Southampton 45 has become the latest tramcar from the National collection to be moved into the Exhibition Hall at Crich Tramway Village, following its retirement from active duties late last year. The tram has moved into a space vacated by the musuem’s operating horse tram Sheffield 15 which is set to carry its first passengers of the year on Wednesday 13th May, ahead of an increased number of running days during 2015.
In 2010, the Exhibition Hall was revamped with the trams inside arranged in a chronological order to illustrate the evolution of tramcar design over a 150 year period. Although the trams were not placed in age order, the idea was to show how designs developed over the years and as such the occupants were positioned accordingly, effectively creating a timeline of tramway history and a much improved display for visitors. For the following five years, efforts were always made to keep trams in appropriate positions to fit in with this display, with newer additions such as Blackpool & Fleetwood 2 and Edinburgh 35 placed correctly. Even temporary exhibits such as Newcastle 102 and Liverpool 869 which have graced the building in the last few years have always been placed correctly so as not to spoil the effect. Unfortunately however, that has now changed as Southampton 45 has been dumped in the space that had been occupied by Sheffield 15 and is now sandwiched between various horse cars. This of course means that the time line now shows 45 during the horse tram era, and before the introduction of steam trams and early electric cars such as the Blackpool conduit cars, which were of course the very first electric street trams to run in this country. This is also quite a change in the fortunes of the tram which is credited as having kick-started the UK tram preservation movement, and has always been considered as one of the star cars of the Crich fleet.
Not for the first time, this criticism might seem trivial to some, but as an accredited museum which has been designated as having an outstanding collection of great national importance, it has been stated that the museum has a serious role to play in educating visitors about its exhibits and that this should be put ahead of commercial aims. The inappropriate placing of 45 in an otherwise excellent display of trams in an order reflecting the history of tramcar designs could well misinform visitors, some of whom may well go away thinking that trams of this type ran alongside horse drawn vehicles during the 1870s, which is clearly untrue. It could be argued that most visitors will not pay much attention or not even care about such details, but this sort of apathy is the exact sort of attitude that accredited museums are supposed to avoid. It is also probably relevant to point out that a sizeable grant was provided to create this chronological exhibition, which has now been spoiled simply by putting a tram in the wrong place – something which a bit of shunting could have resolved.
Hopefully Southampton 45‘s positioning will only be temporary and the tram will either be moved to a more suitable part of the Exhibition Hall or returned to the main depots for continued storage as soon as possible. It has not been clarified what work it actually requires before it can be returned to service, but a major overhaul is thought to be required and so hopefully it will not stay put until this work can be carried out.
Seen in happier times, Southampton 45 is pictured at Glory Mine on its final day of service before being withdrawn and transferred to the Exhibition Hall. (Photo by Andrew Waddington)
Remember 869 was put in the hall but she escaped unlike the leeds car 602 that is in solitary at Clay Cross for daring to be different.
602 is still in the Exhibition Hall, not at Clay Cross… were you thinking of Leeds 600 perhaps?
Possibly. I still think all trams should be at Crich and the Clay Cross site sold then the funds go towards a new shed.
At least number 15 is getting a good airing this year. Wednesday turned out to be a great day and number 15 was very popular. With 3 service cars and Leeds 399 on driver experience trips, there was plenty going on.
Pictures to follow soon
Sheffield 15 carried full passenger loads on virtually every trip of the day. If this success can be repeated for the other five dates it could presage well for the future of horse-car operations at Crich. As you seem to realise the need to accomodate Sheffield 15 in the Depot was the reason for Southampton 45 temporarily residing in the Exhibition Hall, in 15’s place. With the restoration of ‘Bluebird’ (LCC 1) taking up so much space simple shunting would not have sufficed.
I still feel that dumping 45 in the wrong part of a chronological display is not really an acceptable solution – surely when the more regular horse car running days were first proposed thoughts could have been given towards moving the trams in the Exhibition Hall around so as to ensure that everything would fit in? There could even have been a repeat of last year’s hugely popular ‘Big Shunt’, perhaps with a donation required to raise funds for other projects. Alternatively, if space is such an issue at Crich then why not accept requests from other organisations to borrow trams?
PS. Good to hear that the horse tram day did so well, hopefully it also has a positive impact on visitor numbers so as to encourage more appearances.
“Dumping” (discarding as rubbish – oed) is an evocative but inappropriate word to use. Leaving that aside, what you say would, in an ideal world, be true but this is not an ideal world.
You cite the ‘Big Shunt’ as a model; anyone who watched that process would have realised how much volunteer time it required; the more perceptive observer might also have appreciated that considerably more time and effort had already been expended, by both volunteers and staff, in organisation and planning before a wheel could turn.
Remember that Crich volunteers and staff run a museum, including a 2/3 tram service, 8 hours a day, 7 days a week for 8 months of the year, and most of the other tasks have to be fitted in to the closed season.
With more volunteers, more could be achieved, but volunteers (and staff) are a very limited resource. For those who would be prepared to do something positive, and become volunteers, visit the Crich website: http://www.tramway.co.uk or email the volunteer recruiting team on: volunteering@tramway.co.uk
I did wonder how long it would be before the argument about lack of staff/volunteers came up… surely though, ensuring that an educational display for the visiting public is honest and accurate should be a high priority? I struggle to get my head around how a museum can go to such trouble to conserve life-expired items from LCC 1 to satisfy its accredited status (which let’s be honest, 99% of visitors probably won’t care about), then let down the educational side of things in such a small but silly way as putting 45 in an 1870s display. Dare I suggest that, if such matters are beyond the available workforce, then perhaps it is time to review whether running trams 7 days a week is still viable? Rather than look for problems and reasons why not to do things and why ‘that will have to do’, I do wish that a few more people at Crich would look for solutions – last year it seemed like nothing was too much trouble and as a result we got Crich at its absolute best. I love the museum, and want to see it thrive, so things that make it look weak do frustrate me. Perhaps I expect too much of the national museum!?
I note also that Newcastle 102 was moved out of the Exhibition Hall back to the depots with Fleetwood 2 taking its place earlier in the year – what this actually achieved has never been said but its certainly lost on me, especially as 102 is very fragile due to its broken axle. And I still maintain that, if space is such a problem, then loaning out cars is the solution.