Having really enjoyed visiting the National Railway Museum in York a couple of weeks ago (free entry, but £9 to park, so very, very cheap) we are now planning a trip to the National Tram way Museum at Crich, in Derbyshire. It's only 30 miles away from home and from the website it looks like a great day out.
www.tramway.co.uk/
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Yes Rog, the NRMY is a splendid way to spend a few hours. We often visit on one of our day trips to York to take light refreshment. The early am train from home gets us in to York rather too early for drinkies, and being sensitive souls we always head there until noon.
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Crich is certainly worthy of a visit. Go in an old car and you may be able to park it for free on the street. From their website:
Free admission for drivers of pre-1975 vehicles if parked in the Museum street for a minimum of 3 hours (please note on themed events your vehicle must match the theme and booking may be necessary to confirm availability).
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Our car is, by most people's standards, old as it's a 52 reg. but still too young to meet that criterion :-)
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We will, when in the York area (quite often these days, with the grand-children's school being so close) and time permitting, certainly revisit the NRyM. We did not have the stamina to see it all in one go, so confined our viewing to the main hall.
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The York (station) Tap, with access directly off the platform, is also well worth a visit. A humungus selection of beers. My friends were partaking yesterday morning waiting for a connection pre brewery/ vineyard visit. My dental problem precluded me from joining in the merriment, but a steamer on a charter stopped opposite... A big green loco called 'Duchess of Sutherland''. Very fine it looked too belching out lots of dirty grey smoke.
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>> .. A big green loco called 'Duchess of
>> Sutherland''. Very fine it looked too belching out lots of dirty grey smoke.
>>
Shame it wasn't the Duchess of Argyll. Now that one could steam.....
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We were an inch from the tramway museum this year on holiday. I thought we might go, but one lady in the party said she had ridden on a tram as a child and couldn't see the value in seeing another one, and the two other younger ladies said that amazingly, they they weren't actually interested in trams, so it was borderline. Then we found the entrance prices and discovered it was going to be more that it was felt we'd get value for given the indifference.
So if someone here goes, please tell me it was rubbish and spending the day looking at National Trust soap and hats was a better deal.
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Whether or not it's a good day out depends on you. If seeing old trams operate and riding on some, in an appropriate setting is of interest, then you'll regard it as an excellent day out.
But if you just thinks trams are another form of transport, perhaps not.
For me, I must go back since it is over 40 years since my last visit...
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it's peculiar isn't it this British thing about old trams and steam engines. Sort of vaguely interested myself in a nostalgic sort of way but wouldn't actually pay money to see an old tram. Might as well just go to somewhere like Manchester and ride on a new one.
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To remind myself, I just looked up the cost - it would have cost us £60 entrance for the day, plus of course any extras.
Having had these kind of conversations here before, it's evident that some think that's just a reasonable price for a day out for four and I'm a stingy old git, but I still feel that to be pretty eye-watering.
We did do Chatsworth for the day, and that was £80 entrance fee and we spent another £40 or so on food/shop. That one didn't feel QUITE so bad though, as we all got a lot out of it.
Don't know how lots of folk afford to do touristy things in the UK any more though. I suppose they don't, in fact, and find cheaper alternatives.
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Don't know how lots of folk afford to do touristy things in the UK any
>> more though. I suppose they don't, in fact, and find cheaper alternatives.
Plenty must or they wouldn't be so many. Someone must be going to keep them open.
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>>Don't know how lots of folk afford to do touristy things in the UK any more though.
Look for offers;
Blenheim Palace ran (maybe run) an offer whereby if you buy a family ticket on a particular day you got free family access for the year.
There's a card, Merlin or something, free to get and then massuve discounts for a year at Warwick, Legoland, London Aquarium etc etc
There's loads of such things.
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Crankie.... I don't believe you think£15 for a day out is expensive. You can pay that for three pints of lager in some Dales pubs.
Our bus from Settle to KLonsdale is £7.80 plus another £20 in the beer kitty, and that's just an afternoons sociable drinking with friends.
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It's stuff like that, LL, which makes me realise we're probably a billion pounds off better than we would have been if either of us ever drank alcohol. But we don't.
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>> it's peculiar isn't it this British thing about old trams and steam engines.
I'd be surprised if the uk was the only place with tram and train museums.
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I agree that days out can work out expensive for families, just like cinema trips, especially once you factor in the additional costs. When the kids were smaller and we used to go for days out I could be quite grumpy about it, especially if they weren't showing "enough" interest. I also cut off my nose to spite my face occasionally by refusing to go in with the rest of the family when I thought it was too much. For instance I sat in the car while they did Windsor castle literally days before the great fire of 1992...
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You can ride olde-fashioned Trams miles for Peanuts, and have a good time, just get yourself to Blackpool!!
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You can ride olde-fashioned Trams miles for Peanuts, and have a good time, just get yourself to Blackpool!!
I have, did the Illuminations Tour in a 1908 Bolton tram. Tacky place, but everyone should go once.
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>> You can ride olde-fashioned Trams miles for Peanuts, and have a good time, just get
>> yourself to Blackpool!!
>>
I was there a few days ago. I was there last year. Prior to that I was there 42 years ago. The place is a ruddy hole of the brown variety. Awful.
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On the face of it, yes Crich is expensive. But their prices are all in, no extras (other than horse drawn trams). So if you want to do things properly, ride on lots of old trams, look at others, study their town etc, then it's not that expensive. And if you are local, no excuse at all.
A full price ticket gets:
Free return admission for 12 months
Car and Coach Parking
Exhibition Hall
George Stephenson Discovery Centre
Tram Depots
Indoor and Outdoor Play areas
Unlimited Vintage Electric Tram Rides (additional charge for the Horse Tram applies)
Use of Picnic Areas
Woodland Walk
Last edited by: Slidingpillar on Mon 26 Sep 16 at 11:25
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I suppose not but don't think have ever see one in France or Spain .Must be some I suppose but the British must be world leaders in nostalgia.
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I'm sure they'll be there.
No doubt they just do it in a less obvious way, no doubt you notice it here more because you live here.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Mon 26 Sep 16 at 12:25
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Wikipedia lists 52 transport museums in England alone. For France it shows six.
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Whatever did we do before Wikipedia? ;)
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It is curious as to why as a nation we are so enthusiastic about our recreating the past though. From tram museums to costume drama to visiting National Trust properties we do like to dwell in the past.
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No, live in the present, visit the past. Given that the last 150 years shaped the world we live in, jolly useful too.
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Well I guess so but it's a pity we don't take a bit more interest in where we are going rather than where we have been.
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Tourism things like eureka you mean, or something completely different?
Mind you they do say history has a lot to teach us.
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I think it's a window into the past rather recreating it. We have such an interesting past its no surprise many want to look and/or learn about it.
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We had a good half day, or so, out at Crich Tramway Museum.
It was interesting, particularly to Deidre for a couple of exhibits - Sheffield City trams which were still running when she was working for the Gas Board there, as a home service advisor. She remembers both going to work, and travelling for work,on them.
There are a heck of a lot of trams there, particularly in the storage sheds, not all from Britain.
Both in the main exhibition hall, and in the open for viewing, tram sheds, there was not really enough space between the vehicles to appreciate them, or take decent photographs and I found this to be a major disappointment.
We had a ride on an old Blackpool, passenger, rather than a open top viewing for tourists, tram and enjoyed it within the limits set by the track's length. Restoring lines, electrics and trams must be hugely expensive though, so a sense of proportion is necessary thre.
The "cobbled village street" experience was underwhelming, IMO; the highlight being a restored and rebuilt Edwardian Pub, formerly in Stoke-on-Trent.
The refreshments were VERY reasonably priced and car parking is free. We, as over 60s, paid £12 each for entry.
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit - there were more, non-tram themed things to see, but as they involved a fair bit on Shank's Pony we forbore.
Similarly as an ex T.A member of the Sherwood Foresters, I would have liked to visit the Regimental Memorial, also in Crich, but tired legs and backs deterred us from that, too.
Another time, maybe.
One visit is enough though, unlike the Railway Museum in York, which we will certainly re-visit.
Last edited by: Roger. on Thu 29 Sep 16 at 11:18
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Trams are he future clean fast and they can carry plenty of people.
Hull is very flat no hills and they used to have a excellent tram system.Why the people in the know got writ of them is lost to me.
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>> Hull is very flat no hills and they used to have a excellent tram system.Why
>> the people in the know got writ of them is lost to me.
They got in the way of the cars.......
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Trams the past. They are inflexible, expensive and cause congestion and danger for other road users
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>> Trams the past. They are inflexible, expensive and cause congestion and danger for other road
>> users
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Absolutely.
Utterly pointless antiquities.
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>> Trams are he future clean fast
Electric buses with on-board battery offers same benefit but without the hassle of laying tracks.
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I like the Blackpool ones, nostalgia I suppose.
Otherwise I have been a bit anti-tram since I was nearly run over by one in Frankfurt. Somewhat irrational, as it was my fault and the driver did hoot, prompting me to get out of the way.
I can't imagine that they have proven good value for Edinburgh.
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I seem to have done an AC and lost a post.
There was a comment here somewhere about the cost of the Sheffield tram system, to which I wrote a longish response, but both now seem to have vanished.
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Think that's called a senior moment. Otherwise you're suggesting it was removed (I doubt it) or lost (forum software issues - I doubt it). Maybe you didn't actually post it and your end is the problem.
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Happened a few times to me, both the post and the one i was quoting. How or why I couldn't say, but it's happened whilst on my phone and laptop and others have had it happen to.them.
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>> Happened a few times to me, both the post and the one i was quoting.
>>
>>
That's the odd thing. A senior moment causing my own post to get lost in the woodpile I could understand, but someone else's post appears to have gone too.
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>>That's the odd thing. A senior moment causing my own post to get lost in the woodpile I could understand, but someone else's post appears to have gone too.
Isn't that the main reason why Zero shuffled orf?
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>> Isn't that the main reason why Zero shuffled orf?
>>
I didn't know that. It seems a rather extreme response to a minor annoyance.
But perhaps to people of a sensitive disposition it could be the final straw. :)
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Anyway, my Sheffield experiences:
I was there last week for a day (sprog uni delivery) and liked the trams. Without in any way seeming merely quaint, I thought they added a pleasing focus and coherence to the city centre, and seemed to be well-used.
I don't know where they ran to - I didn't see any maps - but that's always what I find lacking in public transport systems apart from the Tube, I've no idea how to use them.
I saw a man come within an inch of being run over. He was jaywalking wearing headphones and just walked straight in front of a tram. The driver slammed on the brakes with the loudest horn I have ever heard and the tram screeched to a halt, but the man just walked on oblivious.
The trams don't make the same noises as the old ones I remember. There is far less clanking, and none of that grinding noise as they negotiate tight turns or points. I think the reason might be that the rails are different. They now seem to have a narrow groove in the middle.
Looking up the two types of tram/train wheels I find that there are two different principles. Train-type wheels have solid axles and the wheel tyres are angled so that they change their effective diameter as they turn a bend. The wheel flanges are there for special circumstances only but do clang a lot if used for tight turns, such as trams.
The other kind of wheel has a central flange running in a groove but with a split axle and differential on the driving wheels.
The other change from the old ones is that the pickup arm reliably stays engaged with the overhead wire. My earliest memories are of trams in London, Liverpool and Glasgow, and watching the conductor get out with his special pole to re-engage the electricty.
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Trams. - legacylad
