A Feltham car for Fleetwood?

When British Trams Online featured ex-Leeds Feltham car 526 in our ‘Lost Trams’ feature, little did we realise what was coming next… We have now been informed by John Woodman of the Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust, via the comments section on our nes page, that this organisation is investigating the possibility of returning this tram to the UK for display in Fleetwood!

Leeds 526, or London Transport 2085 as it was previously known, has languished in storage at the Seashore Trolley Museum in the USA for several decades and, as can be seen in the photos recently published on this website – http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/news/?p=2043 – the car has deteriorated into an appalling condition. However, Mr Woodman states that the long-term goal of the Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust is to establish a ‘representative collection of trams’ for display in Fleetwood, and that his group are considering trying to repatriate 526 for inclusion in a future museum. The intention would be to restore the car in its latter day Leeds identity, to avoid duplicating either of the other Feltham cars already preserved here in the UK. The group is keen to discuss this ambitious proposal with any potential sponsors, as obviously the costs of shipping the car back to England, let alone restoring it to a presentable condition, will be considerable. Nonetheless, the FHLT deserve to be applauded for even considering such a project and although very much a ‘maybe’ at this stage, this does give some indication of the level of ambition held by this particular organisation. Until now, the only tram to be succesfully repatriated to the UK and restored is of course Blackpool Standard car 147 which returned to its native land in 2000 following a similar period of decay, although this is currently a hot topic in the transport preservation movement following the return of two A4 Pacific steam locomotives for temporary display at the National Railway Museum for a major event next yeae.

The idea of bringing a London Feltham car to the Fylde coast is not a new one, however. Many years ago a suggestion was made to operate Metropolitan Electric Tramways 526 from the London Transport Museum collection in Blackpool, but ultimately this idea never reached fruition and the car has remained a static exhibit, latterly stored at Acton. More recently, Blackpool Transport requested to borrow Metropolitan 331 from Crich for the English Electric streamliners’ 70th anniversary celebrations in 2004, to show the tram which partly inspired the design of Blackpool’s famous Balloons. Unfortunately, this request was turned down by the Tramway Museum Society. We shall wait with keen interest to see if this proposal will be third time lucky for the Felthams!