CRICH TRAMWAY VILLAGE NEWS ROUND-UP The usual monthly round-up of the news from the home of the National Tramway Museum – the Crich Tramway Village. News this month comes from Chesterfield 7, Glasgow 22, Johannesburg 60, Sheffield 74, Cardiff 131, London United Tramways 159, Leeds 180, Metropolitan 331 and Liverpool 869.
We start our round-up, as usual, with Cardiff 131. The tram has now started test runs on the main line and made it as far as Glory Mine on Monday 16th March before reaching Town End for the first time on Friday 27th March. Production of the scrubber gear has been delayed to allow the contractor chance to do other non-related work. Photos of 131’s test run to Glory Mine can be found at Richard Lomas’ excellent blog here.
The top deck seat castings on LUT 159 continue to be fettled whilst drawings for the new driving axle are nearing completion, along with those detailing the necessary machining work to the ex-Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramroad wheel centres and tyres which will be used on the tram. Mouldings to the lower saloon pillars, coving and ceiling finishes are being currently being fitted. The contractor who is to be employed on overhauling the motors has examined some from the Clay Cross store and has decided that although one will require very little work the other will need major reworking. The latest photo of 159 - a rare shot outside – can be found here on Richard Lomas’ blog.
The overhaul of MET 331 is nearing completion with only test running remaining to be undertaken.
The truck of Leeds 180 has been dismantled and the motors and wheelsets have now been sent away to a contractor for overhaul and testing. A number of the truck components have been found to have a problem with a broken primary suspension spring mounting pin, worn leaf spring seats and failure of previous spring seat repairs. The controllers are being overhauled and during this work it has been discovered that a number of segments and contact finger tips need replacing. Corrosion has been identified on the air receivers and it has been decided to produce new versions with a contractor being employed to do this work.
Glasgow 22 has temporarily been fitted with a swivel head trolley due to the overhead at Wakebridge not being aligned to the centre of the track. Once this work is completed the tram will receive its fixed head trolley back again.
Chesterfield 7, Johannesburg 60 and Sheffield 74 are amongst the trams to be re-commissioned for the 2009 season. All these trams have also had repairs undertaken to damaged and deteriorated interior and exterior finishes.
During the commissioning of Liverpool 869 new batteries had to be fitted and test running discovered a problem with the contactor switching in parallel notches. This problem is under investigation.
It is still planned that Cardiff 21 - a horse tram – will visit the Museum during 2009 and it is likely that this will arrive at Crich in the next few weeks.
* For regular photos and updates from Crich please visit Richard Lomas’ blog here where up-to-date photos are regularly added.
* This news is taken from Contact: The Newsletter of the Tramway Museum Society. The only way to receive this monthly is to become a member of the Tramway Museum Society. As well as this monthly newsletter membership carries with it the right to a free copy of the Society’s illustrated quarterly Journal, free admission and free rides on the trams when the Museum is open to the public, and a voice in running Britain’s National Tramway Museum. Full details on how to join can be found here.
Source: Contact from the Tramway Museum Society
Crich Tramway Village – Sunday 29th March 2009
Cardiff 131 seen at Town End during test runs as part of the commissioning process. This is believed to be its first visit to Town End. The date is 27th March 2009. Further photos from Crich can be found here.
Photo: Jack Gordon