Our regular round-up from the Crich Tramway Village with all the latest news involving the tram fleet. Featured this month are Chesterfield 7, Cardiff 131, LUT 159, Sheffield 330, MET 331, Blackpool Electric Loco 717, GMJ and Tower Wagon 3 plus news of two trams likely to get workshop attention in the coming months.
We start, as ever, with Cardiff 131 which has now moved under its own power on a low voltage test. Work which remains to be undertaken on the car includes the manufacture of an emergency coupler, the fitting of lifeguard operated springs and platform slats, manufacture and installation of track scrubber gear and the water system piping and valves. However, the sanding gear linkages, sand boxes and mechanisms have been fitted.
The other major restoration project - London United Tramways 159 - continues its agreed progress.
The wheelsets, motors and compressor of MET 331 should have been returned from the contractor at the start of November. Cleaning and inspection have revealed a fatigue crack in the sideframe top angle of the south bogie. This has been ground out and re-welded to solve the problem. Fatigue cracks in the brake hanger slide blocks have also been identified with new ones now being manufactured by a contractor. Excessive wear in the body-mounted radius plates has been identified and these have been removed and sent to a contractor for attention. Work on repainting the underside of the body and reassembling the bogies continues.
Sheffield 330 is currently being commissioned in the Workshop and during this a traction fuse has been installed and an earth connection to the trolley tower made.
Other attention within the Workshop has been concentrating on various other Works cars. Blackpool Electric Loco 717 has been lifted and the motors and wheelsets removed for despatch to a contractor. Brake gear and current collecting equipment are being overhauled and the paintwork is being prepared for attention. GMJ is being painted whilst the hydraulic ram on Tower Wagon 3 has been removed and sent to a contractor for overhaul.
Chesterfield 7 returned to traffic before the end of the season after attention to its roof was completed.
Finally, the Tramcar Sponsorship Organisation have agreed to find the replacement seating for Leeds 180 and the repainting of Sheffield 510 (in its current “Last Tram” livery). This should enable both these trams to return traffic in the near future after all other work has also been completed.
* For the latest photos from the Crich Tramway Village – including the trackwork taking place at Wakebridge this winter (requiring the Museum to close until February Half Term) visit Richard Lomas’ blog here.
* This news is taken from Contact: The Newsletter of the Tramway Museum Society. The only way to receive this monthly is to become a member of the Tramway Museum Society. As well as this monthly newsletter membership carries with it the right to a free copy of the Society’s illustrated quarterly Journal, free admission and free rides on the trams when the Museum is open to the public, and a voice in running Britain’s National Tramway Museum. Full details on how to join can be found here.
Source: Contact from the Tramway Museum Society