The repaint of Hull 96 is now well underway with Heritage Painting moving in to the Heaton Park Tramway’s Middleton Road Depot on 1st September to start work on the tram following extensive preparation of the bodywork by volunteers. This was an earlier start than expected due to a gap in the painters’ schedule becoming available at short notice, with the contractors agreeing to complete the preparatory works before applying the gloss finish to the tram.
Rapid progress has been made on 96 by a small team from Heritage Painting, who of course only recently finished work on Blackpool 680 – and if that paint job is anything to go by then the Hull tram should look beautiful when completed! The first traces of maroon paint were being applied to the side panels within a matter of days and early glimpses suggest that this will be another repaint of exceptional quality.
The annual Trans Lanc Rally organised by the Greater Manchester Museum of Transport, when a huge selection of vintage vehicles descend on Heaton Park, took place on Sunday 6th September but oddly rather than show off the amazing work that has been done on Hull 96, there seems to be a great deal of secrecy surrounding it. Thus a large curtain was erected in front of the workshop area to hide 96 from curious visitors whilst the familiar trio of operational cars – Blackpool Vanguard 619, Blackpool Brush 623 and Manchester 765 – were left to entertain the crowds. This does seem like a bit of an own goal, as people visiting the transport rally may well have been sufficiently intrigued by the partially complete Hull car to consider a return visit for its launch next month. However, visitors were allowed a sneaky glimpse of the tram in return for a donation: whether this is an innovative way to raise funds, or an unwanted sign of an increasingly greedy approach to preservation being employed by some organisations is down to opinion!
The sight that greeted visitors to the original Heaton Park tram depot on 6th September - Hull 96 hidden behind a large sheet, meaning that anyone not willing to make a financial contribution was not able to view the latest progress on its restoration. (Photo courtesy of the Heaton Park Tramway Facebook page)
It’s behind a sheet to keep the dust off it. It is available to view by request.
That makes far more sense than what I had been told John, although the HPT Facebook page does state that you can have a look if you give a donation.
The curtain was erected as a way of protecting the as yet unfinished and unsealed paintwork not as an attempt to hide the tram away. Rather than leave the tram hidden away we decided to make a feature of it and allow people to view it for a donation of no fixed amount and get a guided tour with a view of some of the pieces restored and used for research of the tram. However people are also not being stopped from peering around the curtain either even if they have not made a donation.
That’s not so bad then Martin – thanks for clarifying – although I had been told by one of your volunteers that you didn’t want anyone to see it so clearly some people have got the wrong impression!
Perhaps it was just an individual! I was told I could take a look around the curtain and if I wished, make a discresional donation! I was informed that the simple reason it was curtained off was as the paint work is currently unvarnished, they didnt want masses of sticky fingers touching it!
Well yes, as the launch is only a month away they will not be wanting to spend ages cleaning the paintwork before the varnish is applied. Apart from anything else it used to be the case that fresh paint should not be cleaned for a certain amount of time until the paint has hardened, I don’t know whether that is still the case with modern paints.
Lovely job by my brother and his crew. Always proud to see his work being appreciated