Like a scene from a Genesis album cover our crew move one of the upper deck sides into the shed.

Time to take off the side advert for safe keeping. We intend to make a reproduction advert exactly the same as this one. The original advert was for Greyhound Racing at Leicester Stadium off Blackbird Road. The stadium was also used as the home of the Leicester Lions Speedway team too.

Two upper deck sides standing almost in the position they would have been when on the car. There's actually a 25ft trailer containing the entire kit of parts between these two sides!

Our beloved blue box that provided shelter, security and a safe passage for the tram whilst moving from Markfield to Lutterworth. We shall miss the blue box but sadly there isn't space on our new site to keep it - the site owner only allowed us to put it there for a short time, the neighbours have decided it is killing their hedgerow but more importantly than both of those things - we don't actually own it!! It was very kindly loaned to us by THS Containers of Sharnford and there is going to be a point in time when they begin to want it back so I am greatly relieved that we have managed to empty it after so long.

Yep - it's really empty!! Did I mention that if you want a great deal on container hire from a really friendly family business then you should contact THS Containers of Sharnford?

So there we go – we haven’t been idle even though there hasn’t been a posting for a while – everyone in the team has been busy on the tram and a million other projects – I’ve become a Dad since we started this, I work 100 miles away from home and I’m also doing a PHD so lots happening all at once!! We always said it was going to be a big project but I am so pleased we are finally in our new home. Now comes all the exciting work!!….

Only two of us on this visit but a different day, a different trailer this time and a little help from a JCB mean no trouble at all getting it on the wagon!

On the move we chose to take a brief diversion into the city boundry deliberately to stage this photo. This is the Western Park tram terminus on Hinckley Road and this is the first time a significant part of a Leicester Tram has passed the terminus in about 62 years!

Car 31 in 1936 prepares to depart the Western Park terminus and return back into the City.

The same view today only this time Car 31 is heading to a destination a little further than the City Centre this time.

We drove down Hinckley Road and then took a right to head out of the City via Wyngate Drive. The intention was to get a snap at the Narborough Road terminus too on our way out to Lutterworth but unfortunately we timed it to coincide with the football crowds leaving town and Narborough Road was at a stand still. Thankfully we had spotted this and chose not to attempt it.

A big thank you to Alan Cooper for helping us with the loan of a suitable trailer and a huge thank you to Adrian for supporting me all day with the muscle, the driving, unloading and the witty banter that took my mind off the pain of a hard days graft!

The image was taken on 28th january 1939 (at 12:30 exactly would you believe!).

Even as a close up - It's a busy scene with no less than four trams in view. Car No.31 approaches the Clock Tower from High St passing what was then British Home Stores. The building is now a Laura Ashley store and the entrance to the High Cross Shopping Centre (formerly The Shires) is just to the left of BHS.

Many thanks to Peter for spotting this wonderful view!

A good friend of ours, Tony, offered his Land Rover and a trailer for the day and we really thought it would be an easy task to get this loaded and moved to our own site.

How wrong could we be?

First of all we remove the rails that surround the platform. There are still parts of the wooden framework attached to this railing and these give us great measurements for the windows that were introduced when LCT rebuilt the car from an open platform to an enclosed car.

Michael demonstrates the drivers duties before the car is parked in the depot for maintenance!

Tony's electric winch makes light work of dragging the platform out of the mud that has gripped it these last 61 years.

So with a winch and four people what could go wrong? Well, we never thought it a problem but the trailer has sides. When we winched the platform up to the trailer we realise that the platform is one inch wider than the trailer!

So after some serious head scratching and the wise words that if we winch it into the trailer (which would be a very tight fit), then how do we get it out of the trailer when we get to the other end? Best thing to do is leave it on blocks for now and try again another day.

As we are leaving it parked in this position all that remained was for Michael to apply the imaginary hand brake and follow the close down procedures for leaving the car.

]]> http://www.leicestertrams.org.uk/2011/08/21/the-last-part-of-no-31/feed/ 0 http://www.leicestertrams.org.uk/2011/08/10/away-for-the-day/ http://www.leicestertrams.org.uk/2011/08/10/away-for-the-day/#comments Wed, 10 Aug 2011 21:35:00 +0000 steve http://www.leicestertrams.org.uk/?p=696 A day out – this time to Crich to the National Tramway Museum, now branded as Crich Tramway Village.

We were invited by the Engineering team at Crich who really take on some projects and make them good. There are some really first class restorations and rebuilds that come out of their workshops. The engineering team really welcomed us and made us feel extremely good about our own project. The comforting phrase after we showed them pictures of car No.31 was “We’ve seen a lot worse!”

A super day out and a really welcoming and friendly team – we had a great day and came home with much to think about.

Hopefully this will be the start of a long and fruitful friendship for all.

A first class example of just how many layers of undercoat, paint and varnish go into a lower saloon.

Rob and Andy study the Leamington and Warwick car preserved in 'as found' condition. Rob and Andy between them attempted to save Car No.31 back in the 80's (and again in the 90's) with a vision of preserving it just as you see here with plastic chickens and a flower bed but the idea hit many walls and had to be abandoned (twice!).

Another lower saloon side section which gives us an idea on how to use our own lower saloon side section after new sections have been produced.

We also spent a great deal of time crawling over Leicester No.76 to learn more about the car. Unfortunately the pictures I took were all close up studies of various parts and I was so excited I forgot to take a good shot of the overall view of the car! Oh well – something to look forward to on another visit!

Car No.95 arrived at Markfield as a lower saloon only and was used to keep chickens in much the same way as No.31. Infact the two cars sat side by side with chicken wire strung between them to make a pen for the chickens to run around in. There’s a lot of mulch and top soil on the spot where No.95 sits but we were convinced there must be something under the soil.

Car No.95 as it appeared in the early part of the war. No.95 was withdrawn in July 1947 co-inciding with the closure of the Fosse Road route. It is thought that No.95 had seen little or no service after the end of the war. No.95 was sold to Edlins of Blaby Wharf in November 1947.

After 2 years in Edlins yard it was eventually purchased by Alice Spiby of Markfield and despatched for a second life as home to chickens! This is Car No.95 as it appeared in 1982. Behind the tree on the extreme left of this image stands Car No.31. You can see the fencing erected to link the two cars making a pen for the chickens.

Car No.95 as it is today!

After a whole days digging with a full team we eventually unearthed the under frame of what was Car No.95!

Even I’m prepared to admit that this one is a bit too far gone for even me but it was certainly encouraging to find something of it still remaining. The Spiby family have very kindly given us the remains of this car too and we intend to salvage the metal work off the under frame. One key reason for doing this is we only have one good collision fender for Car No.31 as the Elder Tree had destroyed the other one. Unfortunately the fender nearest the camera in the phot above is also in a bad state but the far end is in excellent condition and will make a partner for No.31′s. The ornate corner brackets of the wooden under frame will all make excellent exhibits in a future display and so only the rotten wood and mulch will be left behind.

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

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!

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!