Nottingham Trams memorabilia donated to Crich
TRAM buffers and old signs have been donated by Nottingham Trams Limited, the operator of Nottingham Express Transit (NET), to Crich Tramway Village, home to the National Tramway Museum.
Nottingham Trams operations manager Trevor Stocker said that passing on the signage to Crich has also strengthened links between Nottingham's state-of-the-art tram network and the historic tramway.
“We've donated buffers that were originally installed at the Old Station Street tram stop, and these are now in operation at the Glory Mine end of the preserved tram line,” he said.
“The fact we have a number of employees volunteering at the museum in their spare time also reflects NET's commitment to preserving transport heritage while delivering the best possible service, both now and in the future.”
Ryan Breen, who works as a Nottingham Trams driver and is a volunteer at Crich, believed that some of the old signage could be useful in future exhibitions.
Modern memorabilia
“The majority of the museum's collection is from the first generation of tramways that almost all closed in the 1960s, and opportunities to preserve memorabilia from second-generation systems are, at the moment, very uncommon,” he explained.
The museum is now looking to feature the signs as part of a display to illustrate the history of trams in Nottingham, from the days of Nottingham Corporation Tramways to NET, filling a current gap in the history books.
The museum's new curator, Kate Watts, said: “It's important that the museum continues to tell the national story of tramways by collecting items relating to the current systems in use.”