London United 159

Ken Green dismantling a narrow guage Lison bogie which will be reconstructed to standard guage as has the one in the foreground.
A controller has been fitted to the south end platform. I have no idea why the number 171 is chalked on the dash panel but Dave Jones has sent me the explanation.
'I was at a postcard fair in London when I found a superb close up of the front end of LUT171. It was a view I had never seen before so I bought it and had it copied for the workshop to assist them with detail etc. It was from that view that much has been laid out, including the headlamp position, once a number had been chalked on the dash.'

Customers

The weather today was rather muggy and Glasgow 22 and Southampton 45 were in service. Berlin 3006, the Access Tram, is used most weekdays and today was no exception. I think the lady nearest the camera of picture 1 had worked on trams or buses many years ago but I forgot to ask where. Picture 2 show a grandfather from Burton on Trent and his grandson enjoying an ice cream on the steps of 22.

Track work

It was an overcast and miserable day today and, rather surprisingly, Blackpool & Fleetwood 2 and Johannesburg 60 were in service. A contractor was also working on the track as shown in picture 1 resulting in 'wrong line' running for south bound cars between Cliffside and the Depot Approach (pictures 2-4)

Doreen Worth

Today was Tramathon day at the Museum with lots of sunshine and lots of trams to photograph. It was also the day on which a long serving member of staff, Doreen Worth, opened the new entrance kiosk.
Kath and I visited the Museum during the afternoon - Kath met an old friend, John Henderson and his dogs, and I had a beer in the Red Lion. It was excellent.

Johannesburg 60

Yesterday was a beautiful day at Crich which marked Johannesburg 60's return to traffic alongside Southampton 45. The second picture show the Derbyshire countryside seen from the top of a tram.
 

Denis 'Motorman' Higgins

Today the tram crews observed a minutes silence to coincide with the funeral of Denis Higgins, one of the pioneer tram drivers at Crich (from left - Mike Crabtree, Richard Lomas, Derek Lambelle, Roger Webster, Keith Twist). See Historical Archive for pictures of Denis in action.

Exhibition Hall

I am still in canada but here are a few pictures taken in the Exhibition Hall on 17th May. The pictures are Oporto 9, Leicester 76 and Derby 1.

Advert of the times

I am in Nelson, BC, Canada so here is an advert from an other colony, Christchurch, New Zealand. When in England, I am working on a project to catalogue the Museum's collection of timetables and many of them have adverts which reflect the social climate of the time. As recently as 1950, when I was 9 years old, an advert such as this one was common place. Imagine the outcry this advert would have caused half a centuary later.

Wet Wednesday

At first glance Howth 10 appears to be continuing its long snooze in the Exhibition Hall.
However a closer look reveals that the 'little people' have come to visit. The little people are part of an exhibition 'A Colourful Crowd' which is touring museums and schools of the East Midlands.
Leeds 399 and Sheffield 510 maintained the service on a very wet afternoon.

Caravans and Models

Today was a fine and mostly sunny day with Blackpool & Fleetwood 2 and Blackpool 40 in service (for a picture of 2 see Vans below).
Driver, John Nicholls, checking that the telephones are working. This simple safety check is carried out every morning.
Blackpool 40 pasing a vintage caravan near the Bandstand. I understand a number of vintage caravans will be at the Museum for the weekend.
Prague 180 was moved from the Depot to the workshop today - I think for cleaning.

By 5:00pm work was in hand setting up for the for the models weekend.

Overhead Maintenance

Today was another beautiful sunny day. Blackpool 166 and Southampton 45 were in service.
Tony Stevenson is seen at the controls of 45 at Glory Mine.
John Markham working on the overhead wiring at the Depot entrance.
Niel Daft checking out the wiring with Lawrence Dutton and John Markham looking on.

Depot Lighting

Today a contractor was on site re-wiring the lighting in part of the Depot. As can be seen the trams had been removed from the centre road to facilitate this.
The service was operated by Blackpool 40 and Glasgow 812. Here 40's life guards are being demonstrated to visitors.

Blackpool 166

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day. The trams in service were Blackpool 166, Southampton 45 and Leeds 180.
The first three pictures show 166 - At Wakebridge facing Town End, arriving at Wakebridge from Glory Mine and passing the Red Lion.
The final picture shows driver, Mike Crabtree, escorting an unruly passenger from the site after she threatened to kiss him.

3rd May

Paisley 68, Liverpool 869 and Gateshead 5 were in service today. Here is 68 on the traverser. For archive photos click here.
Halle 902 was out for some driver training trips. If this picture is cropped it could almost have been taken in the DDR except that Berlin didn't have any T4s and Halle didn't have any Rekos.
Finally John Markham made some adjustments to the overhead wiring at Glory Mine.