In an unexpected but very welcome development it has been announced that Newcastle 114 is to visit the Crich Tramway Village for the Electric 50 celebrations taking place at the home of the National Tramway Museum on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th September. The loan will enable Crich to fill a gap in their collection as they will be able to illustrate an electric uncanopied open top car mounted on a four wheel truck.
Newcastle 114 – which is of course normally based at Beamish: The Living Museum of the North in County Durham – is an “A-class” tram and was one of 24 constructed for Newcastle Corporation Tramways by Hurst Nelson and Co. Ltd in Motherwell in 1901. After its career ended in the northeast it was sold to Sheffield and ran in the steel city until final withdrawal in 1951 after which it was sold on for further use. It was discovered in use on a farm near Scunthorpe and eventually ended up at Beamish in 1987. A full restoration took place over the following nine years with 114 triumphantly entering service in May 1996.
Both Crich and Beamish are delighted with the news of the loan. Colin Heaton, Chairman of the Tramway Museum Society, said: “Crich Tramway Village and Beamish, the Living Museum of the North have a long, friendly and fruitful relationship. I am delighted that in connection with our very special anniversary we are to host our first visiting tram from another heritage tramway. Newcastle 114 will be a welcome representative of it’s Museum at our celebrations and provides an opportunity to experience a type of tram not yet present in the collection at Crich.”
Paul Jarman, from Beamish, commented: “I’m delighted that Beamish and the TMS are working together again, and that this time we are able to send one of our trams to Crich for a working visit. It further strengthens our relationship and is the fruition of a great deal of behind the scenes hard work by the staff and volunteers at Crich to put together an imaginative programme for the September event – I for one am greatly looking forward to being there and seeing the fruits of all their work!”
With the news that 114 will be making the trip to Crich the Electric 50 celebrations on 13th and 14th September look set to be one of the highlights of the tram calendar in 2014. It will be the second on loan tram to run at Crich this year following in the footsteps of Blackpool Balloon 711 (on loan for 2014 having already entered service during May) and with Blackpool & Fleetwood Box 40 also due to return to its “home” following Fleetwood Tram Sunday there should be plenty to keep even the most hard to please tram enthusiast happy (let’s not forget that Blackpool Pantograph 167 will also be back by then). The highlight of both days is due to be a 25 tram Cavalcade with the Saturday celebrating 50 Years of Electric Operation at Crich with tramcars in the order of first electric operation at Crich and the Sunday version will feature “The Development of the Tram”. An intensive tram service will feature on both days (with at least 15 trams in service at any one time – up to 25 different trams should run each day) and there will also be unusual photo opportunities. It is also hoped to display Newcastle 114 alongside fellow Newcastle tram 102, part of the withdrawn Crich fleet.
Fantastic news and great to see such inter tramway cooperation, long may it continue. I can wait to ride 114 at Beamish and hope that this is the first of many loans.
Oops obviously meant can’t wait to ride it at Crich.
Quick question! Am I wrong in thinking that Manchester 765 was loaned to Crich in the late 1970s from the Heaton Park tramway?
I may be wrong, but I think 765 was owned by the TMS. and at that time, HPT was opened until the eighties, so it wouldn’t be on loan from a running museum, either.
Martin seems to have made a confusing response. 114 is owned by Beamish and normally operates there. It is about to visit Crich as part of their 50 years celebration of electric passenger carrying service at this venue.
Colin asked a question about Manchester 765.It is my belief that 765 is still owned by the Tramway Museum Society but is on permanent loan to the Manchester group who operates the Heaton Park Tramway. 765 has visited Crich twice; initially as an unrestored tram body recovered from near Huddersfield. 765 also came to Crich in the seventies upon a conclusion of its restoration. It was finally completed at this venue and operated electrically for the first time since withdrawal in Manchester. Turning the tram into a working museum passenger carrying vehicle was concluded by a very small team; David Tudor, myself and Stephen Hyde. The tram enjoyed a period of reliable operation at Crich before departure for other “interesting pastures”.
Reverting back to Newcastle 114 visiting Crich, it is such a tragedy that all the efforts and money spent on Newcastle 102 have not been supported by financing all the repairs following its accident at the museum. Like other similar restored trams at the museum, all the measures to make them operable have not been supported with an ongoing maintenance/repair budget to retain operable condition. The September celebration should include Leicester76 (accident damage), Gateshead 5 (leaking roof), Blackpool 49 (leaking roof), Prague 180 (overhaul), Leeds 602 (enough said), Glasgow 1282 (exaggerated overhaul requirements), Glasgow 1297 (?), and Johannesburg 60 (?) to mention but a few that have already earned sustained maintenance and preserving previous restoration. Newcastle 102 should have been able to operate at Crich along side 114. It is all very nice to have new restored trams but there are too many static trams needing returning to service that should take priority over new projects.
I’m interested in the inference made by ‘interesting pastures’ – the contempt for Heaton Park is difficult to ignore. I must take exception to ‘Manchester Group’ – we are a museum Society who operate a Heritage Tramway! It ran at Heaton Park from 1979 to 1985, 1988 – 2010, 2011 to present, whilst operating in Blackpool 1985 – 88 and Beamish 2011. And more than 3 people worked on it! I presume you mean they were the commissioning team at Crich who completed outstanding electrical jobs etc. 765 is not owned by the TMS, parts of the vehicle belong to both TMS and MTMS whilst MTMS has full care and control of the vehicle. After the 3 years reliable operation it has had 34 years of reliable operation.
Back to the thread – 114 is a fantastic choice to visit Crich – can’t wait to see it with Sheffield 74.
Thanks for the information about 765 guys. I was aware that it ran at Crich in the latter part of the 1970s because I have photos of it that I took at the time. However, I felt fairly sure that I had seen a written account that the derelict body was recovered from near Huddersfield by the MTMS.
I am sorry John Whitehouse has taken exception to one or two points I made I my earlier posting. Firstly regarding “interesting pastures”, how wrong could he be to take the interpretation he did. “interesting pastures” for me have been the 3 locations 765 has visited since leaving Crich. Its times in in Blackpool, Beamish and Heaton Park are all fantastic; this is my perfectly simple use of the words.
Regarding the 3 people willing to as you say, “commission” 765 at Crich remains totally true. Stephen Hyde and myself only recollected the situation at the recent 100 years celebration for 765 at Heaton Park. “Commissioning” is an under statement of what was required to turn the tram into a totally safe operable condition at Crich. At the time of its return to Crich, a meeting was held in the tram involving many interested parties, but only the 3 named people were willing to get the tram working. This was accomplished successfully and the rest is latter day history. Lastly, I, like several others, would like to see the legal documents currently in place regarding its ownership and the terms of its presence at Heaton Park; then once and for all clarity will be achieved.
I do hope I have managed to clarify my comments for John Whitehouse.
Reverting back to Newcastle 114, I understand there may still be another ex Newcastle tram body in existence following disposal from its time in service in Sheffield. How about Crich rescues this vehicle then it too would have a 4 wheeled short canopy open topper!
This post is supposed to be about Newcastle 114 and the CO OPERATION between museum. All museums have excellent collections preserved for the greater good, the problem is that sometimes in the early days no one kept the receipts 765 falls into this area. The TMS and the MTMS should be proud of the deal they have jointly reached regarding the joint ownership.
John Henderson, clarity has been achieved by the Board of the TMS and MTMS.
I apologise if I misinterpreted any of your meanings but I am not the only one who did, I’m just the only one who wrote a response!
I hope you enjoyed your day at 765 100 – it was lovely to see so many people there who had been involved over the years.
Looks like Crich have found space to house yet another visiting tram, despite always complaining they don’t have any space. And nice as 114 is, it’s very, VERY similar to Sheffield 74, which is already resident at Crich. They just chose to restore 74 with a top cover. The two even operated togetrher in the same fleet for a while, so that should be an interesting reunion. How about repainting 114 in Sheffield livery for the occasion?
They would cost a lot of money and would take a long time and a lot of space.
They’ve dismantled a London Horse Tram, Gateshead 52 has gone and 298 is now at Clay Cross so there is now more space available for visiting trams.
Are we really managing to find something negative in this good news story? I would imagine as this is a short-term loan space can be found temporarily for an extra tram which would not be ideal for a long-term exhibit.
Not an unreasonable question. Here’s the answer:
114 is only visiting for just over a week. Short term, it is feasible to store trams in the workshop. This isn’t possible for long term mainly because it is an utter PITA to shunt round everything every time something wants moving from depot to shop. 711 is kept in there, mainly because its fat doors block the gangway in depot.
Regarding 711 and box 40, these too are short term loans, and I have a feeling one will go back fairly soon after the 50th do, effectively swapping with 167.Besides that, even using all the workshop, there still wouldn’t be room with 298 still in residence.
This will nicely free up space to put bits of LCC 1. Remember that will need the interior storing inside (big container most likely), the top deck roof going somewhere (which is, of course, the length of LCC 1), and the bogies. This is in addition to the bogies/trucks of the 8 year overhauls that will be running alongside. That’s about 4 tram lengths of things to store.
So to sum up-to store all our fleet plus 40, 711 and 114 needed something to go away. Once musical trams is over, LCC 1 needs storing. That’s a good 3-4 years of extra space needed.
Hope that answers your question.
“Regarding 711 and box 40, these too are short term loans, and I have a feeling one will go back fairly soon after the 50th do”
Which one? I wouldn’t have thought BTS would need 711 back, unless they wanted to use it for extra capacity during the illuminations.
To be honest, I’m not sure. I think they’ll both be gone by next years operating season at least. By which time LCC 1 should be pretty well took apart. As I say, 711 has to live in the workshop, which can be a pain, e.g. shunting cars about for servicing.
If Crich are keen to have an uncanopied 4 wheel open top of their own, there is the remains of a Hull car in Clay Cross (I believe one of the 1899 Milnes cars nos 1-24) which could legitimately be restored to that form…
Might struggle to get it ready in time for September though!