The days may be getting shorter with the clocks having changed but Beamish has provided a bit of brightness for tram enthusiasts with the return to service of Gateshead 10 – around 10 years since it last carried passengers!
The first day back in service for 10 was Wednesday 28th October 2026, bringing to a culmination its lengthy and extensive overhaul. Last time the tram ran in service was 2016 and at that time it was running as its latter identity of Grimsby & Immingham 26, but the work which has taken place over the last decade has been far more than a repaint from British Railways green to Gateshead crimson.
It has been a full mechanical overhaul, bodywork repairs, trucks, internal overhaul amongst many other jobs which have been completed. The overhaul has taken longer than had originally been anticipated, thanks in part to a major global pandemic in the middle and everything that brought with it and the changing world ever since, but the work undertaken should hopefully mean that 10 is now good to run for many years before it needs such major work again.
A full training programme is needed for all tram crew at Beamish and whilst this takes place its use in passenger service may be a little more intermittent but once it is completed it should be used regularly on the museum circuit. Its large capacity and fully enclosed condition is sure to make it very useful throughout the autumn and winter months at Beamish.
With 10 returning to service it makes it four trams available again with it joining Blackpool 31, Oporto 196 and Sheffield 264.
196 has recently had some attention to its panel work and the treatment of some rot – this seeing it out of service just for a day! Further short, sharp periods of repair are planned before in the future it receives significant attention with the tram having been on the list of needing an overhaul for several years but continuing to be pressed into service because of other workshop priorities.
Sunderland 16 – which saw some use in early 2026 – has now had its wheelsets and motors removed with both set to be sent away to contractors for overhaul.
Beamish will be putting Gateshead 10 front and centre during November with that marking the 125th anniversary of the introduction of electric trams in Gateshead. (10 itself coming along 24 years later in 1925).