Work starts on depot refurbishment at Crich

With Crich now closed for the winter period no time has been wasted in starting the refurbishment of the depot at the museum with Depot II cleared of all trams and the overhead taken down to allow contractors Bailey Construction to start their work. All this came following Big Shunt 2 which brought the curtain down on another operating season at Crich.

The weekend of Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th November was the last weekend of the 2017 season at Crich and a celebration was held on the Saturday with Lottery ticket holders, local residents and members of various tramway groups invited along for a more intensive than usual service with some shunting also taking place ahead of the Big Shunt 2 the following day.

Glasgow 22, Blackpool 166, Blackpool 236, Leeds 345 and Liverpool 869 were all in service on Saturday 4th with Metropolitan Electric Tramways 331 being used for a tour by the LRTA (which included a trip on the Traverser) and Blackpool 40 was in use on a special trip for the TMS. On Sunday 5th November – the day of Big Shunt 2 – a similar service was in operation with 22, 166 and 869 joined by London County Council 106 and MET 331.

The big draw for many over the weekend though was not the trams in service but Big Shunt 2. In preparation for the depot refurbishment works a number of trams had to be moved around with the Great Exhibition Hall in particular welcoming some new friends over the winter whilst other trams found themselves in unfamiliar positions within the depot. Of all the trams which were moved the most unusual sight was probably that of Grimsby & Immingham 14 no longer being found at the rear of road 4 in the depot! Save for a short loan period back to Immingham Docks it is many years since 14 hasn’t been stored there but with work commencing on Depot II this entire part of the depot was cleared which saw the tram moved out of the depot, briefly through the depot gates and then back into the depot.

During the shunt the chance was also taken to give a few trams a wash with operational Blackpool 236 being given a good clean along with stored pair Gateshead 5 and Glasgow 1115.

Once the shunting was completed and all trams were in their temporary homes the last service trams returned to depot to end another season at Crich and to allow the major work on the depots to commence. The overhead in Depot II was then removed the following morning allowing this crucial work to commence.

* Further photos from the weekend will follow in a future update of British Trams Online.

Gateshead 5 basks in the sun as it is shunted around the depot for a bath.

Sheffield 189 is shunted with the Blackpool Electric Locomotive doing the honours.

The sheer length of Grimsby & Immingham 14 is plain to see in this view as it is propelled into its temporary home.

Glasgow 1115 makes a rare outside appearance as it is shunted into the depot having had a wash. (Photographs x4 by Peter Whiteley)

Monday 6th November and with a very empty Depot II work is in hand to remove the overhead to allow the refurbishment work to commence. (Photograph by Crich Tramway Village)

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1 Response to Work starts on depot refurbishment at Crich

  1. Alan Kirkman says:

    I think the rarest appearance was on the Saturday 4th when DHMD 1 was very carefully eased out if the Exhibition Hall and put on the road in front of it. This car hasn’t been seen out in a very long time indeed!

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