We have another edition of “Trams &” today and we go back to the ever popular location in this series of Beamish – somewhere always likely to provide you the chance to capture a tram with another form of transport.
And that other form of transport could be any number of things – from the vintage steam powered vehicle all the way through to the tram’s replacement, the bus. On 7th May 2023 there was the chance to see trams along with plenty of buses as it was the first Fares Please! event which had originally been conceived to celebrate 50 years of the Beamish Tramway but was extended to include plenty of buses running around the museum as well.
The tram here is Blackpool 31 (built 1901, converted to a works tram 1934 and restored to a passenger tram in preservation 1984) and always a popular high capacity open topper at Beamish and elsewhere when its gone on loan back to Blackpool and also at Heaton Park in Manchester. The tram has just left the stop at Foulbridge with a clockwise working and with this being home to the bus depot there is plenty of bus interest here as well!
On the right are Bristol Lodekka 627 HFM of 1959, Leyland Tiger CWG 286 of 1949 and Rotherham Daimler 220 from 1954. Just visible on the other side is a bus which was new to Sunderland Corporation in 1964, an Atkinson Alpha which carried fleet number 48 in Sunderland.
Photograph by Gareth Prior, 7th May 2023