London County Council 106 looks set to have a positive future ahead of it at Crich Tramway Village, following the news that it is set to enter the museum’s workshop later this year for a major overhaul. The work will be financed by the London County Council Tramways Trust, who previously restored the tram themselves in London before it entered service at Crich thirty years ago.
LCC 106 was extensively used following its launch in 1983, until it was withdrawn in 2007. The tram also enjoyed a brief return to use in 2010 ahead of a planned visit to Blackpool, which was sadly cancelled following the discovery of a mechanical defect, and it has not run since. For some time it has been known that the LCCTT had intended to fund the necessary work on 106 which will return it to running order, and a statement by the Chairman of the Tramway Museum Society has indicated that work is expected to start this year. Presumably it will therefore be the next major Crich workshop project after the overhaul of Sheffield 510 which is currently in progress. Hopefully LCC 106 should not require too much work, with the body likely to be the main focus of this attention, as work on its wheelsets was undertaken little more than a decade ago, and it hasn’t been used a great deal since. Both axles were also replaced at the same time.
The next few years could be very costly but exciting for the LCCTT, who are also proposing to support the reconstruction of LCC 1 ‘Bluebird’ in the fairly near future, which has been a static exhibit during its entire time spent in preservation and will require major work to enable it to operate again. Thanks to the incredible generousity of their members, the city of London should be well represented in the operating fleet at Crich for the forseeable future, and we can now look forward to seeing the tram that started the ball rolling for this organisation, LCC 106, back in service before too long!
LCC 106 displayed in front of the Exhibition Hall during last year's London themed event at Crich. As can be seen the car remains complete and should therefore be a reasonably easy project. (Photo by Tony Waddington)