Leicester Trams

Todays visit was all about clearing a path so that work can begin on removing the roof and splitting the sides. There was a large chestnut tree sheltering No.31 for all of sixty years at Markfield, however since the tree’s demise last summer when a combination of rot, foul weather, lightening and high winds finally brought it to it’s knees, the trunk now lays firmly over the floor of No.95 which was stationed alongside No.31.

Removing a section of the fallen trunk allowed us to be able to walk nearly all the way around the lower saloon and it certainly gave us a clear path to recover the parts we had gathered last summer from the top deck roof. (These had been tagged and gathered for safe keeping on the far side of the trunk but since last summer the vegetation had grown back with a vengence and we couldn’t get near to recover them!) With that all safely packed and towed away – next on the list is to get ready for the roof removal.

First things first - With expert direction from Paul, a clear path is made for us! Euan makes light work of the trunk and provides John with some extra wood for his log burner. Note the safety gear, an absolute must when tackling this kind of thing!

With the hidden parts loaded on to the trailer we can concentrate on disassembling more of the lower saloon. The bulkhead sliding door cover is the first to come out.

Proving we really are at one with nature - we set free a stray Peacock butterfly. This caused us to take nearly as many pictures of the butterfly as we did the tram! It made a change from the spiders we have been used to finding in the past!

Sliding door cover out of the way reveals the full message painted on to the sliding door. Once photogrphed, this too is taken away for safe storage.

Revealing... the skeletal framework of the bulkhead corner. You can see an addition to the floor which would have supported one end of a concrete feeder, this would have also been the reason for the hole in the bulkhead. We suspect the hole was made by the larger (more unpleasant) version of mice; trying to get at the food in the feeder. Fortunatley for us, the chickens, the food, the feeder and the rats are long gone! Thank goodness!!

The only other thing I forgot to mention was that it rained all day…!!!

Thanks to Barrie, Paul and his Son, Euan, we stuck at it and enjoyed a productive day with a full trailer and a van load of goodies to take back to the storage site.

A group visit to keep up our spirits and teach us a thing or two about tram car restoration.

Whenever you take on a project like ours you have to ask yourself has anybody done this sort of thing before? …. well after a bit of research on the internet we are pleased to discover that yes, there are others! Leeds No.107 Horse Car belongs to the Leeds Transport Historical Society and although the vehicle has been in their trust for many years it has only been in the last five years that they have been in a position to begin restoration. A small team of volunteers have been working to revive this 1898 Milnes horse car and they have made incredible progress starting out with something not too unlike our own kit of parts.

We are very grateful to Jamie, Jim and Stephen for making us so welcome and giving us a tour of their own project. We wish them well and hope that this will be the first of many visits between us. We learn a great deal and pick up some useful contacts for suppliers.

You can learn more of the Leeds No.107 Horse Car project at the following address…

http://leedshorsecar107.squarespace.com/