Heritage Visit: Beamish Museum

I end my wanderings around the North East of England with a visit to the Beamish Outdoor Museum in County Durham, featuring rides on preserved trams and buses in a recreated traditional northern town and pit village setting.

Visitors enter the museum site through an entrance arch formed by a steam hammer. These were developed in the 19th Century for tasks such as shaping forgings and driving piles.

Local buses drive through this down the hill to the Main Entrance during opening hours.

Background

Beamish is an open-air “living” museum in County Durham, with the guiding aim being to preserve and portray urban and rural life as it was in North East England at the culmination of the Industrial Revolution, much of the restoration being specific to the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

Covering an area of 350 acres and set in a basin-shaped steep-sided valley, it uses a mixture of original, relocated and replica buildings, together with associated artefacts, working vehicles and equipment, as well as livestock and costumed interpreters.

It first opened to visitors in 1972 and has been gradually added to and improved over subsequent years.

A “Chaldron Wagon” stands outside the main entrance to the museum. These were used to transport coal from the earliest days of railways in the 19th Century.

The long brake lever seen poking out on the left was for control when running down slopes by gravity.

Overview of the Site

The Main Entrance Building includes all necessary facilities, together with an exhibition explaining the history and other aspects of the site, plus a souvenir shop.

Passing through this, the visitor reaches the roadway, tramway and footpath which encircles the site. The “Town” on the opposite side of the site is a 15-20 min walk from the entrance, but many prefer to ride on the preserved trams or vintage buses instead.

In addition, visitors can take rides on the Town Railway and Pockerley Waggonway when operating, although these start and finish in the same platforms.

Apart from this, the main sites of interest are a 1900s / 1950s Town, a 1900s Colliery / Pit Village, 1940s / 1950s Farm and the 1820s Pockerley Old Hall. The Tram and Bus Depots can also be visited.

Map of the Beamish Museum site displayed inside the Entrance Building.

The large site covers some 350 acres and is situated in a basin-shaped valley with woodland areas, farmland, recreated towns and a colliery / pit village. Transport is provided by a circular tramway and road 1.5 miles long using preserved vehicles.

Tramway

Preserved Trams operate on a circular route in both directions around the site, with stops at the Main Entrance (south), Foulbridge / Home Farm (west), Town (north) and Pockerley (east). The complete loop takes around 15 mins to ride. The track is mainly single track with passing loops at the stops. The infrastructure is mainly relocated from genuine North East tramway locations.

Between 4 and 6 trams are usually available for operation, with 3 out on the day I visited. Others are undergoing restoration in the Tram Depot at Foulbridge.

I began with an anticlockwise circuit of the site to get my bearings aboard beautifully restored Sunderland Corporation car no 16, taking a seat at the front on the top deck. Unwary visitors unfamiliar with trams of this generation seemed puzzled by the reversible wooden seats and I had to demonstrate a couple of times how they could face forwards in the direction of travel! The driver and conductor were attired in suitable period costume, as were the other tram crews I saw.

Departing from the Main Entrance, we set off down hill through the woods and into an area of open farmland, stopping at Pockerley, where we passed another tram going in the opposite direction. Then on up to the Town, passing firstly the 1950s area with cinema, hairdressers and other period shops, before turning the corner to the 1900s section which depicts mainly Victorian buildings in a 1913 setting. As we paused at the Town stop to cross over with another tram, I was able to admire the various shops, pub, terraced houses and small park, all of which are open to visitors.

After leaving the Town, we continued onto the single track section past the Railway Station and Fairground, following a winding course through farmland up to Foulbridge. This is the stop for the 1940s Farm and enabled a good view of the Tram Depot and Bus Garage. Below us, down a steep road, was the Pit Village and Colliery, served only by bus.

Finally, after awaiting for another tram to pass us, we completed the circuit back to the Main Entrance through a short wooded section. A great ride!

Sunderland Corporation Tramcar no 16 calls at the Museum Entrance before embarking on an anticlockwise circuit of the site.

Built as open-top in 1900, it was fitted with a roof after the First World War. Withdrawn in 1954, it survived in various guises until rescued for restoration by the museum in 1989.

The top deck interior of Sunderland Tramcar No 16 at the Town stop during my circuit aboard.

Modern day users seemed fascinated by the reversible wooden seating!

Second Circuit

For my next tram ride, I opted for a clockwise circuit, again commencing at the Main Entrance. This time, I started off aboard Sheffield Corporation car 264, an unusual example restored with open balconies at each end on the upper deck. Proceeding back to Foulbridge, I continued on the Town stop, where I broke the journey and alighted for a brief wander around to explore.

After this, I caught a later tram, this being Blackpool Tramcar 31, an open top example. Continuing past the 1950s Town and through the open country to Pockerley, I ended with an uphill ride back to the Main Entrance.

All the trams I rode were extremely popular with visitors and well-filled, as the day progressed long queues began to develop, so I was lucky to arrive early!

Sheffield Corporation Tramcar 264 calls at the 1900s Town stop, with the “Tramway & Omnibus Waiting Room” just visible behind. To the left, the Jubilee Confectioners is a restored traditional sweet shop and appears to be drawing a crowd.

Built in 1907 and withdrawn from service in 1956, the car has been restored to its 1920s condition with open balconies on the upper deck.

Blackpool Tramcar 31 dates from 1901 and, despite being later converted to covered top, has been restored to its original open top condition. It is seen approaching the Bus & Tram Depot stop above the Pit Village and is crossing from the single track section onto the passing loop.

The car remained in use at Blackpool until the 1980s, latterly as a engineering overhead inspection car, but was subsequently restored at Beamish.

Buses

There are a variety of preserved and replica buses at Beamish, housed in the Northern General Transport Bus Depot, which can hold up to 8 vehicles.

These include a couple of 1910s replica buses - a London B type in Newcastle Corporation livery and a Northern General Daimler. The latter was out to play when I visited, so I mounted the platform and up the steep winding stairs to the open top deck for a spin. The bus route follows the anticlockwise circuit of the trams from the Main Entrance, with the conductor informing me that each vehicle was operating on approximately a 20 min frequency. A sedate run followed (maximum 12mph!), taking the roadway beside the tram tracks for most of the way - via Pockerley, Town and on to Foulbridge - except that when we arrived at the latter, we made a detour down to the Pit Village, this being the only bus to do so.

Alighting at the last stop, I had a convenient 20 mins or so to admire the colliery with its winding house and its adjacent railway workings, together with a quick look at the Pit Village that features period miners cottages, school, chapel and shops which can be entered. Much of the equipment here was relocated from nearby mines after closure.

When the Daimler returned, I reboarded for the short trip back up the hill to Foulbridge, before completing the circular route to the Main Entrance.

Whilst I didn’t have time for further rides, I did take a close look at the other two buses in service that day - a Rawtenstall Corporation Leyland Titan PD2 and a Rotherham Corporation CVG6, both 1950s vehicles and nicely restored.

Not quite what it seems!

This is a 1980s built replica of a 1910s Daimler CC motorbus, seen arriving at the Pit Village terminus with crew in period attire, before I rode it back to the Museum Main Entrance.

The vehicle is based on those purchased to extend the Gateshead Tramway network beyond their terminals. Originally equipped with solid tyres, these have now been replaced with more comfortable-riding but less authentic pneumatic tyres!

Former Rawntenstall Corporation Leyland Titan PD2/12 no 18 of 1953 is in Scout of Preston livery and is seen approaching the Museum Entrance.

The conductor stands on the platform in classic pose.

1954 Daimler CVG6, no 220, of Rotherham Corporation stands at the Main Entrance Bus Stop.

This , together with Darlington Corporation CVG5 no 4 of 1964, were purchased as exhibits to fit in with the development of the 1950s Town on the Beamish site.

The reconstructed colliery represents the coal mining industry which used to dominate the area, the museum site being situated in the former Durham coalfield.

Note the brick winding engine house and red painted winding gear, which came from local mines, with railway wagons to the left. The reconstructed 1900s town is in the far distance.

Railway Heritage

In addition to the railway sidings adjoining the colliery, with traditional coal wagons, there is a reconstructed station named Rowley depicting a small passenger and goods facility operated by the North Eastern Railway (NER). There is a short running line through a cutting around the side of the Town, but passenger rides were not operating on the day I visited.

The station building dates from 1873 and was in a state of disrepair after its original line closed in the 1960s until the museum acquired it and relocated it here some years later. The signal box is an 1896 structure relocated from Carrhouse near Consett. There is a goods shed originally from Alnwick and a coal yard. At the rear is a large building entitled “Beamish Waggon and Iron Works Established 1857", used to service and store the locomotives and stock used on the railway.

Finally, close to Pockerley Old Hall dating from the 1700s, with its estate presented as that of a well-off tenant farmer in late Georgian times, is the Pockerley Waggonway. This represents the year 1825, when the Stockton & Darlington Railway opened, which is being celebrated this year as the 200th Anniversary of Railways in the UK (and indeed the world). The Great Shed is based on Timothy Hackworth’s erecting shop and houses the locomotives and stock, which visitors can ride when operating over a short section of track from a single adjacent platform, but which was not in service when I was there.

Rowley Station depicts a North Eastern Railway passenger and goods facility in the region during the early 20th Century. There is 1/4 mile of track over which passenger rides are sometimes given.

Both the station building and signal box were relocated here from their original sites nearby.

Conclusion

I enjoyed my visit to the Beamish Museum, which is highly recommended. The Adult Entry Fee of £33 is expensive but allows unlimited return visits within 1 year.

Future developments include expansion of the 1950s Town with a period Bus Station, which the relevant buses will be diverted to serve together with a proposed Trolleybus route. The museum already has a working preserved Newcastle Sunbeam S7 Trolleybus from 1948.