Crich Tramway Village reopens after emergency work

A national museum that celebrates Britain's vintage trams has reopened after being forced to close temporarily for safety reasons.

Crich Tramway Village in Derbyshire shut in May following an inspection from the Office of Rail and Road.

Museum general manager Mike Galer said emergency maintenance work had now been carried out on traction poles at the site.

The museum reopened to visitors on Saturday.

Dr Galer said: "We are regulated by the Office of Rail and Road, which are the same people who look after the national railways and tramways in the UK.

"So they were not happy with the condition of a couple of traction poles - the poles that hold up the tramway - so it was purely precautionary, they were doing their job and we have to listen to that.

"We had to do the work and we had to change our timetable significantly because we had been intending to do that work this winter."

He said Nottingham Express Transit (NET) provided the equipment that they needed to carry out the work.

"We have quite a close relationship with them as many of our volunteers are actually tram drivers for NET," Mr Galer added.

He said the unexpected closure combined with the pandemic had been a blow to the attraction's finances but "we're weathering the storm now and we hope to welcome everyone back".

The site reopened on Saturday and hosted a classic motorcycle event on Sunday.

"It was great to see so many people on Saturday and we had 400 bikers on Sunday plus all the other visitors who came to see them," Dr Galer added.

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