Black Country Museum (1)

Yesterday we visited the Black Country Museum. It was very busy and queues were the order of the day.

I was surprised to see the Wolverhampton double decker out as I thought it was only used for special occassions. However the top deck wasn't in use.

Eventually it came back and this time, surprise, surprise the top deck was full.

Stockport 5

Yesterday I received an invitation to go and see Stockport 5 at Heaton Park on 28th August.

Stockport 5 in Blackpool on 25th September 2010.

Andrew Waddington writes:
'I wanted to write mainly to thank you for the mention of the launch event for Stockport 5 on your blog. It's always nice to see Heaton Park getting a bit of extra publicity, and I'm especially grateful as I am helping a bit with a few things for this particular event. The photos you published are brilliant; I'm not sure if you realise but that was actually car 5's penultimate outing in Blackpool. It ran for a Fylde Tramway Society tour on 28th September, and has been confined to the depot ever since - in fact those were its only two appearances in the whole of 2010!' http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=155324261215033&view=wall

Sand

Yesterday we had enough crews to operate 3 trams. I was conductor on Rack 2 which disgraced itself by completely emptying one sand hopper at Glory Mine on its third trip of the day. I then did one trip on Berlin 3006 whilst Mike, the driver, and the engineers checked and refilled the sander.

Chesterfield 7 with a trainee driver.

I thought this was a typical 1940s bus but I was let into its dark secret. It is an Eastern bodied Bristol LWL6B new to Thames Valley as recently as 1952.

The third service tram was Glasgow 812 seen here at 5:00 pm waiting to go to the depot.

1940s weekend starts tomorrow

Secretive Committees

At the TMS AGM I asked about the six Central Standing Committees that are listed in the Annual Report.I didn't find out much.

Who serves on them? How long for? How are committee members selected? When do they meet?Are agendas and minutes circulated? What are their terms of reference? What are they for?

·         Collections Management Committee (chairman Karen Rigg). Membership goes with a post and there is no way for a Society member to volunteer for this committee.

·         Co-ordinating Committee (chairman Ian Dougill). This committee acts as a link between the Board and the various departments and is responsible for organising staff meetings.

·         Development Committee (chairman vacant). This is a strategic committee and restricted to members with posts, employees and members with professional expertise.

·         Health & Safety (chairman Colin Heaton). Members of this committee are all required to have expertise in this field.

·         Membership (chairman Lynda Wright). This committee is open to all who are prepared to volunteer to serve.

·         Tramcar Conservation (chairman Malcolm Wright). Membership is by invitation from members who bring particular skills to the party. The Trams Report was written by this committee.

      At the AGM, Karen Rigg emphasised that membership of the Collections Management Committee is restricted to officers with designated positions and that there is no room for me.

What's happening?

What's happening to the tramways in Croydon, Manchester and the West Midlands?
Normal services are being reported for Manchester and WM. No trams in central Croydon due to overhead line damage.

We have just returned from a couple of nights in Liverpool. Nothing unusual about that. Liverpool is a tourist destination theses days. We went on Monday and stayed in an apartment 5 minutes walk from Lime St Station. On Monday evening we watched the BBC news of riots on the familiar streets of Croydon. On Tuesday evening the riots were in broad daylight on the even more familiar streets of central Manchester. Would Liverpool be next? Would central Manchester be devastated and laid waste? We went to bed with the sound of police sirens ringing in our ears.
Fortunately the Liverpool riot was not in the city centre and Manchester had been brought under control before our return journey on Wednesday evening. It was all very disturbing and I suspect there is more to come.

Ready for action at Wakebridge on Friday

Stone workshop (19)

It was good to see the stone workshop open to the public last week.

Good news!

Dr Mop and Andy Bailey have reported that London United 159 was mounted on its new bogies for the first time yesterday to check that the bogies fit and the clearances are correct. Dimensions for the brake rigging were also checked. There are still some components to finish but yesterday's fitting was a great success and a significant step forward.

159's bogies on Friday evening - waiting for the big day.

What's in a name?

I think that the TMS should revert to its previous practice and name buildings after members who have worked hard for the Museum in the past rather than employees' children. My suggestion would be Betty's after Betty and Doug Vernon. Both Doug and Betty were enthusiastic supporters of the Museum and Doug was a former President. His ashes were scattered at Wakebridge.

Ken Jones has reminded me that "Bettys is a trade name of  cafes and coffee shops in North Yorkshire and I think they could get upset" and suggests "call it Richard's place because it appears some people [not me] wish you were dead".


I just want the owners of The Museum (TMS Members) to be consulted about this and lots of other more important things and for their views to be taken into account before decisions are made.

We coped, just!

Yesterday at 9:30 there were 6 traffic staff at the Museum but only 2 drivers. The third driver had been unavoidably delayed. We could only run 2 trams instead of the planned 3 and we had to call on workshop employees to help us get Southampton 45 and Jo'burg 60 out of the depot. We ran a fully loaded tram every 15 minutes until 12:00 when the third driver arrived. He was just in time as there was a request for Berlin 3006 and lunch breaks were approaching. We were now able to keep 45 and 60 running through lunch breaks and run 3006 when needed.
So we coped but it was stressful for all concerned and in particular for the Inspector.

One of the reasons for the driver shortage this year is stringent medical checks which are not being enforced at other tramways. 

A white van

My point is that if someone stepped out from behind your van, the tram driver wouldn't stand a chance. A 100 year old tram doesn't have the braking distance of a modern van so we must keep the drivers' sight lines clear. I was involved in a near miss with a lorry just over a year ago and don't want to repeat the experience.
If you must bring your van on site I suggest that you park round the corner in front of the Assembly Rooms.
Finally such an accident would have to be reported to Her Majesty's Railway Inspectors and could result in legal proceedings.

159's paintwork

Situations Vacant - Photographic Department

This vacancy at the National Tramway Museum may be of interest to some readers of this blog but be quick the closing date for applications is today.
http://www.tramway.co.uk/village/57/vacancies

I think that this vacancy is being filled with indecent haste having been advertised for less than a week in the holiday season.

Blackpool and London yesterday

Metrolink

The takeover by RATP was confirmed by the London Stock Exchange yesterday.

"Manchester tram operations

Stagecoach Group plc ("Stagecoach") yesterday completed the sale of its subsidiary, Stagecoach Metrolink Limited ("SML"), to Ratp Dev UK Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ratp Développement.

SML operates and maintains the Manchester Metrolink tram network under a ten-year contract with Transport for Greater Manchester (formerly, Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive) through to July 2017. The gross assets of SML as at 30 April 2011 were £16.2m.

The sale relates only to SML. The sale does not include the Group's Sheffield tram operations, and the Group is not engaged in any discussions regarding a sale of the Sheffield tram operations."

Nigel Walker sent me these pictures of construction work.

Shot of Metrolink extension to Oldham as it passes Newton Heath Waste Transfer Station

Manchester Route 24 as it turns from Oldham Road on to Thorp Road before going over the Metrolink extension to Oldham.

Same location

The first shot

In reply to comments, when I edited my first issue of The Journal way back in 1972, the text was checked by the Secretary and this was the case with every issue I produced over the next forty years. I declined to sign a document demanding that this procedure was followed in future as I had always complied in the past. 
I published the letter for two reasons. 
First so that Kremlin watchers would know why my name has disappeared from the masthead of the next Journal and secondly to illustrate the difference in the treatment of staff and volunteers at the Museum. Staff would be taken through a formal disciplinary process. Volunteers are simply kicked out without even a thankyou.

Finally between October 1972 and October 2007, I edited 57 issues of The Journal. Each one of them was approved by the Secretary before going to the printers so what is all the fuss about? Why do I have to end my career by being dismissed in such a crass and insensitive manner? No wonder the Society and the Museum are short of volunteers! 

Gas lights

Graham Feakins has send me these two pictures of himself working on the gas lights at Crich in 1976.
"It was when Rex Moorey was still alive and I used to help him with some maintenance work.  As is clear to see, it was often best to do this sort of thing after dark when you could see what was working and what needed replacing or adjusting/cleaning."  "Now that I have gone through my Journals for further information, I am simply amazed at the almost complete lack of reference to the gas lights in the street scene of the Journal over the years (my collection as a member is 1969 to date).  If it had not been for Rex, then I doubt if any of them would have witnessed a cubic foot of gas through them in the first place!  Basically, there was a mention in Dec. 1970 to erecting some standards on the car park side but with no immediate plans to having them lit, followed by a report in October 1984 that all were to be converted to electricity, accompanied as I know by much neglect in between if Rex could not make it, resulting in many gas lamps malfunctioning, although I tried to help.  Probably nothing was done after he died.  There’s not even a single photo in the Journal showing a complete gas lamp standard working throughout the issues and the two views of me attending them may be the only ones!"

 

Metrolink surprise

http://menmedia.co.uk/news/transport/public_transport/s/1454182_stagecoach-set-to-handover-metrolink-to-french-firm

Tramway Street returns