Ride Britain’s sole surviving horse-drawn tram

Visitors to a museum will be able to ride on the only surviving horse-drawn tram next month.

The Manchester Eades Reversible horse tram L53 (pictured right) is being loaned to the Beamish Museum in County Durham for its Power From The Past four-day transport event. Visitors will be able to ride on it during the first two days of the event.

It is being offered by the Manchester Transport Museum Society for the first time since the completion of restoration last year and will be pulled by pairs of horses from the museum’s own working farm.

L53 is unique among surviving trams in that it uses the horses’ own power to turn the body of the tram round on its underframe when reaching the end of the tracks.

A team of volunteers took 25 years to restore the tram, which was designed in 1877, and after it stopped being used for public transport was reborn as a hairdressing salon and fish and chip shop, among other things.

The Manchester Transport Museum Society chairman Robert Hill said: “This is a great opportunity for us to enjoy the fruits of our labours and see the tram operating in a period setting among the streets and buildings of an authentic Edwardian village and for everyone to experience horse tram travel as our grandparents did.”

The Power From The Past event takes place from 28-31 May.

http://mtms.tjhyde.co.uk/

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