The Ipswich Transport Museum – which oddly enough is located in Ipswich! – is the home to two cosmetically restored tramcars. In this pictorial article we take a look at those vehicles on display on 30th July 2022.
The Ipswich Transport Museum can be found in the old trolleybus depot in the Suffolk town and houses a collection of over 100 major transport and engineering objects. As well as the trams – more on which can be found in the captions below – there are several trolleybuses at the museum along with buses, coaches, various commercial vehicles and a collection of emergency vehicles. The museum is usually open Sundays from mid-March to the start of December along with Bank Holidays and midweek opening in school holidays. Find out more at https://www.ipswichtransportmuseum.co.uk/index.html.
The longest serving tram exhibit at the museum is Ipswich Corporation Tramways 33. Built in 1904 at Brush, Loughborough it remained in service on the tramway – which ran on the 3’6” gauge – until 1926 when it was sold and became a summer house. 50 years later and it was acquired for preservation. This didn’t start until 2003 and was completed in 2012, sitting on an ex-Lisbon truck.
Another view of 33.
The second tram on display at the museum is Cambridge Street Tramways 7. This horse car was a bit of mystery when originally acquired for preservation in 2003 but after investigation it was discovered that it was bult for Bath, transferred to Bradford before finally arriving in Cambridge in 1894. The tram was restored at the museum with this being completed in 2019. It has now been moved into the main exhibition space.
The other end of 7 where the tram has the company of the traditional dummy horse as seen in many museums around the country where horse trams are on display.
The two trams are side by side in the museum which allows photos like this! (All Photographs by Bryan Grint, 31st July 2022)