Crich Tramway Village have revealed an expanded programme of special events to be held during 2016. Although few of these will be of much direct interest to tram enthusiasts, hopefully more events will ensure that the year ahead is a successful one for the museum with something to appeal to most different tastes, although a large number of vintage car events seem to dominate the calendar this year.
Probably of most interest to readers of this website is the addition of ‘Yorkshire Day’ on 1st August. This is expected to see all available trams from that county in service; which will presumably consist of Sheffield cars 74 and 510, along with Leeds trio 180, 345 and 399. Perhaps Sheffield horse car 15 may also be used – this tram is once again set to enjoy increased use with a number of special horse car running days now being advertised. Little other information has been provided as yet regarding what the Yorkshire event will entail, although it would be nice if some of the hidden gems from the museum’s extensive collection of Leeds and Sheffield trams could be extracted from the depots and the Exhibition Hall and posed outside for the cameras. It would be especially pleasing to see the double-deck horse tram Leeds 107 brought outside as it has very rarely appeared in the open air since its arrival at Crich in 2013. Although unlikely due to it being blocked inside the Exhibition Hall, an appearance by Leeds 602 would also be lovely!
The annual Enthusiasts Day has been re-branded for 2016 and will now be known simply as ‘Tram Day’. This is described by the museum’s website as an ‘event to celebrate the stars of the day – the trams!’ No other information is available as yet which may well be confusing to potential visitors; after all, surely every day at the home of the National Tramway Museum is a tram day!? Hopefully despite the name change this event will maintain its previous high standard which has seen an intensive tram service operate each year accompanied by some very impressive line-ups in the depot yard.
With other usual events such as 1940s and Edwardian themed events, ‘Beside the Seaside’ and the ever-impressive Starlight Spectacular, 2016 will hopefully be another good year for Crich despite a likely lack of any new additions to the operational fleet after a couple of particularly exciting years, and with such a large collection of trams on site there will no doubt be plenty to enjoy, along with hopefully a few surprises to provide added interest.