Over the years Beamish has been a regular location for filming. Whether it be the latest drama or a documentary, film crews have enjoyed the period setting which is ideal to give their production a bit more realism. Much of this filming has taken place when the museum has been closed and so no-one is any the wiser but recently a new filming assignment has seen people in period clothing on site during opening hours. And that’s not all as two trams in the fleet have received new temporary identities.
Both Sunderland 16 (which has recently received further attention to its paintwork in the tram depot) and Sheffield 264 have been running with their usual Sunderland Corporation Tramways and Sheffield Corporation Tramways replaced by a new, and fictious, tramway. They are both now apparently operating for The Armley Corporation Tramways.
It has not been revealed what the production is which will feature the trams.
Sheffield 264, sorry Armley 264 is seen here as it operates on the tramway. They have even gone to the effort of ensuring that the current typeface has been used for the new legend so it matches the rest of the tram.
Sunderland 16 is also seen with its The Armley Corporation Tramways name. Whilst 264’s matches, unfortunately the colour between the tram and temporary name has a contrast.
Also noteworthy was the unusual use of a normal bus on the Pit Village service. Rotherham Daimler 220 is seen here climbing up from the Colliery with the suitable destination display of Colliery Service. (All Photographs by Andrew Tyldsley, 2nd July 2025)
Probably the remake of Woman of Substance, by Barbara Taylor-Bradford who hailed from Armley, Leeds.
I was at Beamish this weekend and the trams were extremely popular – so much so that Balckpool 31 filled up and I had to wait for the next one, Oporto 196 – which also totally filled up! I gave up and waited for a quieter period at the end of the day for a tram ride.
It strikes me that a few of Beamish’s trams (principally 114, 196 and in future 730) are too small for busy summer days and they need something with a higher capacity.
May I suggest an approach to Blackpool for a Twin Car…
I think its been stated before that a Twin set would struggle to cope with the steep Pockerley bank. That said, there are plenty of other possible options for higher capacity cars, like a Balloon for example! I do wonder if Beamish might regret taking Lisbon 730, considering how much work its needing before it enters service. I wish they had held out to try and get something bigger and preferably British which would have been more useful on busy days and more relevant to a museum that aims to portray life in England at various times in history. That’s just my opinion though!
Dammit! I was there last Monday and failed to notice the changes to 264 & 16.