Almost 1500 people enjoyed another amazing and highly successful Vintage Tramway Festival on Sunday 23rd February. This year’s Festival marked the beginning of a year of celebrations for the Museum to mark two important milestones: the 75th anniversary of the preservation of the first Sydney tramcar – L/P Class 154 in 1950 – and the 60th anniversary of the start of tramway operations at
Loftus in early 1965.
The day saw crowds of people visiting our museum and enjoying tram rides to Sutherland and the Royal National Park, with all nine running trams seemingly packed to the rafters! Some highlights of the day included observing people walking into the Museum’s Display Halls and visibly gasping. We saw many young people being introduced to heritage electric trams for the first time and noticeably many more family groups than previous Festivals.
Then there were the special moments created by our volunteers; like getting at least part of our large HO Model Tramway working after many years of static display. We also achieved a long-term goal of fully concreted track right up Tramway Ave, for the first time since we opened at the new site in 1988. Especially poignant was seeing Australia’s oldest electric tram, C class No. 290 of 1896 standing adjacent to preserved SLR Vehicle 2107 of 1997, representing over 100 years of tramways in Sydney.
Special guests of honour were Dr Marjorie O’Neill, Member for Coogee and Parliamentary Secretary for Transport, and Maryanne Stuart, our local MP for Heathcote, who presented us with a Community Recognition Statement on behalf of the Minns NSW Government.
It was a proud moment also to see Members of other Tramway Museum groups from around Australia flying in to either give us a hand (all are also SPER Members and suitably trained and assessed) or to simply enjoy the day and take ideas back to their own Museums. A special thanks to our friends from Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Ballarat for giving us a hand. There was the camaraderie and sense of purpose among all the Members and Friends who volunteered on the day. Our combined efforts ensured that hundreds if not thousands of people are more aware of our museum; that our visitors loved visiting our museum, they went away happy and that they will come back in the future.
Special thanks to the many other volunteer groups who supported our day including the Sydney Bus Museum, Transport Heritage NSW, the MV Cape Don Society, Task Force 72 Scale Model Ship Association, the Penrith Museum of Printing, the Illawarra Light Railway Museum, the Model A Ford Car Club and the Engadine Scouts. Additionally, we were supported by two pop-up stores (‘Recycology’ and ‘Koolthingz’) along with our regular Coffee Van man.
We are now working towards next year’s Festival with even greater enthusiasm, as we mark 65 years since the closure of the first-generation Sydney tramways.
– David Critchley
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