This is the last outing for “Meet the Trams” from the East Anglia Transport Museum (at least for now) as we feature the last of five trams which have run in service during 2026. That tram is Sheffield 513.
This is the second Sheffield Roberts Car we have featured in this series (following on from 510 which can be found at the National Tramway Museum, Crich), and like its sister it was built by Charles Roberts & Co in Wakefield as one of 35 such trams from 1950-1952. Perhaps unusually for this time these cars were built with four wheel trucks but were still the culmination of traditional tramcar development for the Steel City.
513 remained in service until the end (8th October 1960) and like 510 received a special Last Tram Week livery, although unlike its sister it has lost that in its preservation career.
Another major difference between the two is in their preservation careers, with 510 having been a pretty much constant at Crich whilst 513 has moved around a fair bit. Originally preserved by John Rothera it was initially moved to Leeds’ Middleton Railway but wasn’t there for long as in 1962 it was moved on to Halifax. Then in 1973 it was donated to York’s Castle Museum but as they had nowhere to store it 513 moved to Beamish in 1976.
Restoration commenced in 1978 and it ran for the first in preservation (and the first time in over 20 years) in 1983. The first of two loan periods to Blackpool came in 1984-1985 before it was back at Beamish for a longer spell. But with it being a more modern tramcar than the era being represented by the tramway (and a few issues with its four wheel truck on some of the track at Beamish) a longer loan spell to Blackpool came between 2001 and 2011.
With the tramway upgrade in Blackpool another move was required and rather than heading back to Beamish it was to find a third operating tramway. That was the East Anglia Transport Museum with 513 moving there on 17th February 2011 before entering service on 24th April 2011. It has remained a regular service car at the museum ever since.
Sheffield 513 has its trolley turned at Chapel Road on another operating day at the East Anglia Transport Museum. (Photograph by Bryan Grint, 16th May 2026)