As promised, Saturday 2nd July was a good day for the Crich Tramway Village as after a little over six weeks trams started running once more! Both days of the first weekend back saw a standard three tram service in operation – including the first use of an open balcony car for 2022!
As we reported extensively the last trams ran on Tuesday 17th May after which the service was suspended following the issuing of a prohibition notice due to the poor condition of two overhead poles in the depot yard which led to safety concerns. With support from Nottingham Trams Limited and thanks to contractors from Pod-Trak these were replaced with modern examples which allowed first testing to take place and the announcement at the end of last week that it would be possible to run trams again – and with the temporary speed restrictions removed.
The first day back was Saturday 2nd July when Leeds 399, Sheffield 510 and Liverpool 869 were all allocated to service. Then on Sunday 3rd July – which was also the Classic Motorcycle Day – the trio in service were Glasgow 22, Leeds 180 and Sheffield 510.
Whilst 180, 399, 510 and 869 had all seen use in the early part of the season this was the first time that Glasgow 22 had run this year. In doing so it became the first non-fully enclosed tram to be used in service in 2022 and its open balcony was sure to be popular during the Classic Motorcycle Day.
And speaking of the Classic Motorcycle this has been celebrated as a successful day once more with over 400 classic motorcycles on display. And to cap it all off there was fly-past by a Lancaster Bomber.
Crich will now be open every Sunday to Thursday until Thursday 21st July. Its then into the main summer season with the museum open every day of the week between Saturday 23rd July and Sunday 4th September.