It is that time of the week again when we “Meet the Trams” and we remain at the National Tramway Museum this week as we take a more detailed look at Sheffield 74, another tram to have run in service during 2026.
Originally built in 1900, Sheffield 74 is a tram which ran on two different undertakings in its original operating career having started out as an open topper on the South Yorkshire system. After around nine years of service it would receive a short top cover in 1909 (this is how the tram looks today in preservation) but aside from that it wouldn’t receive a huge amount of other work in Sheffield, aside from general maintenance.
1922 saw the tram one of a batch sold on to Gateshead Corporation. It would become no. 33 in the northeastern towns fleet and would when there receive covered driver vestibules, but would retain open balconies on the top deck. It remained in service until withdrawal in 1951 and the lower deck was then sold for use as a garden shed.
Rescued from there in the early 1990s the fact that it was just the lower deck didn’t prove to be an obstacle to its eventual restoration as the Tramway Museum Society already had a couple of top covers from similar Sheffield trams (which had been sold to an Inspector from Sheffield Corporation Tramways and were donated to the TMS in 1970). These would be used along with an ex-Leeds truck to restore the tram back to Sheffield 74.
The restoration would be the first to be part funded by the Tramcar Sponsorship Organisation and was completed in time for entry into service in 1995.
It has spent some time out of service in the intervening 30 years, and also became the poster child for the need to upgrade the depots with better climate control because of the condition of its intricate interior, but is now once again a regular performer in the operating fleet.
Sheffield 74 approaches Town End terminus when working during the Seaside Fun event at the museum in May 2026. (Photograph by Steven Hughes, 27th May 2026)