Sunday 3rd November was the last day of the 2013 operating season at Crich Tramway Village. The final open weekend of the year was actually quite an eventful one, with a number of non-operational trams being shunted around the depot area, including London Transport 1, Blackpool & Fleetwood 2, Metropolitan 331 and Glasgow 1282.
2013 has not been a particularly good year for Crich with the continuing decrease in visitor numbers becoming more of a cause for concern than ever before. Although trivial by comparison, the withdrawal of four trams from the operational fleet was also a cause of disappointment: Blackpool & Fleetwood 2, Southampton 45 and Johannesburg 60 were all sidelined at the start of the year, whilst Metropolitan 331 derailed at Glory Mine in July and did not run again. Encouragingly though, MET 331 did move under its own power on November 3rd from Road 12 to Road 9 in the depot, making it more accessible and hopefully this suggests that it will be back in action before too long.
Naturally, it wasn’t all doom and gloom though, and the entry of London United Tramways 159 into regular service during the summer undoubtedly boosted morale at the museum. Other highlights included a rare public appearance outside the Exhibition Hall by Leicester 76 at the excellent Enthusiasts Day in September, and then again for a private photo charter shortly afterwards, whilst the arrival of Leeds horse car 107 was another very welcome development. Hopefully this tram will carry passengers at Crich soon, as it would become the very first double-deck horse car to do so and that would certainly be a major incentive for many people to visit. The highlight of the year for the national collection was probably Glasgow 1068‘s highly successful visit to Beamish Museum during the spring though; the tram performed superbly on the demanding tramway circuit there, and acted as a fantastic ambassador for Crich. Hopefully the years ahead will witness further opportunities being taken to showcase the national tram collection to a wider audience, following this particular triumph.
With the 50th anniversary of electric tramcar operation at Crich looming, as well as the expected preservation debut of Blackpool Jubilee car 762 in passenger service and a few old favourites expected to return to use in 2014, let us hope that the next twelve months will be a much happier and more profitable time for Britain’s premiere collection of historic trams. Whilst it would be fair to say that a significant number of tram enthusiasts (your writer included!) are often less than impressed by certain developments at Crich, the fact that this is the biggest and best collection of historic tramcars in the UK, if not the world, cannot be ignored and for that reason alone, we hope that some of the negative points from 2013 can be cast aside and the museum will see an upturn in its fortunes very soon.
No 1 & 331 make such a splendid sight together.