1. Chesterfield 7.

Three talks were given at the morning meeting which was only attended by c 25-30 members.
2 & 3. Mike Crabtree discussed some aspects of how recent legislation impinges on the Museum.

4. Richard Clarke gave his perspective on his term as President.
Bob Pennyfather described some of the problems of recruiting and motivating traffic staff (but I didn't bet a picture - sorry Bob).

I was not successful in my attempt to become a Board member by a significant margin. Again my thanks to all those who voted for me and congratulations to the winners (Colin Heaton, Bob Pennyfather, John Shawcross, Andrew Willis, Lynda Wright).

My personal highlights

1. At the morning meeting Andrew Willis advocated the appointment of a salaried General Manager and Nigel Walker suggested that the Board should become non-executive directors. Richard Clake agreed that a board of volunteer trustees supervising professional managers is commonplace. Ian Yearsley supported the distinction of the trusteeship and management roles. My dream is that this will really happen in my liftime.

2. Sundry receipts of £47,000 included £20,000 from the sale of scrap rail and £12,500 from an insurance claim following the financial irregularities discovered in 2008. Both the police and the Charity Commissioners have now closed the case.

3. The catering losses have been converted into a small profit.

4. Bob Pennyfather told Nigel Walker that little progress had been made on a second Access tram. Halle 902 had seemed to hold promise but complications mean that a full restoration would be needed so the search goes on.

I would like to retain 902 as a static exhibit although I admit a single ended version with a Russian style enclosed cab would be more typical.

I wrote to Bob about two years ago suggesting that a folding ramp would allow Blackpool 167 to carry one wheelchair on the north end platform by removing the double seat and fitting wheel chair anchors. I don't think that he replied.

Managing the Museum

It is four months to the day since I was chucked out of the Library and my final appeal is unlikely to be determined before October. The result is that the Museum will have lost my services as a volunteer for six months.
Lots of issues have been raised and both sides are convinced that they are right but six months of uncertainty is not good for the Museum, the Society or the staff.

A special thanks to all the Members who have given me words of encouragement and sent me messages of support. We will see what tomorrow's AGM brings.

Best wishes and thanks.
Richard

Workshop update

1. The track brake assembly has been fitted to Leeds 180's truck.

2 & 3. The staircases have been fitted to both ends of London United 159 and work continues on the paint work.

4. The steam tram engine is now in the workshop pending its loan to the Manchester Museum of Science and Technology. The details of which have yet to be confirmed.

Glasgow & London

More heavy showers today so Glasgow 812 and MET 331 were ideal. Sorry picture 3 is blurred but it was too dull to photograph moving trams.