More Manchester moves

Tuesday 6th January was another hectic day for the Heaton Park Tramway, with the arrival of another historic vehicle from the Manchester Transport Museum Society at the park on this day. In addition, the winter overhaul of Manchester 765 continued to progress with this tram also moving – not by road, but vertically!

As part of the programmed work being carried out on car 765 to ensure that it will be fit for service this summer to celebrate its centenary year, the tram has now been lifted off its trucks, which have now been rolled out to be assessed. The full extent of work has not yet been determined, but once the bogies are stripped then a fuller picture of the required work can be formed, along with cost estimates.

Meanwhile, on the same day there was a special delivery at Heaton Park in the shape of a horse-drawn omnibus! This unusual vehicle was donated to the MTMS by Beamish Museum a few years ago and had been stored at Bolton; however, the site is now being cleared out and so a new home for it was required. Therefore, once it had been extracted and loaded onto a lorry, the horse bus was transported by road to Manchester, being placed in secure storage within the grounds of Heaton Park. The vehicle has not been placed in the new Lakeside Depot, meaning that its arrival will not affect the number of trams which can be housed on site, although it is unlikely to be on display to the public for the forseeable future. Although considered a long-term project, the horse bus is actually in a very good structural condition having already received some restoration work before passing into the hands of the MTMS. Although currently mounted on a small accomodation trolley, the large wooden spoked wheels were also moved to the same storage site, meaning that most of the main components required to complete the restoration are available.

Once again, the regular pool of MTMS volunteers who made both of these developments possible deserve considerable praise. To see two fairly challenging moves achieved on the same day, reaffirms how far this organisation has progressed in recent years, and the fact that the workforce has grown considerably, no doubt thanks to the impressive progress witnessed of late.

An unusual view of Manchester 765 suspended in mid-air, having been lifted on jacks within the Middleton Road tram depot on 6th January.

A view of the body shell of the ex-Manchester horse bus whilst in the process of being extracted from its previous home at Bolton.

Another view of the horse bus, this time seen from the rear, as it nears the end of its journey by low loader to Heaton Park. (All photos by Joe Savage)

 

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1 Response to More Manchester moves

  1. David Holt says:

    Another move which occurred at Heaton Park on the same day was the transfer of several lengths of tram rail from Middleton Road depot car park to Lakeside, to be used for connecting up the points to tracks 1 and 2 in the new depot fan. This of course expands the car parking space at Middleton Road depot, ready to accommodate the hordes of volunteers who are going to turn up on Tuesdays and Sundays to help with all the work that needs doing while the tramway is closed this winter.

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