Crich - From the Archive
The National Tramway
Museum is situated close to the village of Crich in Derbyshire. Established as far back as 1959, the museum
is on the site of a former mineral railway built by George Stephenson in
1841. Since its establishment the museum
has grown into a superb attraction featuring many buildings and items once
found in the streets of Britain, some dating back to the Victorian age. It is evolving all of the time and is home to
a fantastic collection of preserved tramcars, the oldest dating back to the
1880s. This DVD programme has been
compiled from the extensive film and video archive of independent
transport videos. None of the
footage seen in this programme has been published before and it shows how the
museum site has grown up to the one that we can all enjoy in the 21st
century. We take you on a journey from
the 1980s to 2014, filmed over seven visits.
Beginning in the 1980s we have some lovely sound cine film taken by renowned
transport photographer Malcolm King. The
second visit filmed on silent cine film, also taken by Malcolm in the 1980s is when
a preserved Leeds City Transport Daimler double-decker paid a visit with a
contemporary West Yorkshire PTE Leyland Olympian. These buses are seen running alongside
preserved Leeds tramcars. During our third visit in the early 1990s our cameras
also take a look at the attractions and exhibits in the Exhibition Hall
including a superb fairground organ. We
also take rides on three tramcars: Sheffield Corporation 510, Liverpool
Corporation 869 and Glasgow Corporation 812.
The next visit is in 2001 – on a special World War II event day. A great atmosphere, as many people are
dressed up in either military uniform or dress of the day as they travel on the
trams or walk about the village. There
is also music of the day to keep everyone entertained and a ride on London
Passenger Transport Board tramcar 1622 is also enjoyed. In 2009 our cameras paid a visit on a much
quieter day. We take rides on Leeds City
Transport 399 and 345 and enjoy a walk through the Woodland Walk and Sculpture
Trail. Our sixth visit is in August 2013
where we enjoy a ride on Blackpool Corporation ‘Boat’ 236 along the lovely
route that the trams take. Many trams
are seen operating on this day really showing off this excellent
attraction.
Apart from the trams and attractions,
the National Tramway Museum offers the ‘Ultimate Tram Driving Experience’. This is a day where you can drive a tram at
the museum. Full training is given at
the beginning of the day before spending the day with a driving instructor
supervising you driving along the tram route. Your usual cameraman had the opportunity
to indulge this ‘experience’ in October 2014.
The highlights of that day were captured on camera by Malcolm King for
you to enjoy. I can certainly recommend
this experience, as it really shows what the tram driver had to do all those
years ago. Our tramcar for the day was
Glasgow Corporation 812, built by the Corporation in 1900. We hope that you enjoy our visit to the
archives as much as we have enjoyed filming them and enjoying the experience of
driving a tram!