Fantastic progress continues to be made on the restoration of Leeds 107, the Yorkshire city’s only surviving horse tram, currently residing at the Middleton Railway. Visibly, 107 is now looking much more like a tram with numerous small fixtures now being added, and the fitting of its first decency board was a major step forward in terms of moving this long-running project towards its completion.
On May 22nd, the first of the side decency panels was fitted, which has really done wonders for the appearance of the tram. When complete, the decency boards will display adverts for Oakland Glass and Cyril Isaacs, who supplied all of the glass used in 107, along with various period style advertisements. The addition of a large handrail on the platform at one end, between the canopy bend and the platform step, has also greatly enhanced the appearance of the horse car. At around the same time, work was continuing on the staircase handrails, bell equipment and internal glazing. Brackets for the destination boards (to be fitted along the side of the saloon windows) have now been attached and look superb; no rolling destination blinds for this tram!
Two commode handles, kindly provided by the Tramway Museum Society, have been lengthened as they were found to be too short to use on 107. The first of these was trial fitted to the corner panels on May 29th and looks superb. The exterior paintwork is also moving towards completion with the first of the livery top coat starting to be applied. This has included a nice splash of colour, in the form of red paint on the corner pillars. A local company is to produce two traditional-style lamps to be fitted inside the lower saloon, and the design of these have now been approved.
Don’t forget that regular progress reports on the reconstruction of Leeds 107 are provided at http://leedshorsecar107.squarespace.com/latest-news/ where up-to-date pictures illustrating the latest work are also regularly uploaded. Although there is still a fair bit of detail work to finish, the tram is making fantastic progress and the anticipation of its passenger debut at Middleton in August, and its subsequent move to a more permanent home at Crich, is building nicely!