As we are approaching the end of our operating season, we will only be running on Sundays until our last day of the season on Sunday the 17th November.
It is with great sadness that we must announce that we are indefinitely closed due to the theft of overhead wire. Our dedicated volunteers are working hard to work out how best to replace missing wire and repair other damaged caused.
***Update*** We have now launched a GoFundMe page at the suggestion of many of our followers. If you would like to help us get the Tramway up and running again, Please click the link below.
The tramway will be operating everything we have that is serviceable and there may also be surprise at the start and end of the day (winky face)
As part of the national scheme, we will be taking part in the “Museums at Night” event on Saturday 02nd of November meaning we will be operating a service after dark, hopefully with an illuminated tram.
After our Season Swansong Event on Sunday 17th November we close for the winter. This is a time where our workshop team get a chance to work on all those nitty gritty jobs that we have been putting off all year like finally tidying up the workshop and tidying up the doors on lakeside depot. We may also have a bit of a suprise ready for when the 2020 season starts up in March 2020.
So should we expect from 2020?
Well…
Thanks to the enormous popularity of our Taster Tram Driver Experience in 2019 we are introducing an online booking system with time slots most weekends. This will increase our overall ability to facilitate more experiences throughout the year.
We will hopefully be introducing a new online shop, and the ability to track our trams in real time via our website. As far as I am aware, we will be the only tramway to offer this.
We may have 2 additional cars in our passenger carrying fleet.
5 is incredibly close to being completed, with just the top deck seats needing to be secured, some fiddly woodwork bits in the lower saloon and its final coat of paint on the truck.
619 is edging closer and closer to completion with its floor receiving its second coat of floor paint, scallops being measured and a test fit, and seats to be fitted over the winter shutdown, it is looking more and more likely that she will be ready by the middle of 2020.
We are still on the lookout for new volunteers, so if you fancy getting your hands dirty in the pit, serving in our shop, guarding on one of our trams, guiding visitors around the museum or even coming in and having a good chin wag please get in touch. info@hptramway.co.uk
We are still taking donations for the Lakeside Depot extension.
So, it’s the School Holidays, and it seems like every now and again we are getting some nice weather here in Heaton Park. But what do you do when your children are bored??
You take them for a tram ride! Throughout August the Tramway and Shop will be open every Wednesday between 12 and 5pm. Sadly we can’t guarantee the Museum but we will do our best.
We can’t guarantee the weather either, but if it does rain you have the choice of either keeping dry on the tram, or keeping dry in the Shop. Whatever happens, we’ll always be happy to see you, so if you’re passing through the Park on a Wednesday in August, please come and say Hi!
623 enjoying the Sunshine! Photo courtesy of C E McClare
Today saw our very first day of operatin for 2019 here at the Heaton Park Tramway. With weather conditions varying from cold to warm and then back to cold again throughout the afternoon, it stayed dry enough for us to operate a full service through to 5pm, with both Hull 96 and Blackpool 623 in operation.
The Tramway is now open every Sunday until the 17th of November. Our Saturday opening runs from 4th May to 28th September, and we will be open on all Bank Holiday Mondays through to the end of August, with trams operating between 12 and 5pm every day.
Do keep an eye on the website for news of our Special Events, some additional Operating Dates to be announced, and advance information on some weekends in June when the Tramway will be CLOSED due to other events happening within Heaton Park.
623 and 96 pass outside the Shop. Photo courtesy of C E McClare.
Today saw the departure of 765 via a low-loader on its way to Beamish Museum.
We were hoping to track it all the way by using the wonders of modern technology, But…. Someone forgot to charge the battery… DOH!
It got as far as Hartshead Moor on the M62 before we lost communication with the tracker. Lesson learnt!
Today also saw 752 (1) in the sunlight for the first time this year, as she was towed by 96 from Lakeside depot to Middleton Road depot to allow for diagnostics on the electrics to be undertaken.
The Pilcher Pullman Cars – Built 1930-1932Product on sale£6.80
20cm x 60cm Blackpool Tramway Blinds – Standard 1940s£12.00
UK & Ireland Tram & Light Rail Systems£6.00
Manchester’s TramwaysProduct on sale£1.50
20cm x 60cm Blackpool Tramway Blinds – General Use – 1990s£12.00
Rochdale’s TramwaysProduct on sale£1.50
Tramways in StockportProduct on sale£1.50
20cm x 60cm Stockport 5 Replica Tramway Blinds£12.00
Heaton Park Tramway Ball Point Pen£3.00
