The Tramway Museum Society has confirmed that discussions have been taking place in regard of the long-term future of Gateshead 52. A proposal has been made to offer the remains of this tramcar to the Beamish Museum, subject to final agreement by members of the TMS.
52 has had a long and sad history in preservation and could arguably qualify as the most neglected of any preserved tram in the UK. It was originally sold to one of its former tram drivers following the closure of the Gateshead system, who went on to donate it to the TMS for inclusion in what was to become the National Tramway Museum collection at Crich. In the early years of the Museum the tram was stored outside, and despite some work being carried out on it, it was one of the first trams to be dispatched to the off-site store at nearby Clay Cross, where it has remained for the past four decades – longer than any other tram housed there. Sadly in 1999, the tram was badly damaged as the result of a devastating fire which struck the Clay Cross store, which resulted in approximately half of the car body being severely damaged by the flames. As 52 had already been in a very poor condition, this further reduced the chances of it ever being restored to running order at
Crich, especially as low-capacity cars are generally not in favour at the Museum. In some ways this is a shame, as four-wheel single deck trams are rather poorly represented by the National collection: the only other British example in the whole fleet (excluding works and horse cars) being Sheffield 46, which is also stored at Clay Cross and is therefore not on public display.
It is therefore extremely pleasing that the Society are now taking steps to transfer the remains of car 52 to Beamish, for eventual restoration back to an operational condition. As Beamish Museum already possess a similar tram, Gateshead 51 in dismantled form, it has often been suggested that the remains of both cars could be merged allowing the best
parts of both to be used in a reconstruction of a traditional Gateshead four-wheel tramcar. However, Beamish Museum have since confirmed that in fact they ultimately intend to restore both 51 AND 52, and the possibility exists for the cars to be restored in totally different guises. It is believed that at least some parts of 51 actually began life as a double-deck car, which gives the exciting possibility of a double-deck Gateshead car joining the working fleet at Beamish in the distant future! 52 also operated in a number of different guises, first as a semi-open combination car (similar to Manchester 765, based at the Heaton Park Tramway), then becoming largely enclosed and finally becoming fully enclosed when it was rebuilt into its current appearance. Archive photographs of 52 running in Gateshead are available to view on the Beamish Transport & Industry news blog: http://beamishtransport.blogspot.com/2011/12/gateshead-52.html
To authorise the suggested ownership transfer of 52, a special resolution must be proposed, and this will be presented to members of the Tramway Museum Society at their Annual General Meeting in July 2011, when members should also get the chance to share their views on the idea and ask questions of the Board. If approved, the result would mean that 52 could return to the North East and hopefully receive the full restoration it so richly
deserves. At Beamish it could join fellow Gateshead car 10 as well as other superbly restored local cars, Sunderland 16 and Newcastle 114. Hopefully those who have the final say in this decision will do what is best for Gateshead 52 and ensure that its sad tale
finally gets a happy ending.
Report by Andrew Waddington
My grandfather William Southern was the employee who purchased Gateshead 52 can you tell me if it was moved to Beamish please. X
Christine – Gateshead 52 has not yet moved to Beamish, although it is believed that the transfer has been agreed in principle. For the moment is remains at Clay Cross store.