Recently the Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society have released details of two special events taking place on the Birkenhead heritage tramway, featuring their historic tram collection. At a time of year when most museum lines are winding down for the winter, it is quite surprising that Birkenhead are hosting two separate events so late in the year, but both are coinciding with date-specific occasions.
The action kicks off at midday on Friday 15th November, with the return of the popular 24 hour ‘Tramathon’ providing an extremely rare opportunity to ride on some unusual rolling stock in the middle of the night! It is expected that all of the currently available tramcars at Birkenhead will take it in turns to operate over the tramway for a period of 24 hours, to raise money for the BBC Children in Need appeal.
Saturday 16th November is also ‘See Greene Day’. This event is being held to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the closure of Wallasey’s tram system. This actual event occurred on 30th November 1933, but the MTPS decided to mark the occasion slightly early so that it is not too close to their annual ‘Santa Special’ workings. It is intended that the tram service will be operated by the unique Wallasey 78 on this day, complimented by a special vintage bus tour of the former circular tram route. The bus trips will commence at 13:45, 14:45 and 15:45, with a special £5 day ticket offered providing unlimited travel on both bus and tram. As an added novelty, all children wearing any item of green clothing will be allowed free rides when accompanied by a fare-paying adult passenger, whilst anyone who is aged 80 or over will also qualify for free travel.
With the Heaton Park Tramway at Manchester staging their scaled-down autumn gala the following day, this is an ideal time for a late season visit to these two tramways of the North West and hopefully these two events will attract some welcome extra custom on the Birkenhead tramway. More details can be found at: http://www.mtps.co.uk/events.html