The Tramway Museum Society – Our 70th Birthday!

18th November 2025 marks 70 years since the first official meeting of the Tramway Museum Society, held at the Bakers’ Institute, Swan Street, Manchester, 18 November 1955.

The Tramway Museum Society has its origins in the Museum Committee of the Light Railway Transport League (LRTL) (now the Light Rail Transit Association). Since its formation in 1937, the LRTL had campaigned for the retention and modernisation of tramways in Britain. One of its activities was to run tours by special car on tramway systems throughout the country. One such tour took place in Southampton on 29 August 1948, following which LRTL members raised funds to purchase for preservation Southampton 45. At its Blackpool Convention in May 1949, the LRTL set up a separate Museum Committee, whose vision was for a working tramway museum, run by an enthusiast body. This laid the foundation for the later formation of the Tramway Museum Society in 1955.

In May 1955, the LRTL held a Convention at Blackpool. At Marton Depot, hidden away among the Corporation’s own cars, was Southampton 45 – the tramcar preserved by the LRTL in 1948. Already the idea of a separate Tramway Museum Society had been taking shape, and a ceremony was arranged in which Jay Fowler, representing the LRTL, drove 45 out of Marton Depot and handed the controller key to Major Charles Walker, representing the embryonic TMS, who then drove it back in again. This ceremony is always seen as the start of the TMS but it actually predated the formation of the Society by six months. Not until Friday 18 November 1955 was the inaugural TMS meeting held, in a small room at the Bakers’ Institute, Swan Street, Manchester. Sixteen people were present, plus two press representatives, and the constitution it adopted made it clear that the objective was to establish and maintain a working tramway museum.

At the meeting on 18 November 1955, Bob Parr took the chair in the absence of Charles Walker, whose appointment as chairman of the Society was confirmed. Other appointments were John Price as honorary secretary; Ralph Jackson, honorary treasurer; Geoff Hyde, honorary assistant treasurer; and as ordinary committee members Norman Forbes, George Hearse, Bob Parr, Keith Pearson, Cliff Taylor and Richard Wiseman. Shortly afterwards, Richard Wiseman became honorary assistant secretary. Others known to have been present were Jack Batty, W Gwynne Thomas, Basil Miller, Terence Goulding, Alan Ralphs and Dennis Gill.

Extract from TMS Newsletter No. 8, November 1958:

The first General Meeting of the Tramway Museum Society was held at the Bakers’ Institute, 56 Swan Street, Manchester at 7 p.m. on 18th November 1955. Sixteen members and two press representatives were present. In the absence of the (prospective) Chairman of the Society, Major C S N Walker, the chair was taken by Mr R B Parr, who read the following address from Major Walker.

“I am very sorry I cannot be with you for your opening meeting, but I find that the pressure of my work and other duties make this impossible. I hope, however, that despite my absence the Society will get off to a good start. “The tram in this country is in a peculiar position; not quite ancient enough to be called an antique and so earning place in a museum, but unfortunately so rapidly disappearing from our streets that a generation is growing up who have never known them, let alone ride in them. It behoves us, therefore, to preserve what we have got for posterity. At a later date we may get support from official sources, but we must not count on this, as this country is not as transport minded as are some continental countries. Till then we have a duty to perform. “Tram cars are very bulky and are therefore costly to move and store, so it is essential to make every endeavour to attract as many subscribers as we possibly can, for until we have some money we cannot show the cars as they should be shown, and until they are shown we cannot expect much, if any, support from the outside public.

“Much hard work has already been done, but more still remains to be done. You will hear what the Museum Committee has done so far and most grateful thanks are extended to those who have put in so much time and work, and to those who have been so patient over outstanding debts. Let us now try all we can to increase this faithful band so that the cars we have may once again be shown as they were in their heyday.”

Mr J H Price read a full report on tramway museum activities by the LRTL during the past seven years, commencing with the acquisition of Southampton No. 45 in 1948 and the formation of a Museum Committee in 1949. Mr Price pointed out that with the exception of Southampton No. 45, the acquisition of which was fully covered by donations, each car had been financed mostly by loans from individual members of the LRTL Museum Committee, who had been partly repaid from donations received. The vehicles owned are Southampton open-top car No. 45, Newcastle bogie car No. 102, Cardiff water car No. 131, Douglas Head Marine Drive open-top car No. 1, Leeds No. 446 totally-enclosed ex-Hull car, Liverpool single deck trailer car No. 429, the remains of Liverpool Bellamy car No. 558, a Peckham Cantilever truck, a Brill 21E swing-link truck, towing lorry EN4501 and two road trailers.

It was not until several years later in 1959 that the site at Crich was found to establish the desired working tramway museum.

Here we have a personal recollection from one of our members, John Senior, who was present at that first meeting in 1955 as Founder Member No. 9:

“Looking at the calendar recently I recalled that 70 years ago I left work one evening as a teenage apprentice – Friday 18th November 1955 – in Hulme, Manchester, and met up with Geoff Hyde and Dennis Gill to travel across the city to the Baker’s Institute in Swan Street, Shudehill, near Smithfield market, where a group of like-minded people were gathering to form what would be the Tramway Museum Society, an offshoot of the Light Railway Transport League.

It seemed strange – it still does – that we were meeting in November to set up the Society when back in May of that year Jay Fowler, the LRTL Founder, had driven Southampton 45 out of Marton depot in Blackpool, and in a ceremonial gesture handed the controller key to Charles Walker, the Chairman-designate of the yet-to-be TMS, to drive the car back into the depot, marking the transfer of assets of the LRTL Museum Committee to this offshoot which would be dedicated to saving – and possibly one day running – a selection of British tramcars and memorabilia connected to them.

I knew Dennis and Geoff from the monthly meetings of the LRTL at the ‘Briton’s Protection’ pub in Manchester on the last Thursday of each month – Dennis was the Area Organiser. I had joined the LRTL the previous Autumn and was aware of the two quite different groups within the meetings – the pro-modern tramways people promoting light rail as in use on the continent and elsewhere, and those traditionalists who wished to preserve some of the remaining old examples of the former systems. Having seen examples of the craftsmanship that had gone into to creating the bodywork of the old trams – especially the woodwork and paint schemes – my sympathies were with the latter.

We gathered in the Meeting Hall, a small cinema-like room with seats sloping down from the back to the stage/platform at the front. I knew a few people there, mainly from the Manchester or Lancashire area.  They seemed to me to represent the nucleus of the movement which was apparently being led by Ralph Jackson who worked for ICI Crumpsal. (In recognition of his dedication and determination when the Membership numbers were allocated Ralph was duly given the number 1.)  Of the people I did not know I later found out that they gave a good indication of the widespread interest in tramway preservation, coming from Sheffield, Liverpool, the Fylde, the North East, Hampshire, Leeds, London and elsewhere.

Taking the Chair for the evening was Bob Parr, who I knew from his sales of photographs at the monthly meetings, standing in for Charles Walker who sent his good wishes and apologies. The actual proceedings were handled by John Price, the Editor of Cook’s Continental Timetable. JHP as he was usually referred to was a dynamic individual clearly at home in such circumstances, and with his guidance and observations from the assembly the TMS Constitution was created. When this was complete and approved by unanimous vote the Society was pronounced duly in being and we moved to pay our entry fees. Dennis moved swiftly to be near the head of the queue and I followed. He became number 8, whilst I became number 9, the number I have held for 70 years.

In the early years at Crich I was active as the first Editor of the Journal, a regular worker on site, one of the first passed out drivers (by Vic Matterface from Leeds City Transport), a Director of the Crich Tramway Company, and with Carolyn my wife and colleague Vic Chatburn we were responsible for the operation of the Sheffield horse car in 1963. A career move took me to Windsor in 1965 and when we returned ‘up north’ in 1972 Crich and the TMS had grown into something very different. Many more trams, new buildings, new people, but above all the need to comply with all sorts of new legislation. It was a different world and I no longer had the time to be able to retrain first as a conductor and then as a driver to offer my services. I retained my interest and have regularly taken friends and arranged family celebrations at the Museum. With Ian Stewart I produced the Stock Book and was pleased when Karen Rigg brought Leon Daniels to meet me before the launch of LCC Bluebird number 1.

Many happy memories, though sadly most of my friends and contemporaries have passed away, most recently of course Geoffrey Claydon.

References & Acknowledgements:

Some of the above text is extracted from the ‘Tramway Museum Story’, published by The Tramway Museum Society in 2005 to mark our 50th anniversary.

Thanks to John Senior (Founder Member No. 9) for providing his personal recollection.

Photos taken by W G S Hyde provided courtesy of Steve Hyde.

To find out more about the history of the LRTL, see: History – The Light Rail Transit Association

To find out more about the history of the Tramway Museum Society, see: https://tramwaymuseumsociety.co.uk/our-story/