Bottom deck of 488 reunited with wheels

Glasgow tram’s lower saloon is reunited with its truck, but a number of tasks are still to be completed at its East of England preservation era home.

THE bottom deck of Glasgow ‘Standard’ tram No. 488 has been lowered back onto its truck at the East Anglia Transport Museum (EATM) at Carlton Colville in Suffolk. The operation, which was carried out with the assistance of a hydraulic crane and a forklift truck, was completed in late October. One of 70 which formed the last batch of open-topped ‘Standards’ without canopies, the tram was built at Coplawhill Works in September 1903.

Preservation

No. 488 was shipped to France for preservation at the Saint-Mandé Museum in Paris following withdrawal in 1961, the upper and lower decks having been separated for the move. As no examples of original Paris double-deck trams survived, the Glasgow tram was acquired to fill the gap. When the collection had to be relocated, however, it was split again into upper and lower decks for storage.

Restoration

No. 488 was brought back to the UK in 2013 and is now in the ownership of EATM. The lower deck, which was restored at the Ffestiniog Railway was returned to Suffolk last year. Work on the upper deck is progressing at Carlton Colville, but much remains to be done, including the reattachment of the roof, which was taken off when it was dismantled in Glasgow in preparation for movement to France.