Following the conclusion of the Great British Seaside event – which ran from 28th May to 4th June albeit without any trams – the Crich Tramway Village have announced that the museum will now only be open on limited dates until repairs to the infrastructure can be completed. At the same time there has been a further reduction in admission prices.
The last trams to run at Crich were on Tuesday 17th May (Blackpool 167, Leeds 180 and Oporto 273) after which the Office for Road and Rail issued prohibition notices on two locations on the tramway due to safety concerns over the infrastructure. The first issue was outside The Red Lion (since rectified) with the second being on the depot fan.
In both cases there was concern that the “overhead line equipment and supporting structures” were not safe. For the section of overhead outside The Red Lion the concerns related to “a connection on the cantilever arm is split which could give rise to failure” whilst that on the depot fan said “there is evidence of significant corrosion to both poles [pole 2 and 4] which could give rise to structural failure”.
Following these prohibition notices the museum was closed to the public but after some work was undertaken it was possible for the site to be opened – although no trams could run and the depot and Exhibition Hall were closed to the public. This reopening started from Wednesday 25th May and reduced admission was offered (£10 adults/seniors, free for children) with The Red Lion, Rita’s Tea Rooms, shop, Eagle Press, Assembly Rooms exhibition, Workshop viewing gallery, Stephenson Discovery Centre, Woodland Walk and Wakebridge all open.
This mean that the usually popular Great British Seaside event went minus trams and following the conclusion of this there has been a rethink of opening and admission prices.
For now admission has been further reduced to (a more reasonable) £5 for adults/seniors (children still free) and the museum site will only be open on limited days. For week commencing 6th June that means it will only be open on Wednesday 8th, Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th June.
In one of their latest statements on social media it has also been confirmed that they are waiting for the delivery and installation of new traction poles to replace poles 2 and 4 on the depot fan. Until these arrive and are fully installed and tested there will be no trams running so expect the continued reduced opening until then.
Thanks for reporting some more precise detail on the issues to be resolved rather than just ‘problems with the overhead’.
Why on earth could this not have been announced earlier?
Clueless management?
Tom and Geoff – it is NOT the way anyone works now to start announcing whats wrong until a full assessment is made and clear statement formulated. Stop Crich bashing and give themn chance to get it sorted for goodness sake.
I think Anonymous 1 is missing the point. The criticism appears to relate to Crich not fully explaining the situation earlier (ie awaiting new traction poles). This would presumably have been known right from the ORR visit, so a full statement could have been provided then. This is not ‘Crich bashing’ (for goodness sake), merely comments on Crich management’s apparent lack of transparent PR skills.
I take your point but there is another consideration to think about. Sometimes things cannot be made public straightaway when formal statutory notifications are involved. It is possible that the museum could not give details until ORR had made their statement.
Lucy. ‘Clueless management’ is clearly having a go therefore Crich bashing.
‘Clueless management ?’ (note the important question mark omitted by your post, Anonymous), was not posted by me, but by Tom. You need to be aware of accuracy before going online. My reasoned comment re Crich management’s apparent lack of transparent PR skills was a perfectly fair observation.You may disagree, and that’s fine, but labelling every criticism as Crich bashing attempts to shut down any dialogue, and that’s worrying.
Gareth, I hope you didn’t think my comment was aimed at you, but at Crich
Don’t worry Geoff I’m not that sensitive!