A diehard group of Manchester Local Guides met on a good-weather Saturday (May 28th 2022) to explore the Museum of Transport, Manchester (located here)
We started at 11am, although @deadmanjones and @ZoeOooe had arrived somewhat earlier and done their own exploration of the surrounding area of Manchester - which they were unfamiliar with - and found it very interesting. @TimBull , and his two sons, @Maria68 and her husband Anthony, @George Devine and myself @PeteMHW met them, and together we went into the museum. Unfortunately. due to a date mix-up @NamureEhad been unable to join us for the main group, although he had been the week before and also found the museum interesting. His excellent photos are also in the photo album here. @AdrianLunsong was able to join us remotely for a short time, and it was nice to re-make a connection.
The museum itself is a section of the large Manchester Transport Bus Depot, apparently still in modern day use. Established over thirty years ago, it is largely run on donations, and by volunteers. It is a collection of public transport vehicles that have run in what is now Greater Manchester over the last 150 years- from horse drawn omnibuses to modern day trams. There is also lots of public transport memorabilia - signage, tickets, coinage, uniforms and much more. Some of the vehicles are fully functioning and occasionally get an airing on public roads and at events. They are maintained by a small army of volunteers. Volunteers - who were extremely knowledgeable and interesting - were also available throughout the visit. Several of us took the opportunity to talk to them. Many nostalgic memories were stirred.
There is also a very accessible cafe of which several of us availed ourselves.
The next stage of the day was to catch modern-day public transport (the tram) to Heaton Park tram stop. Lunch was taken together at The Goods In. The eatery has the feel of a pop-up - and looks unpromising from the almost miss-able entrance but once in side, despite a slight mix up with orders, offered very good service, and good food at a reasonable price and a great atmosphere. They were very accommodating. The Google Reviews give a good idea about a good place.
A brief walk through Heaton Park, (and a stop for an ice cream at the lakeside!) led us to Heaton Park Tramway This is a heritage tramway, running a couple of trams, partly on original tramtrack, but largely on purpose built track through Heaton Park over about 0.75 miles. A short, but interesting ride on the heritage tram, with an interim stop to look at the Heritage Tramway Museum, brought the end of the official MeetUp.
I think all of us enjoyed the day, and meeting each other again, The purpose of the MeetUp, as well as enjoying one another’s company, was to take photos - and you can see a great selection from the day in the photo album here. Thank you to all the contributors to this photowalk album.
If you are local to Manchester or its hinterland, or find yourself in the North West of England, we would love to have you join with us for one of our MeetUps. Search Connect for #ManchesterLG every so often to keep abreast of what we are doing!
So it was fun to see in the album that there were even horse-drawn double-deckers in the past!