The days of the North Eastern Electrical Traction Trust (NEETT) being a player in tram preservation are over after it was confirmed that they have signed over the remaining trams in their ownership to the North East Land Sea and Air Museum (NELSAM). The change in ownership has already happened and whilst, for now, there won’t be any changes to their status, NELSAM have announced that they only intend to retain two of five trams with the remaining three to be disposed of.
NEETT first came onto the tramway scene post-upgrade in Blackpool when they acquired a number of redundant trams. After temporary storage in several locations they would ultimately find a permanent home in Sunderland at NELSAM which is housed on a former airfield. A purpose built depot was eventually built with trams starting to move undercover during 2014. However, in more recent times this has been shared with other exhibits at the museum, including Nissan cars (built in Sunderland).
Whilst NELSAM has been home to a variety of trams over the years, by the end of NEETT ownership there were five remaining in place. These are Blackpool cars Centenary 647, Twin Car 674+684 and Balloon 721 as well as Graz 210 and Krefeld 412. Other trams which have called NELSAM home in the past have the Blackpool Hovertram and Blackpool Balloon 708 whilst Blackpool Brush 634 also spent some time there as well.
With little fanfare, NEETT have now decided to sign over their trams to NELSAM, whilst buses which were in their care have left the museum to head to other locations. The Bradford trolleybus has also departed for the Tyne Tees Heritage Transport Museum.
NELSAM has a varied collection of vehicles on site. This includes an extensive collection of aircraft and other military vehicles, as well as cars such as the Nissans which have shared the building with the trams for the past few years.
It has been confirmed that NELSAM plan to retain both Blackpool Balloon 721 and Graz 210 as part of their collection. But that does mean that the remaining three are being disposed of, although no immediate departures are expected.
According to a post on the NELSAM website they are already in discussions over appropriate homes for Blackpool Centenary 647 and Blackpool Twin Car 674+684. The future of Krefeld 412 is more uncertain though at this time. They also stated that they don’t expect there to be any movement within the next 12 months as there is no big time pressure.
Of the trams being disposed of, 647 is probably the most significant as it was the very last standard gauge traditional tram built in the UK, as one of the eight Centenary Cars built for the Blackpool Tramway entering service in 1988. It moved to NELSAM in July 2012 and at one time it was planned to repaint it into a red, white and teak livery (following an online competition) although this didn’t ever happen (its advertising vinyls were stripped though). The historical significance of the tram will hopefully see it be able to secure a future somewhere once its time in Sunderland comes to an end.
Krefeld 412 has been in the UK since the 1990s when it came over (along with trailer 41) with a view to it being used on a proposed tramway in Abbey Park, Leicester (Krefeld and Leicester are twinned). When this plan did not progress the tram found homes at the Great Central Railway, Great Central Railway North, and in Walthamstow before finally heading to the north-east at NELSAM.
And the last of the available trio is 674+684 which was one of the Twin Cars which underwent overhauls in the 2000s for more intensive use when the Balloon Cars were temporarily banned from travelling to Fleetwood. Its painted in the Cadbury Blue and Yellow Metro Coastlines livery and last ran in 2008. It finally made it to NELSAM in 2013.
This will leave Balloon 721 as the last remaining Blackpool tram at the museum. This tram is currently in a plain black livery after its former advert was stripped. It will be joined by Graz 210, a tram which originally came to the UK for the West Yorkshire Transport Museum (later Transperience), before a period of private ownership was followed by it becoming part of NEETT’s collection.
For now all five trams remain at NELSAM. The museum opens daily between 1000 and 1600 with the trams housed in the Transport Shed. If travelling you are advised to check that the shed will be open. More details on the museum at https://www.nelsam.org.uk/.