Crich awarded £100,000 for depot improvements

It is pleasing to announce that the Tramway Museum Society have been awarded grant funding of £100,000 towards the cost of improving the main depots at Crich Tramway Village. This will help to provide a much improved environment for the priceless collection of trams to be stored inside, as well as offering better viewing for visitors of those vehicles not in operation at any one time.

It has been well documented that the existing depots at Crich, which date back to the 1960s, are no longer fit for purpose. Increasing issues with condensation have become a grave concern and some of the trams have suffered from excessive mould growth in recent times, an extreme example being Sheffield 74 which is currently stored out of service due to its upper deck ceiling having deteriorated to such a poor state that it will probably require complete replacement. With climate change causing milder, wetter winters the problem of damp conditions in the running sheds is only going to get worse over time, and so the museum has sought funding to carry out some vital improvements.

The estimated total cost of the work which it is hoped to undertake will be around £400,000 – this would include providing the depots with a brand new, insulated roof as well as insulated doors, wall partitions and improved wall insulation, as well as new lighting and better interpretation of displays. The first £100,000 of this has now been secured thanks to an extremely generous grant from the DCMS/Wolfson Museums & Galleries Improvement Fund. This involves the Wolfson Fund providing match funding for government donations towards important projects in Britain’s museums.

Museum Curator Laura Waters said: “We are absolutely delighted that our funding bid has been successful, and that DCMS/Wolfson are supporting us to improve the long term care of the collection, and its presentation to our visitors. Whilst the largest part of the funding will go towards the renovation of the roof, a proportion of the funding will also go towards improving the interpretation that we provide for our visitors. We will be redisplaying some of the smaller artefacts which are currently on display, but lack any interpretation for what they are and how they relate to the large tramcar exhibits, as well as incorporating some new items from our stores. There will be a ‘trams running today’ area, where visitors can read about the trams being demonstrated at the Museum, when they are visiting.”

Work is expected to be carried out during 2017/18 – although what will happen to all the trams housed in the depots whilst the roof is being replaced is going to create some interesting challenges for the museum! Nonetheless, the work is considered essential for the long-term preservation of the tram collection and will enable the TMS to fulfill its duty in protecting a part of British transport history for decades to come. In addition, the new interpretive panels and improved lighting will create a vastly improved environment for visitors to view the trams, making the collection even more accessible to the public.

It is not clear how the remaining £300,000 to complete the depot project will be obtained although donations are naturally very welcome. It has also not been confirmed if the planned work will be carried out in phases, which could potentially allow different stages of work to be completed as finance permits. However, the initial award of such a large sum of money is clearly fantastic news and represents a very important step into the future for the national collection.

Conservation work is regularly required on the trams held within the depot as shown here.

In addition to work on the roof and doors it is planned that the lighting will be improved to aid visitors when walking around the depots. (Both Photographs courtesy of Crich Tramway Village)

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1 Response to Crich awarded £100,000 for depot improvements

  1. Bill Brinkley says:

    Its Good to get news like that and it only January

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