A recently released video on the National Railway Museum YouTube channel has shown that Glasgow 585 – the only tram which remains part of the Science Museum Group collection of objects – was moved this summer between storage locations at Wroughton. This is the Wiltshire storage facility of the Science Museum Group (which features many large and small objects including several buses) which is due to offer public tours, school and research visits from 2024.
Glasgow 585 has been located at Wroughton since the late 1990s when it was moved there from the Science Museum in Kensington. Up until the summer it was stored in one of the hangers on the former RAF airfield, sitting on a section of track alongside other vehicles such as airplanes. Whilst tours of the facility were occasionally offered these had stopped in more recent years with the Science Museum Group having ambitious plans to create a National Collections Centre.
This has seen a new purpose built building constructed which has space for objects big and small – and Glasgow 585 became the first large object to be moved. In an operation which took 12 hours the tram was moved across the airfield with the help of Allely’s Heavy Haulage. Initially moved out on skates on its piece of track it was then winched aboard the low loader and then driven along the runway at the airfield and then unloaded onto its track and then with the skates in place it was then gently manipulated into its new home.
585 has been owned by the Science Museum since 1962 when it moved directly from Glasgow. Built in 1901 as an open topper the tram went through several rebuilds before it became the enclosed Standard Car it is today in the 1930s. It was restored in 1961 after withdrawal and received the blue route livery. Purchased initially by a private individual it had been due to head to the Middleton Railway but this fell through and its ownership changed to the Science Museum. It was on display at the Science Museum from 1962 to the late 1990s.
Very little has been seen of 585 since departure from Kensington but with plans for tours of the National Collections Centre from 2024 it could be the most the tram has been seen in almost 30 years!
- The video of the move of the tram is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsbF6ZEEWMc&ab_channel=NationalRailwayMuseum
Very nice video, a rare chance to see some footage of this tram up close. This was the first tram I saw ‘in the flesh’ as my parents took me to the Science Museum at South Kensington a number of times in the 1970s and I well remember this car mounted on a platform with all the saloon lights blazing.
The museum’s old Land Transport Gallery on the ground floor was a fascinating place for a young boy, with dozens of old cars and motorcycles as well as this tram and some impressive locomotives.
It’s a shame 585 has been out of sight for many years but excellent news that there are plans to make it accessible to the public again.