National Tramway Museum

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A 1931 Leeds tram at the museum, with a 1936 streamlined Liverpool tram in the background

The National Tramway Museum is home to many trams, most of which ran through the streets of different cities throughout the United Kingdom and some of which are from other countries. Most of the tram networks, with a few exceptions (Blackpool Tramway for example) closed in the 1960's although there has been a recent revival with new networks such as Nottingham Express Transit being installed. The Museum is located in the Crich Tramway Village, a recreated period village near to the modern village of Crich, near Matlock in the English county of Derbyshire. The nearest railway station is Whatstandwell on the Derby-Matlock line (followed by a steep uphill walk to the museum.)

The Crich Tramway Village features a period street, through which trams travel before continuing on for one mile into the countryside. There are exhibitions, regular events and the tram sheds are open for visitors to observe the collection's trams.

[edit] Tramcar fleet

The National Tramway Museum currently has trams from Berlin, Blackpool, Chesterfield, Den Haag, Derby, Douglas, Dundee, Edinburgh, Gateshead, Glasgow, Grimsby, Halle, Howth, Johannesburg, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, New York, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Oporto, Paisley, Prague, Sheffield, Southampton and Sydney. Not all are operational. The Southampton tram was the very first to be preserved by the Tramway Museum Society (purchased for £10 in 1949). The Halle and Berlin trams are single deck trams specially adapted for the access of people with disabilities. The majority of tramcars are double deck vehicles built between 1900 and 1930 - some with open tops. A few trams in the collection were constructed after World War II (including a prototype with a single deck from Leeds) which give an idea of how the UK tram manufacturing industry could have developed given the opportunity.