Sunday 20th October was ‘Red Oktober’ day at Crich Tramway Village, with the museum site playing host to numerous Eastern European vehicles, as well as re-enactors in period costume. The trams themselves were not left out however, with the highlight of the day being a rare appearance outside the depot complex from Halle 902 which was even opened up so that visitors could inspect the interior of the car.
Normally confined to the far corner of Depot VI, Halle 902 was posed on the traverser for most of the day, although its rear bogie was moved off the actual traverser carriage to maintain a flat path across the depot yard for wheelchair access. Various items relating to Eastern European tram and transport history, including an excellent display of German tram models, was to be found inside the car and in a welcome development, visitors were able to handle all of the artefacts on show. This included a genuine East German ticket machine, with this being used to issue authentic tickets which many visitors took home as a souvenir of their day out.
Trams in service on this day were Leeds cars 180 and 345, London Transport 1622 and Berlin 3006, whilst Blackpool 40 was also used for driver training purposes. Meanwhile, the opportunity was taken to clean part of the floor in Depot VI whilst Halle 902 was standing outside. Unfortunately however, plans to bring Prague 180 out for static display did not materialise due to the forecast rain, as its roof was not considered to be sufficiently watertight to allow its prolonged display in the open, but this didn’t spoil the day’s activities too much.
Our thanks go to TMS member Christoph Heuer for supplying the information and photos in this article.
Halle 902 stands on the traverser, its doors flung open invitingly. Note Leeds 107 and Leicester 76 unusually placed on road 12 in the depot.
This event provided a rare opportunity to see inside Halle 902, with some of the numerous items on display visible in this view of the car's interior.
Some of the German tramway uniforms displayed inside car 902. Just visible to the left are the model trams also on display as part of the 'Red Oktober' event.
Due to concerns about the weather on this day, Prague 180 remained inside Depot V where it is shown sandwiched between Cardiff 131 and Blackpool & Fleetwood 2.
Whilst 902 was outside, the opportunity was taken to photograph Gateshead 5 which is currently stored on the centre track of Depot VI. (All photos by Christoph Heuer)
I noticed that this day was on a Sunday, as it seems have other special themed days. If Crich want to improve attendance try having them on a Saturday when people have a chance of getting there easier.
or even better both days the main gala on saturday clashed with with a fair few railway related galas maybe this is a candidate for a two day event !
This gave me an idea-crich should have ‘international days’. I’ve seen it done at the sandtoft trolleybus museum. Basically, everything running is international (Oporto 273, Berlin 3006, johannesburg 60) and have line ups on the depot fan.
Except of course it is supposed to the National Tramway Museum not the International Tramway Museum.
Here, here, Gareth. The idea of such events being held on Saturday definitely appeals. As one who relies entirely on public transport, research indicates that there is no possible way that I could attend on Sunday and get home on the same day.
Be careful what you say here though Gareth… I’ve had someone calling me names for suggesting that a German tram is not important in the national collection elsewhere in the last 24 hours!
But you could technically say the national railway museum is wrong for have the Chinese loco and the bullet train. But I thought that the NTM has been rebranded as ‘crich tramway village’, not the national tramway museum. So, to the public, they wouldn’t mind, because there is nothing in ‘crich tramway village’ that says that everything has to come from this country.
Yes, but you could say they lost that argument when they started accepting trams from other countries into the collection!
I have to disagree. One of the reasons I specifically came to Red Oktober was to see and ride on Continental trams. As it was, I was saddened that Prague 180 wasn’t running; I suppose the difference in traction voltage makes running Halle 902 a problem.
(BTW, shouldn’t it either be ‘Rote Oktober’ [German] or ‘Krasny Oktyabr’ [Russian]?)