One of the hard-working members of the operational tram fleet at Beamish Museum, Sunderland 16, has recently been withdrawn from service. For a while now, it has been planned to re-tyre 16 and now the car’s tyres have become a cause for concern, leading to a decision to being taken to sideline the tram until this work can be carried out.
For several years, 16 was the only fully enclosed double-decker available for use at Beamish which has predictably led to it clocking up high mileages on the massive museum’s lengthy tramway circuit. However, the car otherwise appears to be in excellent health and should soon be returned to service – although with a few other projects in hand over the summer it may have to wait a short while before receiving the attention it needs. In the meantime, Sunderland 101 – AKA Blackpool ‘Balloon’ 703 – is being used more extensively than was expected to compensate for 16‘s absence, helped by poor weather for the early part of the summer. Sadly, for the same reason Blackpool ‘Boat’ 233 has hardly been used at all since making its public debut at its new home way back in April. The tram is currently residing on the new depot track 4, which still does not have overhead wires, making it less accessible than the other serviceable trams. Hopefully better weather will enable this tram to run at the upcoming ‘Power from the Past’.
Finally, work on the repainting of Beamish 196 is now almost complete with the gloss coats of blue and yellow now applied and looking absolutely fantastic. Work is now in hand on preparing the roof advert boards, which will feature some typical period style advertisements carried by trams in the North East, for fitting ahead of its highly anticipated return to service after a year away.