Former Bournemouth Corporation open-top trolleybus No. 202. Seen at the East Anglia Transport Museum, summer 2006. In the background is the rear of former Solingen, Germany trolleybus No. 1.
The East Anglia Transport Museum is an open-air transport museum, with numerous historic public transport vehicles (including many in full working order). It is located in Carlton Colville a suburb of Lowestoft, Suffolk. It is the only museum in the country where visitors can ride on buses, trams and trolleybuses, as well as a narrow-gauge railway.[1]
History
The museum was founded on its present site at Carlton Colville in 1965, following the rescue in 1962 by four enthusiasts of the body of an old Lowestoft tram (number 14),[2] which had been used for a number of years as a summerhouse. The site was formerly a meadow, donated by the founder and first chairman of the Museum Society, Albert Bird. The first buildings on the site were constructed in 1966, and the museum opened to the public on 28 May 1972.[3] Full tram and trolleybus operations began in 1981, following the construction of a suitable roadway.
The Museum's narrow-gauge railway, known as the East Suffolk Light Railway, opened in 1973. It was some 300 yards (270 m) long, running along the northern edge of the site, and the 2 ft (610 mm)-gauge track was constructed from materials obtained from a sand quarry at Leziate, from Canvey Island, and from the Southwold Railway. Signals were obtained from several locations in the vicinity. The museum also owns a van body which once ran on the Southwold Railway.[4]
In 2016, the museum acquired some land adjacent to the main site. Waveney District Council granted planning permission for the museum to extend its site, as the museum was beneficial to the local economy. The plan was to lengthen the tramway, the trolleybus route and the narrow gauge railway, and to nearly double the site area, at an estimated cost of one million pounds. A new exhibition hall was to be built devoted to Eastern Coach Works, a major builder of bus and train bodywork in nearby Lowestoft until it closed in 1987.[5] A new tram depot and trolleybus depot were to be built. Twenty vehicles in store at Ellough near Beccles were to be moved to the Carlton Colville site where they could be viewed.[6]
The East Suffolk Light Railway, which originally terminated near the woodland tramway, was first extended, including construction of a flat crossing to allow the trains to pass over the tramway.[7] In April 2023 the tram depot opened, with space for six tramcars, three in each lane. It accommodated the top deck of Glasgow 488, Brush cars 625 and 627, Double-deck Streamliner 726 and a stamping point for the museum's stamp trail.
Exhibits
The museum has many exhibits ranging from a 1904 Lowestoft Corporation tram to a 1985 Sinclair C5. Tram rides are available on a route passing the museum's trolleybus depot and up to a terminus at Woodside. Originally, the trolleybus route extended as far as the trolleybus depot where passengers could change for a ride on the museum's 2 ft gauge railway to Chapel Road (the other end of the tram route), or they could stay on the trolleybus whilst it performed a 3-point turn and returned to the museum entrance via the same route.
A muddy field was tarmacadammed as the Back Road, and renamed as Herting Street, after the donor who supported these works. On 12 July 2008 a loop created along the Back Road, linking in with the existing overhead wiring near the museum's entrance, opened, Britain's first trolleybus extension for many decades.
Exhibits include No. 1521, the last trolleybus to operate under its own power in London, which had had the world's largest trolleybus network. It was one of a batch of 150 L3 class vehicles built on chassis made by Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Metro Cammell Weymann in 1939–40, and made its last journey in the evening of 8 May 1962.[8][9]
There are four locomotives which operate on the 2 ft (610 mm) gauge East Suffolk Light Railway.[11] All of them have four-wheel chassis, with diesel engines and mechanical transmission. One was made by Ruston and Hornsby of Lincoln and three were made by Motor Rail of Bedford. The frames of a fourth Motor Rail locomotive were used to form the chassis of a brakevan.[12]
