The latest addition to the Beamish tram fleet, Blackpool Brush Railcoach 621, has now arrived safely at its new home and thanks to Gordon Bulmer we can share with you a couple of images showing the tram in the depot at Beamish, as well as a photo of the car on its road journey on 11th November, courtesy of James Millington.
621 has been placed over the inspection pit in the depot at Beamish, presumably in order to allow some basic assessment of its condition to take place. As reported previously the car is expected to be stored for at least the next year to eighteen months before any restoration work is tackled, so that other projects can be completed first, but hopefully it will not be too many years before the tram can run again. Indeed, some thoughts have already been given towards raising funds to assist with the work required. Is the 80th anniversary of the Brush cars in 2017 a realistic target to aim for!?
It’s good news that another Blackpool car is safe. The line at Beamish will give it plenty of scope to show what it can do once it is restored and it will make a very useful addition to the fleet when the weather does not suit the more open cars. It won’t look out of place on the Town section either
The importance of this tram now being safe is that as 284 it was the first Brush Railcoach in 1937 and is, therefore, the most important of its type in preservation.