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The line is jointly run by the Manchester Transport Museum Society, who own a number of vintage trams and Manchester city council. The current operating fleet at Heaton Park consists of: *Manchester 765 - single deck 'combination' car dating from 1914 and restored locally in the 1970s *Blackpool Brush Car 623 dating from the 1930's and made its preservaton debut in January 2012 currently on loan in Blackpool *Hull 96 A 1901 built tramcar which was our last major workshop project being completed in October 2015. *Blackpool 619 - replica of a Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramroad vanguard built in 1987 Also resident but currently out of service are *Stockport 5 - A four wheel open top Stockport with reverse staircases built in 1901 on loan from it's owning group the friends of 5, currently undergoing overhaul in our workshop. * Blackpool 752 - the tramway's multi-purpose works car which was acquired from Blackpool in 2008, *Blackpool 702 - Currently stored in Lakeside depot awaiting overhaul to return to operational condition * Manchester 173 - 1901 built short canopy open topper, currently awaiting workshop capacity for its restoration to be completed * Oldham 43 - Built in 1903 acquired by the society in 2014 after being rescued from a farm, a longer term project. * Manchester Horse Bus * Rawtenstall 23 - awaiting major restoration and currently stored in various pieces Several other trams are housed off-site. Reversible Horse car L53 is in Bury Transport Museum Blackpool 680 is on loan to Blackpool heritage tram tours Blackpool Balloon is in store in Rigby Road Depot, Blackpool.
Mission: Current projects for the 100% volunteer based society include the overhaul and return to service of 1901 Built Open Top Tram Stockport Number 5, tidying and improving the areas immediately adjacent to the tramway and increasing our volunteer numbers
Looking for something to keep yourself occupied.
How about a Heaton Park Tramway online jigsaw with a few different tramway images and difficulties.
We have even included Bolton 66 as a tram connected with us and will be adding more images on time.
https://www.jigsawplanet.com/Heatonparktram/heaton-park-trams
Free online jigsaw puzzle game
#ThrowbackThursday
Keeping a connection to yesterdays post we are delving into our archive to bring you Manchester tram 181 a sister of our 173 working on the Audenshaw Route.
Sitting behind 181 whilst the crew pose for their photo you can just see tram 444 which was a bigger version of 173 that sat on running gear like our own Manchester 765.
Its Workshop Wednesday.
Well not quite. as most of you know we usually try and focus on our workshop projects on here on a Wednesday but due to the current state of the world in order to stay safe we cant access our workshop.
So we thought we would take a look back at past workshop projects.
So here we bring you the early days of Manchester 173s restoration at the Horwich Loco works as part of the Manpower Services scheme.
Although missing staircases and unpainted 173 still looks recognisable as the tram we know today still waiting patiently for its restoration to be completed.
Can we ask a favour?
If your enjoying our articles, impressed by what our society has achieved throughout the years and want to see what else we can do once we reopen then please support us.
We're not asking for money for nothing but the our society is supported heavily by its membership scheme.
If you could join as a member whether you support us purely by paying a yearly membership fee or go one further and come and get actively involved we would be incredibly grateful.
Our new Journal editor is busy working away on our society newsletter so we can let everyone know the exciting plans we have in the pipeline.
Click the link below or the sign up button at the top of this page for more info on how to join, at just £15 a year for adults for a whole years worth of free tram travel its not a bad deal.
https://hptramway.co.uk/index.php/come-and-join-us/
The 765 Story Part 12
By 1972 work on 765 become steady rather than spectacular with a whole host of significant rather than noticeable jobs being carried out, such as the brake rigging, traction wiring and sanders.
That was until 765 was needed to move again. This time to Frederick road bus depot.
This time the tram was moving more for storage than restoration and display.
We've been doing a lot of work on our Archive & Collections just recently so we thought it was a good opportunity to share this lovely bit of history recently donated to us.
Back in early March when people will still allowed to gather in groups (remember that?), one of our team gave a talk on the tramway to an interested group.
A very kind person attending the talk donated this to the society for safe keeping.
The inscription reads "presented to Harry Hall on the completion of his apprenticeship with the Bury, Rochdale & Oldham Tramway Company. Aug 23rd 1896."
A genuine piece of Steam Tram Era history that we are extremely grateful to receive and become the custodians of.
The 765 Story Part 11
By 1968 the visitor to Brichfields Road was presented with the sight of a tramcar that looked almost ready to run.
Months and Months of unglamorous, hard and dirty work had seen 765 standing on a set of 22E bogies again for the first time in around 30 years.
The paintwork was completed on the exterior, interior and on the Birds Eye Maple ceiling panels.
Not only that but the tramcars sponsoring group had now restructured to become the Manchester Transport Museum Society, managing an extensive collection of artefacts and records and actively planning a future museum.
The 765 Story Part 10
As expected the move to cleaner surroundings and generally improved working conditions at Birchfields Road meant work accelerated.
Immediate attention turned to filling, sanding and priming the body panels so that the Hyde Road Coach painters who had offered their services could begin. This progressed so well that by 22nd February 1966 one side of the car was complete and with hand rails also being refitted to the tram, it was starting to look a lot more complete.
A set of 22E bogies was also obtained with these being overhauled and regauged by a local contractor. Two 30HP motors were also obtained from Blackpool railgrinder 2 for this project along with its wheels and axles.
The 765 story Part 9
Work continued to progress well at Northumberland road and week by week the tram started to look much more complete and unrecognisable from the shell first discovered in 1960.
Unfortunately this brought new problems for the group to overcome, where could trucks be sourced from how would the finer details be carried out and how could the groups limited funds be made to stretch even further.
Therefore on the 9th October 1965 765 was on the move again and on its way to Birchfield's Road Bus depot.
This accommodation being free of charge meant that the rent money being spent on Northumberland road could be put towards the restoration, Manchester Corporation also agreed to help with the cost of a limited amount of materials and a Coach Painter and Two apprentices volunteered to help paint the tram.
The 765 story Part 8
Once the underframe was strengthened and secured, attention turned to the fitting of new dash and rocker panels which were primed and prepared in the traditional coach painting ways.
The replacement bulkheads produced by a volunteer at home were fitted and the roof completely stripped and rebuilt.
All this flurry activity meant that by the 20th April 1964 the saloon of the tramway was once again enclosed. To such an extent even that the trustees could hold their meeting within the tram itself.
The 765 Story Part 7
The move to the premises of the Chorlton Haulage Company in Northumberland Road made it much easier to attach the bigger jobs required, not just to preserve and stabilise the body to make a start on a serious restoration.
The bits of the car that needed to be stripped could be, the roof could start to be attended to now that the tram was undercover and the badly needed underframe repairs could be completed.
This required the fitting of two girders, each requiring 75 bolt holes to be drilled and each hole needing four drillings to achieve the correct size, giving a total of 600 seperate operations.
The sight of the car resting again on a solid base was all the reward the volunteers required though.
A lovely bit of footage of our part in Heaton Parks Somme Commemoration in 2016 by Bob Hodges.
Featuring Blackpool 619, Manchester 765 and Hull 96 in service with Manchester 173 on display as a recruitment car.
On the 1st/2nd July 2016 the Heaton Park Tramway in Mancheser ran specially decorated trams to commemorate the centenary of the battle of the Somme in July 1...
Tis the weekend of Easter and we're all in the house.
The tram shed is quiet except perhaps the odd mouse, the trams are at slumber awaiting their time till they can once again be out on the line.
Happy Easter to all our followers, stay home, stay safe and stay well.
The 765 Story Part 6
With a bit more co-ordination the work rate on 765 improved but progress was still slow due to the need for volunteers to travel long distance to work on the car, the need for premises in Manchester to allow evening working and put the hours in that were required to restore the car was very apparent.
So on Saturday 20th July 1963 765 was loaded up for its new home on Northumberland Road in the Trafford Bar area.
It was a somewhat eventful journey for 765 with it being mistaken along its journey home as a participant in the Buxton Carnival, dropping a piece of roof iron at the foot of a queue of bus passengers and travelling along part of its old route on Dickson Road before reaching its destination.
The tram was then lowered on to a prepared way of planks and rollers before much pushing, pulling and sweating saw it located in place.
A tired band of volunteers could rest happy that night though in the knowledge that there was at last a tramcar in Manchester again.
It's been lovely weather in Heaton Park just recently and the tracks are just crying out for a tram to run on them.
Heaton Park Tramway's cover photo
The 765 Story - Part 5
July 1962 saw a much more organised MTHC start to make progress on the restoration. It was recommended hat the tram be placed on the ex Gateshead 21 E Wide-Wing Truck.
This meant the car had to be moved sideways, the combination of short wheelbase and long body meant that anyone bouncing up and down on the platform bearers could see-saw the car, any doubts about the basic soundness of the Body Framing were quickly dispelled.
Behind the tram is Sheffield 264.
The 765 Story Part 4
Progress at Crich was slow, the Manchester area members had to travel great distances in order to go and work on the car and this had taken its toll.
By early 1962 little progress had been made with the exception of some tidying up work and swathing the car in roofing felt.
The dedicated volunteers were doing the best to ignore comments like "Has it been in a fire?" and "You're not actually going to do anything with that are you?" The tram appeared to be in such a state that it was impossible to know where to start.
It was becoming increasingly apparent that a more structured and co-ordinated approach was required and the Manchester Transport Historical Collection formed the Friends of 765 to do just that.
Can we ask a favour?
If your enjoying our articles, impressed by what our society has achieved throughout the years and want to see what else we can do once we reopen then please support us.
I'm not asking for money for nothing but the our society is supported heavily by its membership scheme.
If you could join as a member whether you support us purely by paying a yearly membership fee or go one further and come and get actively involved we would be incredibly grateful.
Our new Journal editor is busy working away on our society newsletter so we can let everyone know the exciting plans we have in the pipeline.
Click the link below for more info on how to join, at just £15 a year for adults for a whole years worth of free tram travel its not a bad deal.
https://hptramway.co.uk/index.php/come-and-join-us/
Come and Join Us The MTMS Needs You! Heaton Park Tramway is 100% run by volunteers from the Manchester Transport Museum Society (MTMS). As the tramway is run by volunteers, we are always looking to recruit people of all skills, ages, genders and from different walks of life, who come to spend a ple...
The 765 Story Part 3
With the body of 765 now identified as a suitable restoration candidate permission was sought from the Tramway Museum Society committee to move it to Crich.
In June 1960 765 moved to Crich and was rested on sleepers alongside the mainline ready for restoration work to commence.
The 765 Story Part Two
The subject of our tale doesn't enter the story until early in 1960. When 30 miles from Manchester and 1000 feet up in the Pennines near to Blackmoor Foot Reservoir another body was found.
This body appeared to be the best of the lot, was reasonably accessible and better still was no longer required by the farmer who agreed to donate it for restoration.
This body was of course 765.
The 765 Story - Part One
Not many people are aware but strangely the 765 story doesn't start with 765......
In Late 1959 a group of Manchester Based Tramway Museum Society Members decided it would be nice to reconstruct a Manchester Tram Car.
The only problem being was that the last Manchester Tram had run just over 10 years earlier and no double deck bodies had been known to survive in a bizarre twist of fate though a number of single deck bodies withdrawn 19 years before 1007's fateful last trip had survived.
A short list of three was drawn up and the bodies of 657 on an allotment at Heald Green, 534 as a garden shed at Moston and an unknown body situated in a field in South Manchester
Part 6
Although the creation of the Heaton Park Tramway was the culmination of a long held dream formed years earlier in the minds of our founding fathers there was another reason.
To allow a Manchester Tram to run in its home city, this tram duly arrived, with the tramway itself still under construction this tram duly arrived in very familiar to us now shape of Manchester California Car 765.
I'm after a little bit of interaction now folks, do you want me to carry on telling the story of the Heaton Park Tramway or shall we pause slightly to tell the 765 story before resuming? Let us know in the comments below please.
Part Five
Once the overhead traction poles were erected a start could be made on the erection of the overhead wires.
This was carried out using Leyland Titan PD2/4 - Tower wagon as built in 1948, now in preservation in the Manchester Transport Museum.
In this 1979 image the majority of the overhead traction poles, overhead and span wiring and overhead frogs were in place.
Part Four
Once the shelter was converted, the track uncovered and tramcar access to the building arranged another element was required.
In order to have an operating tramway the overhead traction poles are required. The erection of these really starts to make the tramway look familiar.
Part Three
Once the long hidden existing track was uncovered and a start was made on conversion of the waiting shelter into a fully functional depot, museum and workshop work can then start on the missing piece of the puzzle.
New foundations and salvaged track were used to start to lay the depot access road that would be necessary in order to allow trams to access the building.
Part Two
Once it had been established that the rails were still there under the tarmac work could begin on uncovering the old Manchester Corporation siding.
Work also started to convert the old waiting shelter to become a base of operations for the society with walls being built, the floor lowered in order to fit the trams inside and one end of the building remodelled in order to allow the trams to access it.
40 years ago yesterday the Heaton Park Tramway was officially opened to the public for the first time.
This was the culmination of many years of hard work for the members of the Manchester Transport Museum Society and their dream of operating a Manchester Tram in Manchester again for the first time since 1949.
Over the next few weeks we will share a small part of this story with you.
We will start with the slightly different picture showing the first uncovering of the rails beneath the tarmac where they had laid undisturbed since abandonment.
A message from Manchester City Council
Using your one exercise a day in your local park? ️
Please make sure you're following Government rules.
#KeepYourDistance
You need to be at least three steps away from others.
If you do see this in any of your parks, please report it, as we have Park Security on hand to respond and disperse people.
Its #throwbackthursday
We've been digging into our archive, in order to keep you entertained.
This picture is taken in Stevenson Square and shows Oldham tram number 5 on the left and Manchester Pilcher 272 on the right.
Oldham 5 is a 4 wheel balcony double decker and Manchester Pilcher 4 wheel enclosed double decker.
Its Workshop Wednesday
As we said we've got Stockport 5 almost ready, here's a nice shot of the top deck showing the seats refitted, varnished and the oyster lamps made lovely and shiny.
We cant wait to get reopened and let you all come to see it.
Children's play areas in all of Manchester's parks are closing with immediate effect to help minimise the spread of coronavirus.
This weekend, parks in Manchester were extremely well-used, but unfortunately some visitors were not following the government's social distancing guidance.
Help us keep Parks open by following the guidance, which you can read at https://buff.ly/2x2BUii
We'd also encourage you to make use of parks and green spaces in your local area to keep travelling to a minimum. Your nearest park and green space can be found at: https://buff.ly/2QDtGUM
Guidance on social distancing for everyone in the UK, including children, and protecting older people and vulnerable people.
We see that the long awaited Metrolink extension to the Trafford Centre opens tomorrow. This would normally be a time of great joy for us. But these are NOT normal times. If you need to travel for essential work and it will help you do thats fine. But can we ask if not you don’t go just for a “first”. It will still be there when this is all over and we can all including our elderly and frailer friends enjoy it together. Thank you.
Heaton Park Tramway, C/o Park Manager's Office, Heaton Park, Manchester
Manchester
M25 2SW
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As we have mentioned in previous posts, 765 has had some work to refurbish the destination boxes ahead of its appearance at Beamish Museum for the Great North Steam fair. This includes the work to the mechanisms and a new set of blinds. With a week to go before the steam fair it is time we shared this little video of the new blinds in action.
2 weeks ago today 765 left us for Beamish. She has been on several test runs already and is in good shape to take part in their Great North Steam Fair in April. http://hptramway.co.uk/index.php/2019/02/17/765-test-runs-at-beamish/ http://www.beamish.org.uk/events/great-north-steam-fair/
The line is jointly run by the Manchester Transport Museum Society, who own a number of vintage trams and Manchester city council. The current operating fleet at Heaton Park consists of: *Manchester 765 - single deck 'combination' car dating from 1914 and restored locally in the 1970s
*Hull 96 A 1901 built tramcar which was our last major workshop project being completed in October 2015.
*Blackpool Brush Car 623 dating from the 1930's and made its preservaton debut in January 2012 Also resident but currently out of service are *Stockport 5 - A four wheel open top Stockport with reverse staircases built in 1901 on loan from it's owning group the friends of 5, currently undergoing overhaul in our workshop. *Blackpool 619 - replica of a Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramroad vanguard built in 1987, currently undergoing overhaul in our workshop * Blackpool 752 - the tramway's multi-purpose works car which was acquired from Blackpool in 2008, *Blackpool 702 - Currently stored in Lakeside depot awaiting overhaul to return to operational condition * Manchester 173 - 1901 built short canopy open topper, currently awaiting workshop capacity for its restoration to be completed * Oldham 43 - Built in 1903 acquired by the society in 2014 after being rescued from a farm, a longer term project. * Manchester Horse Bus * Rawtenstall 23 - awaiting major restoration and currently stored in various pieces Several other trams are housed off-site. Reversible Horse car L53 is in Bury Transport Museum Blackpool 680 is on loan to Blackpool heritage tram tours Blackpool Balloon is in store in Rigby Road Depot, Blackpool.
Museum of Transport, Greater Manchester
Boyle Street, Cheetham
Museum of Transport, Greater Manchester
Boyle Street, Cheetham
