2018 is shaping up to be a year of surprises in the tramway world – and the latest one is the announcement that Stockport 5 will be returning to Stockport for a single day visit as part of a local event taking place on Saturday 5th May. Yes, that’s less than a week away!
As part of the Stockport community rail festival, the sole surviving Stockport tramcar will be heading home on 5th May. Stockport 5 will be placed on display at Stockport Station for the day between 0930 and 1600 for the event, which will also feature vintage buses, diesel locomotives, a horse-drawn dray and working model railway layouts. Naturally the tram will only be a static exhibit, but is sure to be a popular addition to the festival and will hopefully provide useful publicity for the Heaton Park Tramway, where it is normally based.
Car 5 has of course been undergoing extensive workshop attention recently, and this is not yet complete, however volunteers have been working hard to ensure that the tram looks presentable in time for its day in the limelight. Heritage Painting have carried out a partial repaint on the car which has greatly improved its appearance, and it is hoped that it will be able to return to service at some point this year.
Yes, apologies for the short notice, it was a combination of waiting for transport to be confirmed and progressing the work to the tram significantly enough.
We didn’t want to announce it then have to let people down.
Hopefully people will still be able to come and see 5 back home and see where our hard working volunteers have got to so far.