Melting snow

Stone workshop tomorrow.

1978

Merlyn Bacon opening the tramway from Wakebridge to Glory Mine.
Part 7 of my Illustrated History of Crich was published this morning.
http://www.focustransport.org.uk/

Part 8 covering 1979 will be published shortly and then there will be break because we are going to Australia in January (the idea was to avoid the winter snow).
When we return I will tackle the 1980s but am very short photographs for some years. Any offers?

Berlin 3006 and Yahoo

Here are a couple of pictures taken in Berlin in 1983. I hope when 3006 next receives workshop attention that it is painted in this livery and made as authentic of the DDR as possible. Perhaps Cristoph could get a Zahl Box for it - I saw one in the DDR Museum in Berlin last summer.

The unofficial Yahoo group continues to generate ideas for restructuring the Museum's organisation. The unanswered question is how to bring this about.

Advising members not to vote for "Mr WRONG" won't achieve anything - the members won't listen.
Questions need to be asked. Failures need to be identified. TMS members need to be made aware of individual board member's shortcomings and their failure to work together as a governing body.

More important is a powerful vision of the future. Fifty years ago the one thing that united all the disparate groups was the determination to build an operating tramway when conventional wisdom said that this was impossible. After a few months of uncoordinated muddling through, Merlyn Bacon was appointed Site Manager to build this tramway and everyone working at Crich accepted his authority. This was not an elected post. Merlyn achieved his ambition by working with the volunteers of all shapes and sizes, deploying Yorkshire common sense and keeping the committee at arms length. Without him there would be no tramway museum at Crich today.

Be Careful

Five years ago I started to work as a volunteer in the library. I did as I was asked and made lists of artifacts in Excel spreadsheet form with the idea that one day they would be imported into a comprehensive catalogue/database. I thoroughly enjoyed this work and I also raised just over £3,000 by selling surplus books and pictures of buses. After a couple of years I felt that I could make a much greater contribution if I was allowed to participate in the decision making process rather than, in effect, doing odd jobs for the curator.

This was my downfall. Ian Dougill and Malcolm Wright would not tollerate someone else on their patch. They didn't acknowlwdge my application and then then simply put me down by saying 'no vacancies'. I became angry and upset and did some silly things which enabled them to have me 'banned for life' on trumped up charges.

So my advice to Wim and others who are coming up with ideas and wanting to make changes is to watch your backs and be careful. Being 'banned for life' is absolutely awful.

London United 159 and Blackpool 166

Leeds 345 and Sheffield 510

Leeds 345 is now in the workshop for remedial work to make it serviceable. Two major problems are water ingress and defective axles which failed ultra sonic tests. The body will have lifted from the truck and then the motors and wheel sets removed for new axles to be fitted. To fix the water leaks, all the windows will have to be removed from the body.This work will obviously be time consuming and expensive but it will also prevent work being carried out on other trams as the Museum has limited resources.
Personally I would have preferred to see Sheffield 510 in the workshop this winter. My understanding is that funds are in place to pay for the mechanical repairs and 510 is simply waiting in a queue for attention and deteriorating quite badly at the back of a cold, damp depot.
Berlin 3006 is scheduled for attention next winter and obviously this work must be done because there is no back-up for 3006 as an access tram. I have also heard a rumour that a Blackpool boat will also take priority over 510. To me that would be quite simply bonkers and irresponsible. Sheffield 510 was donated to the Museum by the citizens of Sheffield in full running order and beautifully painted fifty years ago. Now it is dumped at the back of the depot whilst an endless stream of Leeds and Blackpool trams are given priority.
Thirty years ago Sheffield 189 and 264 were withdrawn from service pending major overhauls for which they are still waiting. 510 was in much better condition and has been kept running until a few years ago. Please don't let 510 languish for another thirty years.

In his comment, Wim asks me to make my mind up. What do I want?
Yes I have deluded myself for many years that 264 could be restored to service. I have now accepted that this will not happen and that for the forseeable future the Museum will have to concentrate on less ambitious projects. I think that getting 510 back is the next best option and should be within the Museum's resources.
The bigger picture of how to stop trams such as 510 and Edinburgh 35 slowly rotting at the back of cold damp depots has been in the 'too difficult' tray for years.
Similarly there is the question of conservation of trams and other artifacts in the exhibition hall. Has any of the grant money been earmarked for this purpose?

Stone workshop - 7th December 2010

The snow is still here

These pictures were all taken yesterday morning.
The top 3 pictures show Crich as a winter wonderland in bright sunshine. A few miles away in Alfreton it was very murky.
The buses to Crich were running again but there had been no service from Tuesday morning until Monday.

Crich in winter

These pictures appeared on Steve Barber's facebook page. Click on the link to see more.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=303984&id=577339461&l=7f07b21f7c

A thoughtful email

Nick has posted a very thoughtful comment about the structure of the Museum on Yahoo Groups. I tried to post a link but life is not that easy as Christoph has explained.

"The Yahoo group is for approved members only and you have to have a Yahoo account to read the group archive. There is no possibility for non-members of both the group and Yahoo to access the posts. This is one of the disadvantages of the group over the forum ("my" forum) where all past messages are available to all members, irrespective of the join date.

Having said that, I believe all group members would welcome more input to the discussion and you may feel free to advertise the group. Potential members may join by writing an email to tramway_museum-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. The group moderators, Jack Gordon as founder, Andrew Waddington, Stephen Kemp, Gareth Prior (of British Trams Online fame) and myself, will then get a notification and one of us will activate access."

Gateshead garden festival 1990

Blackpool 167, Sunderland 100 and Newcastle 102.

My recollection is that 167 was a substitute for Gateshead 5 which had similar problems to Oporto 273 in Blackpool this year. Can anyone remember the details?

Snow

Starr Gate

Tony Stevenson took these pictures yesterday.

"This was taken today outside the fence so you could use this if you wish. As you can see the poles are going up with the span wire. I am waiting to see if it will be will be wired for bow or trolley.  Tony"

1975

This picture was taken by Graham Feakins at the 1975 Extravaganza.

Graham has sent these links to Pathe video clips:
Trams are unsafe - http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=23961
'Good' footage - not sure about the track http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=21567
Some people have worrying hobbies http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=36486

Note that sometimes you have to sit through a whiskey advert before the clip starts.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

These pictures were taken at about 11:30 yesterday. In Ripley it snowed all afternoon and into the evening and from time to time during the night. It is snowing lightly at 8:00 this morning but the sun is also trying to shine.