Crich Tramway Museum
I discussed, prior to going to the tramway museum as my early birthday treat (the Ipad mini being deemed to extravagant by my wife), with my mother as to the last time that I went to Crich Tramway museum. Dredging our combined memory we believed that it was when I came up for my annual 2 week holiday to Annesley Woodhouse, when I lived in Devon. Our best guess was that my grandparents took me and my sister and this would have been when I was around 12 years old, which was about 25 years ago.
It has been quite a while and I have to admit I struggled to recall there being much there apart from one tramline and a tea shop. To be fair to Crich, this is still pretty much the focus of the site. A tramline and two trams running up and down it. As shown here, up and down the track;
Everything is pretty well off these central tracks. The only thing that is a little off the diverted route is that they now have added on a woodland walk (which we didn't experience today), but in summer it would probably be a pleasant little afternoon stroll.
The site itself is still fairly compact then, with the additions of a lot of new tram sheds and a Great Exhibition Hall, which was lottery funded, by the plaque on the wall. Thus proving that the lottery has in many ways benefited quite a few sites that would otherwise, pre-lottery, have struggled to raise the finance to do what they have done, as they are marginally unique regional/county sites but beyond these relatively unknown places that survive through their uniqueness. Like the 'National Fork Lift Truck Museum' I visited attached to the Midland Railway Centre, not far from Crich. And yes, it was essentially a factory packed full of fork lift trucks!
These tiny little jewels are testament to the slightly eccentric nature of that has carried through the genes from the industrial revolution and through the systematic destruction of the great manufacturing sites and industries and yet, people, good people, will not allow these traditions and this heritage to be forced off the stage by the powers of progress and modernisation. And all power to these hardy volunteers, who in the case of Crich, have been building up the Tram museum since acquiring the site in 1950's to what it is now.
And what is it? It's a pretty fun day out. We took the two children with us and they seemed to have a great time as they both had never ridden on a tram quite as old as the ones they did today. They have been on trams in the city, again showing that what was considered a burden and a transport problem 50 years ago is now seen as a progressive way to deal with commuter transport. So trams are back. They never should have gone. It was, like the railways, a lack of continued investment reduced the quality, reduced the service so people didn't want to use it, so then it became a burden. Yet more evidence of this seemingly English disease of shortsightedness and a lack of true vision, which seems a uniquely post WW2 phenomenon.
They have amassed a huge amount of decommissioned trams, some of the best preserved was gifted in the 1960's from the terminated tramlines in Glasgow, Sheffield that came from the lines straight to the museum. Others, have come from across the globe, in varying degrees of quality but a lot on display have been renovated and repainted and look amazing. They have a sense and feel of craftsmanship that the new modern trams just do not have. Again, another contrast between modern trains and older trains. When designers considered design and elegance to be as an important part of the equation, as function (See Victorian Industrial engineering, like the Papplewick Pumping Station. Not just a pumping station but also a work of art). Trams can be works of art too. The final painted display was made up of about 7 varying coats of separate paint from undercoats, to oil fillers to enamel finishing. Some great examples here;
London is as always, a little odd. It had trams from 1860-1952. Nearly a hundred years and then from 1952-2000 no trams. Now, London is beginning to introduce more trams into the City.
The greatest fact discovered today that the man responsible for importing the tram, the horse drawn tram, the first type into London, was an American and his name was, 'Mr Train'. I loved this fact.
Horse drawn trams operated quite well for a while until they were replaced by new technologies that didn't require the literal 'eating into a companies profit' being applied as the amount of money required to keep so many horses fit for the trams did really do this for the tram companies. And so trams became electrified and soon then newer styles, such as trolleybuses (far more flexible than trams) again squashed the place of the tram. And in London, from the 1930's onwards the death knell for the Tram network began to sound. In 1950 the London Transport executive announced 'Operation Tramaway', it really did exactly what it said on the tin! By 1952 the last tram had ended and for the next 48 years no trams ran in London. Replaced by buses, Trams had been identified as the major cause of congestion. And like so many projects before, this turned out to be proved incorrect as there was no huge reduction in congestion in London with the removal of the tram from the streets. Trams had been the victim, like the railways of a long period of a chronic lack of investment, that meant the maintenance and renewal costs became so high it became a means to which the trams could be killed off. But not all were pleased to see the end of trams, as this display showed, they celebrated them to the end.
But London's and the UK's loss became Crich's gain and the vast array of trams, as mentioned, is mind boggling. And with the Great Exhibition hall, you have a chronological display of the evolution and ultimate demise of the tram network in the UK and you may be a little surprised to see the cities and towns which ran a tram network, as some were quite surprising to me.
For the children, they had an indoor play area, though a little sparse they both enjoyed that aspect of the day and gave a little respite to the family. The tea rooms were fairly reasonable, but as with most places you tend to pay more and more for sandwich and teas, but I tend to find the smaller and more unique the venue, the bigger the serving and the more home cooked and home made it feels and it also makes you willing to spend in these places as they do struggle for cash, whereas with the National Trust and English Heritage, I do get the impression you are treated less as a visitor and as more of an economic unit. However, if we visit again there are certainly enough nice and clean picnic areas to eat at and when you start buying for more than four the cost is noticeable.
The sweet shop was a well stocked place and I imagine it turns over a fair trade. The souvenir shop was a little odd as it contained the usual bits and pieces, books, childrens pens and pencils but then it had a section of diecast model trams and I thought I'd have a look and, admittedly they looked good quality, but priced at £80 and upwards seemed a little expensive and I do wonder just how many they would have sold of those. You would need to be a rather avid collector of tram models to pay this, and or have no children. I am disqualified on both counts fortunately.
So we had a great day, for my pre-birthday treat. It's a great venue and is within an area that is quite a beautiful part of the countryside. It is also very close to the memorial for the Sherwood Foresters Regiment, known to me as Crich Stand. It is an impressive monument, initially as a memorial to the 11,409 soldiers killed during the Great War
Although situated in Derbyshire, I can still remember the first house I lived in, in Annesley Woodhouse, I could make out Crich stand on the horizon from out the back bedroom window, which was quite some distance.
 |
| heading back from the small mining display, end of the line |
It has been quite a while and I have to admit I struggled to recall there being much there apart from one tramline and a tea shop. To be fair to Crich, this is still pretty much the focus of the site. A tramline and two trams running up and down it. As shown here, up and down the track;
 |
| looking down into the main terminus where tram sheds are |
The site itself is still fairly compact then, with the additions of a lot of new tram sheds and a Great Exhibition Hall, which was lottery funded, by the plaque on the wall. Thus proving that the lottery has in many ways benefited quite a few sites that would otherwise, pre-lottery, have struggled to raise the finance to do what they have done, as they are marginally unique regional/county sites but beyond these relatively unknown places that survive through their uniqueness. Like the 'National Fork Lift Truck Museum' I visited attached to the Midland Railway Centre, not far from Crich. And yes, it was essentially a factory packed full of fork lift trucks!
These tiny little jewels are testament to the slightly eccentric nature of that has carried through the genes from the industrial revolution and through the systematic destruction of the great manufacturing sites and industries and yet, people, good people, will not allow these traditions and this heritage to be forced off the stage by the powers of progress and modernisation. And all power to these hardy volunteers, who in the case of Crich, have been building up the Tram museum since acquiring the site in 1950's to what it is now.
And what is it? It's a pretty fun day out. We took the two children with us and they seemed to have a great time as they both had never ridden on a tram quite as old as the ones they did today. They have been on trams in the city, again showing that what was considered a burden and a transport problem 50 years ago is now seen as a progressive way to deal with commuter transport. So trams are back. They never should have gone. It was, like the railways, a lack of continued investment reduced the quality, reduced the service so people didn't want to use it, so then it became a burden. Yet more evidence of this seemingly English disease of shortsightedness and a lack of true vision, which seems a uniquely post WW2 phenomenon.
They have amassed a huge amount of decommissioned trams, some of the best preserved was gifted in the 1960's from the terminated tramlines in Glasgow, Sheffield that came from the lines straight to the museum. Others, have come from across the globe, in varying degrees of quality but a lot on display have been renovated and repainted and look amazing. They have a sense and feel of craftsmanship that the new modern trams just do not have. Again, another contrast between modern trains and older trains. When designers considered design and elegance to be as an important part of the equation, as function (See Victorian Industrial engineering, like the Papplewick Pumping Station. Not just a pumping station but also a work of art). Trams can be works of art too. The final painted display was made up of about 7 varying coats of separate paint from undercoats, to oil fillers to enamel finishing. Some great examples here;
This red and cream tram below with the destination of the Embankment was a tram originally operated on the London systems when London had a quite incredible tram network, which, again came to a juddering halt, well over a half century ago.
The greatest fact discovered today that the man responsible for importing the tram, the horse drawn tram, the first type into London, was an American and his name was, 'Mr Train'. I loved this fact.
Horse drawn trams operated quite well for a while until they were replaced by new technologies that didn't require the literal 'eating into a companies profit' being applied as the amount of money required to keep so many horses fit for the trams did really do this for the tram companies. And so trams became electrified and soon then newer styles, such as trolleybuses (far more flexible than trams) again squashed the place of the tram. And in London, from the 1930's onwards the death knell for the Tram network began to sound. In 1950 the London Transport executive announced 'Operation Tramaway', it really did exactly what it said on the tin! By 1952 the last tram had ended and for the next 48 years no trams ran in London. Replaced by buses, Trams had been identified as the major cause of congestion. And like so many projects before, this turned out to be proved incorrect as there was no huge reduction in congestion in London with the removal of the tram from the streets. Trams had been the victim, like the railways of a long period of a chronic lack of investment, that meant the maintenance and renewal costs became so high it became a means to which the trams could be killed off. But not all were pleased to see the end of trams, as this display showed, they celebrated them to the end.
 |
| You do get the impression that this was accurate and that the tram system was abandoned, and abandoned prematurely and also by misleading reasons, as otherwise why would you now, 60 years on be bringing the tram system back, if not as an open admission that we failed the tram system, rather than the tram system failing us. |
But London's and the UK's loss became Crich's gain and the vast array of trams, as mentioned, is mind boggling. And with the Great Exhibition hall, you have a chronological display of the evolution and ultimate demise of the tram network in the UK and you may be a little surprised to see the cities and towns which ran a tram network, as some were quite surprising to me.
For the children, they had an indoor play area, though a little sparse they both enjoyed that aspect of the day and gave a little respite to the family. The tea rooms were fairly reasonable, but as with most places you tend to pay more and more for sandwich and teas, but I tend to find the smaller and more unique the venue, the bigger the serving and the more home cooked and home made it feels and it also makes you willing to spend in these places as they do struggle for cash, whereas with the National Trust and English Heritage, I do get the impression you are treated less as a visitor and as more of an economic unit. However, if we visit again there are certainly enough nice and clean picnic areas to eat at and when you start buying for more than four the cost is noticeable.
The sweet shop was a well stocked place and I imagine it turns over a fair trade. The souvenir shop was a little odd as it contained the usual bits and pieces, books, childrens pens and pencils but then it had a section of diecast model trams and I thought I'd have a look and, admittedly they looked good quality, but priced at £80 and upwards seemed a little expensive and I do wonder just how many they would have sold of those. You would need to be a rather avid collector of tram models to pay this, and or have no children. I am disqualified on both counts fortunately.
So we had a great day, for my pre-birthday treat. It's a great venue and is within an area that is quite a beautiful part of the countryside. It is also very close to the memorial for the Sherwood Foresters Regiment, known to me as Crich Stand. It is an impressive monument, initially as a memorial to the 11,409 soldiers killed during the Great War
Although situated in Derbyshire, I can still remember the first house I lived in, in Annesley Woodhouse, I could make out Crich stand on the horizon from out the back bedroom window, which was quite some distance.
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