The Tramway Museum Society are celebrating after winning an award from the Heritage Railway Association for the restoration of Cardiff water car 131. The prize was received in the category of ‘Self-Propelled Vehicle’ in a competion of wagons and carriages, with 131 being a most worthy winner following an excellent restoration to operating condition.
The award being given to the water car is highly appropriate as 131 has been an excellent ambassador for Crich since joining the running fleet back in 2009. Having starred at the Crich 50th anniversary celebrations that year, it briefly visited Beamish Museum for their ‘Power from the Past’ event in 2010 and more recently was borrowed by Blackpool Council for use as a rail scrubber on the promenade tramway. With all these achivements and more under its belt (or should I say lifeguards!?), Cardiff 131 has undoubtedly been one of the most successful restorations of recent times at Crich and is hopefully just at the beginning of a long career in service there.
This is of course not the first time that a Crich tram has won this prize as the likes of Leeds 399 and Sheffield 74 have previously been recognised. We congratulate all involved in 131‘s restoration on their win, and hopefully the good work of the Crich workshop will continue to be acknowledged in the years ahead.
Congratulations indeed. Good things come to those that wait. I proposed this car for tram of the year and it was not even entered in the final four. To me this is far superior to the Blackpool tram that was entered twice because it was beaten by the Liverpool car the previous year.
David – I agree that the award is very much deserved, but I must correct you on a few points. Cardiff 131 was in fact a ‘Tram of the Year’ finalist in 2009 and came third; the Western Train won that year, something that I think any tram would have struggled to beat! I think you’re getting slightly mixed up as well as neither of the Blackpool trams that lost out to Liverpool 762 (OMO 8 and Marton Box 31) have been entered in the contest since, last year’s winner being Marton VAMBAC 11 following its visit to Beamish. Recent results of our annual poll suggest that Blackpool trams have a very large fanbase, but I do think there will be one or two other strong contenders next time round!