by Mark Found

I don't know what it is about me sometimes, I've been yearning to go to Crich for years, but never actually bothered. It's not even that it's out of the way somewhere - I live in Saffron Walden and my relatives live in Manchester, so it's practically on the way past, Still, when Discovery Channel said "where do you want to go, and you can choose anywhere?" it was the first place I said.

My love affair with trams dates back to the early(ish) sixties, when I used to go and stay with my nan in Lytham. Occasionally we'd go to Cleveleys to see my great aunt Kitty, and that meant - trams! A walk to Starr Gate, then a tram the whole way, and, with a bit of luck, upstairs on a balloon sat at the front. I can't remember an awful lot from that period, I was only four or five, but I can remember every inch of the journey.

Until recently that would be your lot, tramwise. One either traipsed up to Blackpool (which I did), or made do with books, which is never quite the same thing.

Naturally the youth of today are spoilt and there seem to be new tramlines popping up all over the place - but I don't know that the new trams really do it for me, there are no double deckers for a start. Still, who am I to whinge? Trams are a brilliant way of moving people, it's nice to see them back, and my pulse still quickens when I see rails in a road.

Now then, the Crich Tramway Village. Let me first of all say that even if you're not the slightest bit interested in trams this is a brilliant place to go. If you are into trams, and another member of the family isn't, take them with you. You will both have a marvellous time. The Crich Tramway Village is my favourite place I've been to, I can't wait to go back and when I retire I want to work there as a volunteer.

Is it possible to endorse a place too much? Whatever. We arrived there early in the morning before it opened not really knowing what to expect. I knew that the museum is built on the site of an old quarry and that it's up in the Derbyshire hills, and that can conjure up some pretty weird images in one's mind. We parked in the car park, where one can see hills and the tops of trolley poles indicating a line deep in a cutting, and then strolled down past the entrance.

Well, blow me, if there isn't a complete street scene down there. Amazing! It's all cobbles and shops and a pub. We ambled along and spotted some guys working on a new building and one of them came over to help and gave us an impromptu guided tour.

On the subject of tours, the museum gave us the company of Alan for the day. This is one of the benefits of hanging around with a film crew - we asked the poor guy every conceivable question that you can think of asking about trams, and he seemed willing to keep answering them. And we got him to show us everything, even if the exhibit happened to be closed. Just great.

The restored trams are absolutely beautiful, if there was some sort of restoration award I'm sure the guys in the workshops at Crich would win it. It's certainly true that they just don't make 'em like that anymore. Wonderful details, extravagant woodwork, lovely colours.

The desire of the old local boroughs to show off to each other by making their tramcars as nice as they possibly could has left us a wonderful legacy, and it's congratulations to all Crich for creating an absolutely wonderful museum.

Many thanks to Alan for putting up with us and Cara for making it all happen.

Trainspotting.links (will open in a new window)

Blackpool Trams
not a bad site at all. Nice history section.
Trams & Model Trams
this is the home to the Tramway and Light Rail Society. Everything you need to know about the subject. And then a bit more.
Crich Tramway Village
well, it is their home site, and jolly nice it is too. Book: If you stumble across it, buy it. "The Golden Years of British Trams" written by Colin Garratt using the photographs of Henry Priestley. Published by Milepost it's a must (trust me) if you like trams.