Across the UK there are many trams which are undergoing restoration – some of them are at high-profile locations such as Crich, Beamish and the East Anglia Transport Museum but others are being completed by smaller groups. One of the smaller groups who have been working hard on restoring their tram is the Brighton Tram 53 Society and they have recently been given a boost to publicity with a visit from local BBC News reporters.
The Brighton Tram 53 Society was formed in 2010 with the aim of restoring the sole surviving passenger tram which once ran on the Sussex coast tram system – no. 53. The tram was a late addition to the fleet in Brighton with it being built in 1937, just two years before the network was abandoned in 1939. The subsequent story of the tram is a familiar one as it was sold on by Brighton Corporation Tramways for further use and it ended up at a local farm.
Discovered in the 1970s it remained stored for three decades until the formation of the Brighton Tram 53 Society who decided it was time to restore the tram back to its former glory. They have been working hard on the tram since and it has already been transformed from a derelict tram body towards something which can be clearly identified as a tram once again.
The group are now hopeful that the tram will be able to run again, and have started to draw up proposals with Brighton & Hove City Council to construct a short operating line. This would be in Stanmer Park which is located close to the University of Sussex in Falmer. The tram was built to 3’6″ gauge and so this line would be a rarity in tram preservation in the UK (only the currently closed Black Country Living Museum falls into category, plus the Great Orme Tramway and going wider into the British Isles the Snaefell Mountain Railway on the Isle of Man).
- You can find out more about the work of the Brighton Tram 53 Society on their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Brightontram53society/