{"id":62722,"date":"2026-04-19T17:00:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T16:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=62722"},"modified":"2026-04-19T09:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T08:45:07","slug":"theyve-run-in-2026-meet-the-trams-national-tramway-museum-leeds-345","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=62722","title":{"rendered":"They\u2019ve Run in 2026 \u2013 Meet the Trams: National Tramway Museum \u2013 Leeds 345"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this edition of \u201cMeet the Trams\u201d we take a look at another tram which ran on the first day of the 2026 operating season at the National Tramway Museum. That tram is Leeds 345<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1921 built Leeds 345<\/strong> started off life as an open balcony double decker having been built in Leeds City Transport\u2019s very own workshops. Modernisation came along in the late 1930s when it was fully enclosed whilst also receiving replacement staircases and the addition of platform doors to try and make things all a bit more modern.<\/p>\n

345<\/strong> would remain operational until 1948 when it was decided the tram was in a poor condition and it was withdrawn to be used as a shed, and would remain as such until the end of tramway operations in the West Yorkshire city in 1959.<\/p>\n

The tram was chosen for preservation and would become just the fourth tram to arrive at the Crich site. But the condition of its body \u2013 it was withdrawn from service for this reason of course \u2013 meant it was never a priority for restoration and it remained stored for many years. 1982 saw it moved to Clay Cross and it would remain there for 20 years before funding for its restoration had been found. 2022 saw it move back to Crich and it would then enter service during 2006.<\/p>\n

It unfortunately had to be withdrawn after four years for further work but was back out at the end of the 2012 season. It had to be taken out of use again in 2022 after an incident at the damage needed assessment and repairs, with it returning in April 2025 and is now firmly back in the operational ranks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Leeds 345 is seen here shunting around the depot on 18th September 2021. (Photograph by Gareth Prior, 18th September 2021)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this edition of \u201cMeet the Trams\u201d we take a look at another tram which ran on the first day of the 2026 operating season at the National Tramway Museum. That tram is Leeds 345.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[121,8,120],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62722"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62722"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62724,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62722\/revisions\/62724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}