100-year-old tram back on track at Black Country Living Museum
A 100-year-old tram that was once used as a garden shed is back on the tracks at The Black Country Living Museum after a major fundraising project.
Tram 5 is now operating at the popular attraction after all a £75,000 overhaul - and will be running all this week between 11am and 3pm.
The single-decker tram was built in 1920 in Tividale, at the works of the Electric Traction Company and operated in the Dudley and Stourbridge area.
Thirty-one trams of this design were constructed at the Tividale works and Tram 5 is one of only a handful that survives.
In the 1970s, Tram 5 was discovered in a garden in the Kate’s Hill area where it was used as a shed and garden house.
It was donated to the Black Country Living Museum in 1974 and, after a lengthy restoration, started operating at the museum in 1980.
A statement posted on the site's Facebook page on Monday, said: "After lots of TLC and hard work our nearly 100 year old Tram 5 is back in service. Once operating in Dudley and Stourbridge in the 1920s, she’s now ready to take you around the Museum and back in time.
"A huge thank you to everyone who donated to this project, you've kept this piece of Black Country history running for generations to come."
In recent months Tram 5 has been located at Llangollen Railway in Wales where it was undergoing vital conservation work.
Funders behind the project have been Black Country Museum Transport Group, The Owen Family Trust, Friends of Black Country Museum, Clive & Sylvia Richards Charity and The Geoff Hill Charitable Trust.
Trams disappeared from the Dudley townscape in the 1930s.
