Much of the work to install overhead wiring over Road 4 in the tram/bus depot at Beamish Museum has at last been completed, more than a year after the rails were laid in the floor. The installation and energising of the live wire over Road 4 is sufficiently complete for trams to take power, as has been demonstrated so far this week by both Grimsby & Immingham 26 and Blackpool 31.
The project is not yet complete, as an earth wire still needs to be installed – this has not yet happened due to a shortage of available wire, but will hopefully be added in the fairly near future! Former escalator switch gear has also been installed in the depot, allowing power for each cluster of roads and the depot track fan to be isolated if required. In a move that shows what a forward-thinking museum Beamish is, Road 5 has also been energised with a live wire, even though no track has been laid there – yet! In the short term, this will allow the museum’s restored Newcastle trolleybus to be shunted more easily once the earth wire is added, and longer term it could well enable the resident tram fleet to be expanded.
Blackpool 31 seen testing the newly commissioned overhead wires over the depot fan leading onto Road 4, with one of the team behind this project at the controls. (Photo courtesey of the Beamish Transport & Industry Blog)