Summerlee Heritage Park facts for kids
Summerlee Heritage Park is an industrial museum in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It has won several awards. It was built on the old Summerlee ironworks. It also uses the main workshop of the old Hyrdocon Crane factory.
The museum closed in 2006 for a £10Million refurbishment. It re-opened in 2008.
The old main hall has been re-built. The museum tries to show Lanarkshire's contribution to engineering. There are interactive displays and a children's "Discovery Zone".
The museum also displays several railway steam locomotives, preserved carriages from a 1960s era Glasgow "Blue Train" and has a short working tramline.
Tramway
In the late 1980s, the Summerlee Transport Group (STG) was formed, in order to support the maintenance and operation of the tramway. The original tramway used to terminate only 300 yards from the entrance at the timber shed, before the extension of the Gartsherrie Branch canal bridge and thence towards the Miners' Cottages. As continued tradition, the cars continued to halt at the timber shed before continuing over the bridge and around the bend; however, those tradition was discontinued in the late 2010s.
The tramway opened in 1988 and was the first operational tramway in Scotland for over a quarter of a century, following the closure of the Glasgow Corporation Tramway in 1962, and continued to be the only tramway in Scotland for twenty-six years until Edinburgh reopened its tramway in 2014, save from the Glasgow Garden Festival Tramway, which opened six weeks after the Summerlee Line.
Whilst the first two operational trams at Summerlee were continental cars - Brussels 9062 and Graz 225 - it has always been the intention to use traditional British cars, preferably with local connections, which is now being realized.
There was also an Oporto donor car at the site, which was never operational and purchased for spare parts.
| Original System | Car Number | Built | Date Acquired | Seats | Livery | Status | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lanarkshire Tramways Company | 53 | 1908 | 1995 | 59 | Green and white | Operational | Open-top double-decker |  |
| Düsseldorf | 392 | 1951 | 1999 | 10 | Cream | Operational | Wheelchair access tram from Germany |  |
| Glasgow Corporation Tramways (Ex. Paisley and District Tramways) | 1017 (Ex. Paisley 17) | 1904 | ? | 20 | Orange and cream | Operational | Single Decker (ex. Double Decker) - Glasgow "School" Car with raised floor. The raised floor promoted better visibility for trainee drivers receiving instruction from the motorman |  |
| Glasgow Corporation Tramways | 1245 | 1939 | 2002 | 64 | Orange, green and cream | Currently undergoing long-term restoration | Coronation Class Tram |
|
| Brussels Tramway Network | 9062 | 1959 | 1988 | unknown | Cream | Scrapped in 2004 after act of vandalism | First operation tram at Summerlee, and first operational tram in Scotland for 26 years. |  |
| Graz Tramway Network | 225 | 1949 | 1988 | unknown | Purple | Sold to the Brighton Tram 53 Society in 2010 | Restored to its former glory whilst at Summerlee, but later deemed surplus to requirements. After being left outside, it fell into disrepair again, and became a donor vehicle for Brighton Tram 53 |  |
Other pages
- Beamish Museum - an industrial museum in the North of England
- East Anglia Transport Museum
- Glasgow Museum of Transport
- National Tramway Museum
- The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft
