In Pictures: Glasgow 1245’s restoration at Summerlee

Although the tramway itself at the Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life remains closed (the Council are currently in the process of recruiting for a Heritage Technician which will allow the tramway to be reopened in the future) that doesn’t mean that there is no work to do with the trams going on. The big project for several years now is that of Glasgow 1245 and here we have an update of recent progress.

Glasgow 1245 is a Coronation class tram which entered service in May 1939 after being built at Coplawhill works. It remained in service until June 1962 when it was withdrawn but was retained to shunt other trams on their way to be scrapped. As part of this role it became the last tram to run on Glasgow Corporation Tramways when it moved 1274 to Coplawhill. Once it had finished moving trams it entered preservation including spells at the East Anglia Transport Museum and Blackpool (for storage only). It finally arrived back in Scotland in 2002 when it made its way to Summerlee ahead of restoration commencing in 2011.

The restoration has been continuing ever since and good progress has been made over the past few months. The upper deck seating has now been installed and all of the lower deck seats have been completed, although still await fitting into position.

Lighting fittings on the upper deck have been refurbished and fitted in place and its planned that the lower deck will also be completed by the end of the year. The low voltage wiring has been 90% completed and that should also all be finished by the time this year ends. Work has got underway on the cable runs for the control system with installation planned for early next year.

Meanwhile, all external glass has been completed with just a small amount of internal glass still to be fitted once all other internal works have been completed. Work is also progressing on the external paint finish with the next coat now being applied.

Looking ahead to the next phases of work and the main control panel and drivers controllers will be installed alongside the start of the fitting of the air brakes and associated equipment.

Thanks to David Craig of the Summerlee Transport Group for providing us with this update.

The interior of the lower deck where seat frames are in place but the seating awaits installation.

Looking up one of the stairwells to the top deck.

And the upper deck where, as mentioned in the text, all the seats are now in place. The tram looking as good as when it was new in 1939! (All Photographs courtesy of Summerlee Transport Group)