The event celebrates everything from horse power to steam power and everything in between! There will be horse drawn vehicles, bicycles, motorcycles, stationary engines, steam rollers, tractors, railway locomotives, traction engines and a host of fascinating machinery on display and in action. The theme of this years “Power from the Past” event is Corporations and Contractors and from the tramway point of view this equals works cars!

Highlights of the event on the tram front are:
* Leeds 6 – on loan from the Heaton Park Tramway
* Cardiff 131 – on loan from the Crich Tramway Village
* Blackpool Marton Box 31 returned to a Works Car for the duration of the event only! The tram has been repainted into Works Green in the Workshops over the past few weeks
* Blackpool Tower Wagon 749 on display
* On Thursday 15th April as part of a corporate event Sheffield 264 displayed in the Town street for one day only! * A Works Car line-up outside the Depot daily * A regular passenger tram service

The event is not only about trams with many other forms of transport due to feature with a multitude of machinery powered by horse, steam and people in action. A host of steam vehicles will be at work across the site – contractors carrying materials for road-menders to work with, road rollers demonstrating road-mending early 20th century style.

At Home Farm there’ll be agricultural contractors wood cutting and milling and the Colliery railway plays host to a shunting engine. There is also the opportunity for steam train rides at The Railway Station and Pockerly Waggonway and rides on the vintage bus as well as the aforementioned tram rides.

There is also the chance to ride on a 7 ¼ inch gauge model railway, past a water tower, signal box and engine shed, all built to scale. There are activities for families throughout the museum, with clay modelling at the Waggonway, a “day in the life of…” activity and much more.

On Saturday and Sunday only The Friends of Beamish will have a gathering of cars, bicycles, motorcycles and stationary machinery, all lovingly restored to their former glory.

Non-tram vehicles expected to feature include: * Horse-drawn roadsweeper (from Bradford Industrial Museum)
* 1933 Sentinel S6 steam lorry in Tarmac livery
* Tarmac Living Van
* Kerr Stuart Wren 3114 (from the Vale of Rheidol Railway, Wales)
* Kerr Stuart Wren class 0-4-0ST “Peter Pan”
* Foden Steam Lorry
* Mann Steam Tractor “Brinkburn Lass”
* Aveling & Porter roller “Ayesha”
* Aveling & Porter roller “Julia”
* Fowler T3 roller with belly tank
* Bristol Half Cab bus
* Wallis & Steevens Traction Engine
* Wallis Advance 6 ton steam roller
* Plus much, much more (including stuff I have probably missed off the list!)

Power from the Past will take place every day between Thursday 15th and Sunday 18th April with the Museum open between 1000 and 1700, last admission at 1500.

Beamish has been open for 40 years and tells the story of the people of North East England at two important points in their history – 1825 and 1913. The former period is represented by Pockerley Waggonway and Pockerley Manor with 1913 represented by the Colliery Village, town, railway station and Home Farm. Beamish stands in 300 acres of County Durham countryside, eight miles south west of Newcastle upon Tyne and twelve miles north west of Durham city. Most of the houses, shops and other buildings have been dismantled, brought to Beamish and rebuilt here.

Beamish have a core fleet of five operable passenger trams of which one (Beamish (Oporto) 196) is currently away on loan at the Heaton Park Tramway. The trams currently at the Museum are Gateshead 10, Sunderland 16, Blackpool Marton Box 31 and Newcastle 114. In addition Leeds 6 is currently on loan from the Heaton Park Tramway whilst Sheffield 264 is awaiting overhaul before it can return to service and Gateshead 51 is also in store awaiting a full restoration. The Museum also have Blackpool Tower Wagon 749 in store – although this will be one of the stars of the Power from the Past event – and Sheffield 513 remains in their ownership, although is currently on long-term loan to the Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramway, what the long-term future is for this tram is unknown at present as it originally left Beamish as it was considered too modern for the eras they are trying to represent. In the near future Blackpool Balloon 703 as Sunderland 101 will be arriving on a five year loan from the Lancastrian Transport Trust – expected to be by June.

Probably the easiest way to get to Beamish is by car with the museum being well signposted from the A1M, Junction 63. For anyone using Sat-nav the postcode is DH9 0RG.

For public transport users the nearest main-line station is Newcastle-upon-Tyne (Chester-le-Street is closer but suffers from an irregular train service). Service buses run regularly from Newcastle (Eldon Square) to the Museum Entrance Gates. The bus required is the no 28/28A from Newcastle via Gateshead, Low Fell, Birtley, Ouston and Chester-le-Street. In addition at weekends only service B1 links Durham with the Museum, running hourly in the mornings and afternoons. Full detailed information on bus times can be found on Traveline North East here.

Full details on how to get to the Museum can be found on their website here.

Admission prices cost £16 for adults, £10 for children (aged 5-16), £13 for 60s and over, £13 for students and two family tickets are available - £46 for 2 adults and 2 children and £32 for 1 adult and 2 children. It is possible to buy your tickets before arriving at the Museum online - click here for more information.

The official Beamish website can be found here with plenty of information on the Museum.

For any updates on the Power from the Past event visit Paul Jarman’s – Transport Curator – excellent blog here.

To find out what the weather might be doing click here for the BBC 5 day weather forecast for Chester-le-Street, only 3 miles away (please note Beamish is not an option on the BBC Weather website!)

If you can’t make the event once again the Tramways Monthly Twitter feed will be providing you with extensive coverage across most of the four days. In addition keep an eye out on the Tramgen Yahoo! Group for other updates.

After the event British Trams Online will provide comprehensive coverage. This should be available for viewing on Sunday 25th April.


All information in this preview is provided in good faith and is, to the best of our knowledge, correct at the time of going to press (Sunday 11th April 2010). To ensure you have the most up-to-date information please check the official website or blog.