During the annual Enthusiasts Day held at Crich Tramway Village on Saturday 14th September, Oporto 273 was transferred from the main depot complex to the workshop. Although this move was somewhat upstaged by the appearance of several far more elusive tramcars in the open air, it was in fact one of the most significant movements of the day as it marked the start of efforts being made to return this car to service.
Despite a costly restoration financed by the Heritage Lottery Fund being undertaken just over a decade ago, Oporto 273 has not operated since its ill-fated visit to Blackpool in 2010; the discovery of a defect whilst the tram was being prepared for service in 2011 led to the car being sidelined, and it has been tucked away within the depots ever since. However, we are delighted to report that the car has now entered the workshop and is to receive the overhaul and repairs required for it to rejoin the operating fleet at the museum, hopefully from next year. With both Sheffield 510 and Blackpool 762 also expected to enter service following the completion of major attention next year, this should go a long way towards restoring the number of operational cars to a more impressive total, and will also add some welcome variety to the selection of trams available for service which is rather dominated by traditional double-deckers at present. The work due to be carried out on 273 over the coming months will also be further justification of its original restoration, and will no doubt be a very welcome development for those who have missed this tram for the past few years.
Two other recently withdrawn cars, Johannesburg 60 and Liverpool 869, have recently been moved to the Exhibition Hall which led to fears that both would be destined for a lengthy lay-off. Happily, this will not be the case, with Leicester 76 expected to return to its usual position in due course, allowing car 60 to return to the depots. Although planned work on restoring London Transport 1 to an operational condition will presumably prevent its return to the display, we have received confirmation that 869‘s presence is only a temporary one, making the sight of this tram next to the similar liveried Blackpool Balloon 249 a novel one which may not last for long. Hopefully as the sole representative of the city of Liverpool in the national collection, 869 will be overhauled and returned to use before too long, but at least it is now confirmed that the car is not considered a static exhibit in the long term.
Thanks go to Dan Heeley and Andy Bailey for their assistance with this article.
Oporto 273 has spent the last couple of years tucked away on road 12 in the Crich depot, and it is seen there before being rescued for overhaul work to commence. (Photo by Andrew Waddington)
Good to hear about 869 not being out of service for too long, but after the success of the Glasgow event last year, when will we see 1282, 1297 and 1115 back in service?
The Scottish Tramway & Transport Society are trying to raise funds to carry out a major overhaul on Glasgow 1282 although little has been said about how this is doing. I doubt it will be touched until after LCC 1 but as ever, a large cash injection will probably move it up the queue!
Why did 1297 end up out of service? It was running for only a short time a few years ago.
1297 blew a motor due to a fault in the EP control unit (this was not overhauled at the time). There is also a major defect in the underframe – the body hasn’t been touched at Crich.
Thanks for this information Peter – however, I can’t help but wonder why the tram was overhauled in 2005 when it was in such a poor condition?
So does this mean that 1297 is consigned to the exhibition hall along with a good few others from other cities until the money is found to repair it. My issue is why does the workshop/museum management feel the need to embark on another expensive/time consuming/resource hungry exercise on another London tram ie no1 when it has just finished a similar exercise on 159. Shouldn’t/couldn’t the resource be better spend resurrecting the many trams the have been put to one side having failed?
I share your views to an extent Ross, and I personally would much rather see many projects tackled before LCC 1. However, we have to bear in mind that the London County Council Tramways Trust are offering the funds required to restore that tram – we can hardly blame the TMS for accepting it! What is unfortunate, is that funding for trams from the rest of the UK (and overseas) doesn’t seem to match what our friends in London manage to raise.
That’s a fair point that if the museum doesn’t’t have to pay for an of the cost then why would they refuse it. I wonder if that covers the workshop space and man hours. Maybe the museum will be able to use the money not spent on workshop salaries being paid for as part of the restoration of no1 on additional staff to continue work on other trams. Do you think that will happen!?