[142782] Crich Tramway Village : 1950s

Crich Tramway Village, Derbyshire.

The National Tramway Museum.

1950s - Closure and Preservation.

 

The 1950s was the last decade where the tram existed in any great numbers on the streets of Britain. As happens throughout history, wars accelerate the development of technologies and the diesel engine had proved itself during the Second World War. After the conflict, diesel buses became the vehicle of choice, Even trolley buses were consigned to the sidelines in many places.

 

Tramways had again been neglected during wartime, with resources diverted elsewhere. Some tramways ordered new trams to compete with the new buses, but many of these saw less than ten years service before the tramways were closed. The trams were scrapped and burnt.

 

The fact was that trams were out of fashion and part of the old order that was being swept away and forgotten, they were also simply too big for local museums to collect. Born out of the Light Rail Transport League in 1955, the Tramway Museum Society was formed to try to prevent the vehicles disappearing altogether.

 

The first vehicle, Southampton 45, had been bought in 1948 and several more were added during the 1950s. Trams were saved and stored wherever possible until a home could be found to house the collection. That happened in 1959 when the Museum Society obtained the land at Crich and began to move tramcars to Derbyshire, a county that last saw an electric tramcar in the 1930s.

Done