In 1951 the Gateshead Tramway system closed, and so the large and well maintained fleet of crimson and cream tramcars became redundant.  

For some, however, there was an extension to their working lives, as British Railways purchased 18 of the 1920s built single deck bogie cars for use on the Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway, to supplement the indigenous fleet of Great Central Railway built tramcars there.  Gateshead 10 was duly refurbished and became British Railways No.26.  In 1961 the system was closed and once again this tram faced scrapping.  

However, the British Transport Commission selected Gateshead 10/BR 26 for preservation and it was duly moved to the BTC store at Clay Cross in Derbyshire where it was stored outside and occasionally photographed by enthusiasts.  In 1968 the tram was taken under the wing of the Northern Tramcar Sponsors and moved to the Templetown works of the Consett Iron Company for overhaul.  Here it was restored to its Gateshead appearance and was renumbered ‘10’.

In 1973 it moved again, this time to the new tramway at Beamish Museum, where it has operated ever since, missing only two seasons of operation.  It is now fully owned by the Museum and, with the 40th anniversary of the tramway looming in 2013, it has been decided to do something rather special with this tram.

It is intended to repaint Gateshead 10 into its British Railways guise as No.26 in time for an appearance at this year’s ‘Power from the Past’ event from 30th August to 2nd September.  It will then retain and operate in its green livery until the spring of 2013 when it will be fully repainted back into Gateshead livery in time for the celebrations to start in April.  

We are looking for contributions to support the repaint into green, with a target to raise of £2500 to cover the costs of this work.  The roof boards will be removed and it an original electric light is believed to still exist, enabling a faithful reproduction of its 1951 – 1961 appearance.  

Anecdotal evidence suggests that there is much support amongst enthusiasts for this repaint and we are hoping that the target for funding can be met through this appeal (any surplus would be rolled over towards the Gateshead livery reapplication in 2013).