{"id":9662,"date":"2014-11-11T16:35:03","date_gmt":"2014-11-11T15:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=9662"},"modified":"2014-11-11T16:41:45","modified_gmt":"2014-11-11T15:41:45","slug":"a-brush-car-for-beamish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=9662","title":{"rendered":"A Brush car for Beamish"},"content":{"rendered":"

The future of Blackpool’s pioneer Brush Railcoach has been secured, thanks to an unexpected but extremely welcome transfer of ownership. Following a period of storage at Kirkham Prison after being acquired by the Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust, it has been announced that Blackpool Brush car 621 <\/strong>is to become a permanent part of the Beamish Museum transport collection, and departed from Kirkham on 11th November and undertake the longest journey of its life so far.<\/p>\n

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This month marks exactly ten years since 621 <\/strong>last ran in passenger service in Blackpool, making the positive news about its future prospects particularly timely. The car endured a lengthy period of storage at the Rigby Road depot before being sold into preservation, moving to Kirkham Prison for temporary storage in December 2011 following its acquisition by the Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust. Initially housed undercover, the tram was later dumped outside at the prison’s request but now that it is set to be released back into civilisation after ‘doing time’, it can look forward to a much brighter future.<\/p>\n

A while ago, the Trust confirmed that it was reviewing its plans for the vehicles it had collected and this co-incided with an approach from a small group of enthusiasts who wished to purchase this valuable tram. Following top secret negotiations, led by the Blackpool Heritage Trust’s James Millington, agreement was reached for 621 <\/strong>to be sold and it was then donated to Beamish Museum, who will become the permanent custodians of this tram. The museum agreed to accept the tram which will regain its original identity as 284 <\/strong>in due course, and although a final decision has yet to be made, it has already been suggested that it may be restored in the attractive 1950s green and cream livery, similar to that carried by Marton VAMBAC car 11 <\/strong>which memorably visited the museum back in 2011. This would fit in particularly well with the future direction of Beamish, with a 1950s town due to be built within the next few years.<\/p>\n

It is expected that car 621 <\/strong>will require some degree of workshop attention before it can enter service at its new home. Indeed, back in 2007 it was suggested that the car be reactivated in Blackpool and repainted in an appropriate heritage livery\u00a0to mark its 70th anniversary but, as the tram required extensive re-panelling, sister car 623 <\/strong>was selected instead. However, the tram is thought to be complete apart from a few missing windows and hopefully the work required to restore it should not be too extensive. Although Beamish have a long list of other projects to work on and a busy maintenance schedule has already been set out for the next 18 months, meaning that 621 <\/strong>may have to wait a while before its turn for attention comes, it is extremely pleasing that this tram has been secured in such a good home which befits the first Brush car built. Not only is it fantastic that another iconic Blackpool tram is safe, but Beamish will also benefit from having this useful enclosed car in its fleet when the tram is eventually restored to service.<\/p>\n

Thanks must go to everyone who has made this important acquisition possible; another great example of what great results can occur when organisations and individuals work together to benefit the tram preservation cause. We now look forward to seeing 621<\/strong>\u00a0at Beamish, and of course its arrival on site will be reported on this website imminently.<\/p>\n

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621's last full season of use in green and cream was 1994, when the tram sported the smart 1990s livery style complete with matt black window surrounds. Here the tram is pictured at Waterloo Road when it was still going about its daily business. (Photo by Andrew Waddington)<\/p><\/div>\n

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The future of Blackpool’s pioneer Brush Railcoach has been secured, thanks to an unexpected but extremely welcome transfer of ownership. Following a period of storage at Kirkham Prison after being acquired by the Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust, it has been … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9662"}],"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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9662"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9671,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9662\/revisions\/9671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}