Seen from the Bridge

Trams in service yesterday were Glasgow 22, MET 331 and Blackpool 40.

The Lord High Everything

or poor Corporate Governance.

One person holds all of the following ten posts at the National Tramway Museum.

• Honorary Secretary of the Tramway Museum Society
• Board Member for Property Ownership
• Board Member for Retail & Catering
• Board Member for The Journal
• Secretary of the Co-ordinating Committee
• Secretary of the Development Committee
• Insurance Officer
• Traffic Department Inspector
• Editor of Contact
• East Midlands Museum Service Board Member

This person now has absolute control of The Journal and Contact. "The Journal will  henceforth be produced by the Editor and any editorial assistants on the basis that the entire content of each issue including captions and editorials must be supplied to the Board member responsible for the Journal in a timely manner and his/her decision upon inclusion of each and every item, including photographs and captions, will be final."

I declined to sign up to this because I believe that such a concentration of power is completely and utterly wrong and that no one is infallible even The Lord High Everything.

1980 and 1981

Has anyone any pictures of Crich in 1980 or 1981? I am hoping to add a few years to my illustrated history but have very few pictures taken in 1980/81.

Black Country Museum (3)

These pictures conclude our visit to the Black Country Museum.

Wolverhampton 49 has an very ornate interior in excellant condition.

An advert for a pub that still exists.

The BET magnet and wheel device on W & D 34.

Black Country Museum (2)

BET owned Wolverhampton & District 34 is the usual passenger car at the Black Country Museum.

Three candidates for Wim's list.

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