One piece of news from the winter period which has gone unreported on British Trams Online – at least until now – was the arrival of Graz 210 at the North East Land, Sea & Air Museum late last year. Having been in secure storage for many years, the tram has now joined most of the collection of the North East Electrical Traction Trust at the Sunderland site and has also become the first non-Blackpool tramcar to be housed in their depot.
Graz 210 has not had the best of times since arriving in the UK. Originally exported for preservation at the West Yorkshire Transport Museum, latterly Transperience, the tram never operated there and indeed, the attraction closed down before its turn for restoration came. After finding itself in private ownership it later transferred into the care of NEETT, along with the Budapest twin set which later returned to its country of origin. The car has now taken up residence in their tram depot along with Blackpool cars Centenary 647, Twin set 674+684 and Balloon 721. Of these, only 721 is currently the subject of any restoration work: cosmetic attention focused on the interior has recently resumed, although it is unclear what future plans exist for the car, which was at one time earmarked for a loan to the Heaton Park Tramway, although this seems to have been quietly forgotten about. The Trust has also recently acquired a number of buses which have taken up residence in their depot, suggesting a change of direction – and maybe a new name would be appropriate if this is to pave the way for the organisation’s future?
Incidentally, 210 is of course not the only Graz car in Britain; similar car 225 is currently housed on a site near Brighton in the ownership of the Tram 53 Society, having been donated to them by the Summerlee museum after being deemed surplus to requirements following several years of operation in Scotland.
Is there a list anywhere of trams quietly stashed away in the UK but substantially intact? Years ago there was a Rotterdam tram stored somewhere in the London docklands, and two Boeing trams supposedly tested in Manchester. Rumours and urban legends tell of others that might or might not exist.
The most comprehensive list I know of is the database maintained by the Vintage Carriages Trust:
see http://www.vintagecarriagestrust.org/surveystatus.asp
There are a few known omissions of remnants in fields or in use as garden sheds/holiday homes etc, but every nominally ‘preserved’ tram is listed.
P.S. nothing from Rotterdam listed as currently in the UK…
The 2 Boeing cars imported by Serco as part of an investigation into their suitability as additional cars for Metrolink were 1226 and 1326. 1226 went to Derby where Serco Rail Test did some preliminary work on scoping the required modifications, it was scrapped last year apparently. 1326 came to Manchester and made one return trip to Eccles towed by the diesel loco. It was found unsuitable and remained stored at Queens Road until sometime in 2007 when it was finally cut up after finding no takers when it was offered for preservation.
Thankyou for the info. A pity the Boeing trams were not saved, as they were a historic dead-end in the development of tram design that might have been of interest in future years,
Not all the Boeings were scrapped, and two are preserved, both in US museums. In fact one is parked just in front of Blackpool Boat 226!
Nigel
Vintage Carriage Trust has a comprehensive database
http://www.tram.vintagecarriagestrust.org/tms/tmsearch.asp
Does anyone know if there is a list without having to search? I can only find the search engine on the links mentioned above. thanks.