After a long winter closure for refurbishment, work to improve the visitor displays at the Birkenhead tramway’s museum and depot premises at Taylor Street is now almost complete. Volunteers are hard at work to complete some final snagging before the building can re-open to visitors, and a provisional date for the grand re-opening has been set for Saturday 26th May.
Subject to the completion of final work by volunteer members of the Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society, the museum is expected to be officially opened to the public at 1300 on 26th May. As well as vastly improved display space, the building now offers disabled toilets, a small cafe, brand new gift shop, upper level viewing area offering a better vantage point to inspect the tram collection, improved heating and lighting, and finally a lift to provide full access to all of the above for all visitors regardless of accessibility requirements. Creating a positive first impression, visitors will enter the new entrance area and then pass through the old Woodside Ferry toll booths which have been restored for their new role. Other exhibits will, of course, include the oldest surviving double-deck tram in the UK: horse car Birkenhead 7 which recently returned from a period of storage. Sounds good, doesn’t it!?
Please note that the mentioned date is subject to final confirmation, and will be dependent on the volunteers’ ability to finish the remaining jobs this month. Final details will be posted online nearer to the anticipated opening date. It has been suggested that the grand re-opening day will also feature an enhanced tram service at Birkenhead – again, this will be confirmed nearer to the date.