Leicester Trams

An excellent days work today and we finally manage to lift the lower saloon side panel and move it into the container. No easy feat as it was very fragile and very very heavy!

A group shot before we removed the bolts holding it to the under frame.

The guys didn't like me taking this shot as although it seemed the right thing to do, it really needed all of us to lift the weight. They are rather forced smiles as this side panel was very heavy indeed.

and there we go... safe and snug in the container.

After the success of getting the side into the container we really went to town and tried to lift the platform and fender from the No.1 end of the car.

Ok, so we managed to lift it out of the ground but there is about half a ton of metal here - how we thought we could carry it I do not know - we took this shot and then put it back on the ground again!

We decided the best thing was to break this end down to its component parts as it was already damaged by an elder tree that had sprung up and destroyed one of the angle iron struts that held the collision fender. This is the headstock after the fender and struts had been removed.

You'd never know there was a tram here would you? Only the platform at the far end still stands

Don’t worry – The title sounds worse than the truth!

We visited today to try and move the remaining side of the lower saloon into the container. It’s wasn’t a very successful visit in terms of actually moving the side but we did formulate a plan for another day.

Lots of checking, note making, head scratching and thoughtful pauses!

Well, with everything going swimmingly at the Markfield end, now that our sea container is on site, we turned our attention today to the Lutterworth site which will be our home and where we shall begin the assembly of Car 31.

It feels great to be talking about assembly after so much dismantling!

Well rather than starting to lay the frames on stilts (in each corner), which is how Dick Kerr would have done it at their Preston works, we have chosen to build the lower saloon on a skeletal trailer. This has lots of advantages but the main one is it is easily contained and can be mobile if need be. Our vision being that once some work is underway we could transport it to various shows and rallies.

So at 11 o’clock today our good friend Jim Wilkie arrived with his Land Rover from Old Sodbury near Bristol with a wonderful gift in tow – a 25ft long trailer! It was actually a trailer on top of a trailer as this particular gift hasn’t been road legal for years but thats no problem to us.

A trailer on a trailer! (ours isn't road legal yet)

The trailer had spent many years in use at an airfield but was replaced by a galvanised one several years ago and Jim has very kindly gifted it to the Leicester Tram 31 Group, for which we are most grateful.

Jim prepares the trailer for unloading.

A few pallets for packing, a make shift ramp, a couple of jacks and a ratchet strap….. and hey presto, the trailer was on the ground.

Easy does it!

Due to it’s size it took four of us to roll it into position but the whole affair took less than an hour . There was a great deal of clearing to be done prior to putting the trailer into position but once in the space we could really see things working out.

The trailer in situ - just right for building a lower saloon.

Thanks to our group members, Baz and Andy for an excellent days work and extra special thanks to Jim Wilkie for this generous gift and also mucking in on a bit of conservation.

We took Jim to the Markfield site also and he couldn’t resist helping us carry the remaining upper deck side into the container and also the metal roof work from sister tram No.95 which had rotted into the ground years ago but amazingly the metal roof work remained and was in better condition than No.31′s. Both lifts were a four man effort so thank you again to all!