The short steering arm on the Faller Ford Transit axle fitted to the Electric Van has been replaced with the longer one from a Faller lorry.

It has also received an additional Neodymium magnet, on top of the Faller magnet, which should improve its ability to follow the magnetic strip.

The first article entitled 'Heritage transport at Beamish' was published this month in the June issue of Railway Modeller and can be read here.

Two trams, one as a replacement and the other an addition, were delivered to the Beamish Exhibition.

The additional tram is Blackpool & Fleetwood Box No. 40 which is on loan from Alan Kirkman.

The second tram is Gateshead No.10, which replaced Grimsby & Immingham No.26. This tram has been returned to its owner after an extended period on loan.

As there are few signs of Gateshead No.10 returning to service at Beamish any time soon, it has been painted in the livery it carried up to 2012 before it became G. & I. No.26. This tram also runs on Foxwood Park.

The faulty bus stop servo motor has been replaced but that raised a problem with the controller board which was working both motors but now is only working one.

A new servo controller board was purchased and the faulty one is now a single servo motor controller and is on hand should one be needed.

Beamish was exhibited at the very busy Totally Models event which was held in Rigby Road Depot, Blackpool on June 23/24th.

On Saturday a Blackpool day was in operation with visiting trams Nos.147, 233, 280 and 703 (as Sunderland No.101) in operation with Beamish resident No.31.

Grimsby and Immingham No.26, Sunderland No.100 and Newcastle No.102 also made appearances early in the day.

Sunday was a 4-Wheel trams day with Nos,16, 114, 196 and 264 in service along with visiting trams Leeds No.6 and Lytham St Annes No.33, shown here passing No.114 at the Town stop outside the Bank.

Unfortunately the buses could not be run as one of the bus stop servo motors had failed with stripped gears and will be replaced when the new one arrives.

The Electric Van transfers have arrived, been fitted and varnished so it is now finished and ready to run.

Construction of the Van has been added to the end of the 'Building the Buses' page which has now been changed to Building the Road Vehicles.

My thanks must go to Phil Tombs, a fellow modeller who builds Faller type vehicles, for turning some wheels from Acetal to fit the Corgi 9 mm rear tyres.

The Electric Van has been painted in 'Beamish Tramways' livery using Humbrol enamels Crimson No 20 and Ivory No 41 with green material used for the rear curtain.

The transfers from a ribbon printer have been ordered and number plates have been printed on self adhesive photo paper.

When the transfers arrive they and the number plates will be fitted and the van will be varnished to protect them.

The Electric Van chassis is finished with the front axle, motor and rear wheels fitted.

The bottom of the rear wheel arches had to be cut away to allow adequate clearance for the larger tyres.

It has been test run so now there are just the painting, addition of transfers and number plates left to complete.

The road surface round the Town corners has been lifted and the new route for the bus magnetic tape roughly drawn. It wasn't easy drawing any sort of line under the overhead.

The new slot was made, the magnetic tape moved and extended with the short piece left when it was originally laid.

This was the only section of magnetic tape which was laid the right way up so up till now had not been lifted.

The old slot was filled, the road surface replaced and all the figures dislodged when the work was being done were glued back in place.

The paving at the end of the photographers has been finished while the 'Venture' bus is following the new route of the magnetic tape and yes, it does now clear the corners.

The last vehicle to be motorised, for the time being, is the 1954 Beamish Tramways Electric Van.

The chassis was built by Smith Electric Vehicles Ltd. of Gateshead and the body by Northern Coachbuilders Ltd. of Newcastle for Newcastle General Hospital.

A Classix Co-operative Bakery NCB Electric Van was chosen to be modified, motorised and repainted.

Unlike the buses, which all have a scratch built chassis, the van will use the existing chassis modified with a hole cut for the motor and a slot for the on/off switch.

An additional upper chassis was made from 1½ mm black plastic card and has the N battery box, on / off switch and reed switch attached to it.

The near side of the chassis shows the reed switch, between the main and upper chassis, and inclined as it was the only way it would fit.

It will be fitted with Faller Mercedes Sprinter front axle and steering parts. The part numbers are 163001 (front axle), 163206 (2 steering arms) supplied by DCC Train Automation.

Some 9mm Corgi replacement tyres have been found for the rear of the van and a source for the wheels has also been found.

The off side of the chassis showing the on / off switch and there is just enough room for the N battery box on the top.

The N size battery appears to be a bit too large but it just fits the available space and has been used so all the road vehicles use the same size.

Because of the smaller wheels, and to keep the road speed near to that of the buses, it will be fitted with a 48:1 ratio final drive instead of the usual 64:1 ratio.

As the Beamish van has sliding side doors on both sides and a canvas rear curtain, the side and rear door ribs were filed off as they were in the wrong place.

The paint was stripped by immersing the body overnight in a small tub of standard cellulose thinners. It takes longer to work than Nitromors but is a lot less unpleasant to use.

Two plastic card doors were fitted before it was sprayed with white primer ready to be painted crimson and ivory.

Now that the 'Venture' bus has got its passengers the Edwardian bus fleet is complete but other Beamish vehicles may follow.

Beamish bought two Leyland Cub buses for restoration to replace the current accessible bus so two Little Bus Company resin Cub kits were bought to be assembled as models of the restored Beamish Cubs.

However the restoration of the two Beamish buses seems to have stalled so the kits have been sold and the current 'Venture' accessible bus model was built instead.

The 'Venture' bus has a longer wheelbase than the 'Northern' and 'Newcastle Corporation' buses and, as the magnetic strip was laid when all the buses were expected to have the shorter wheelbase, it is currently unable to negotiate the corners in the Town.

Before its next exhibition appearance at Totally Models in Blackpool next year the magnetic strip will be moved further away from the kerbs and nearer to the inner tram track so all three buses should be running.

The 'Venture' chassis is longer and wider than those made for the other buses and was made from 1.5mm black plastic card in two pieces. These were glued on to the ends and sides of the N battery holder.

As there was more room inside the body this chassis was fitted with an encapsulated reed switch rather than the open ones fitted to the other buses.

The buses now have automatic control using an IRDOT-2D (Infra red detection with delay) from Heathcote Electronics fitted between the rails of the inside track in front of the Co-op.

When a tram passes over, it activates the servo motors which move the magnets away so all of the buses move up to the next stop.

As the standard 5 second delay was too long, the IRDOT-2D was modified to give an adjustable delay with the 1M delay resistor replaced by a 1M potentiometer and a 10K resistor in series on a piece of stripboard. This was done to Heathcote Electronics suggestion.

The unused body from the first build of the 'Newcastle' bus has found a new use, as a horse bus.

Wheels from Langley Models were used along with some plastic card, plastic sections and 1/16" brass rod for the axles,

It is displayed with two Shire horses, from Dart Castings, being readied for service on the street at the end of the Co-op.

When Alan Kirkman delivered two trams that he had been repairing to the exhibition at Shildon, he took some photos which are used here with his blessings.

A drone style view of Redman Park on a sunny summer day with the bus queue cleared by the open topped Northern bus which is ready to leave.

The Beamish Town street viewed from as near as possible to the top floor of the Bank with Sunderland No.101 (Blackpool No.703) at the Bank stop and Blackpool No.147 heading for the Park stop in the distance.

During June the 'Access' bus was treated to a stunning new livery by the Gateshead workshops of Go North-East. The photo is courtesy of Beamish Transport Online.

It is based on the livery used by 'Venture Transport' a local bus company based in Consett not far from Beamish which, when the owners retired in 1970, was sold to Northern General Transport.

Fortunately the model is still in white primer, see photo below, so this is what it will look like when painted.

The 'Access' bus chassis is finished and the body has been fitted with side guards.

The body has been sprayed with white primer and the roof with grey primer.

It still needs to be painted and varnished and then have glazing, crew and passengers added.

After being unpacked, exhibited and packed away again each time Beamish has been out, all the steam road vehicles have now been fixed in place.

They are all from the Oxford Diecast range and each one is held in place with a screw through the baseboard into the fixing hole between the rear wheels.

The Pickfords Fowler B6 Road Locomotive is in the lay-by next to the tram stop on the curve in the Town.

The Fowler Road Roller and the Fowler B6 Showman's Locomotive are waiting at the end of the Park curve for clearance to proceed through the Town.

Along with the Fowler B6 Crane Locomotive which is bringing up the rear of the queue waiting to enter the Town.

As can be seen in the photo the place where the buses stopped outside the park needed to be moved as they were preventing tram passengers from alighting.

So the stop magnet under the baseboard has been moved about one bus length from its previous position so the buses now stop before the trams.

The 'Newcastle Corporation' bus is now finished and is complete with crests, adverts, route boards, glazing, driver, conductor and upstairs passengers.

Both buses were running at the Beamish Exhibition earlier this month. A short video of the 'Northern' bus running at Beamish has been added to the gallery but can also be seen here.

The top of the scratch built chassis for both of the open topped buses which were built from KeliKraft London B type bus kits.

The Faller parts 163002 (front axle), 163202 (2 steering arms) and 163101 (rear wheels) and the M660G64 motor / gearbox were supplied by DCC Train Automation.

The N type battery box, the 3 wire change over reed switch, used as normally closed with the normally open wire cut off and the on / off switch were sourced from suppliers on EBay.

The underside of the scratch built chassis which was built from black 1½ mm plastic card glued to the ends of the battery box.

Because the battery box was a snug fit in the body there was no room for the reed switch to be fitted alongside so it was superglued into grooves filed into the side of the battery box.

As the motor was immediately behind the battery box, the on / off switch was fitted in the only place left for it, at the back of the chassis behind the motor.

A second 'Newcastle Corporation' bus has been built with the addition of a more accurate drivers cab.

It has been painted RAL 5012 Saxe Blue and Primrose with black chassis, wheels, mudguards and decency panel on the stairs.

The closed sliding cab window and radiator surround have been painted silver so it is now ready to be sprayed with gloss lacquer.

It will be finished with crests, adverts, route boards, glazing, driver, conductor and upstairs passengers.

The 'Access' bus body was built by Alan Kirkman using parts from tram kits, plastic card sheet and strip.

The bonnet complete with the lead weight from the now discarded first build of the 'Newcastle Corporation' bus has been added to the body.

The almost full sized chassis was made from black 1½ mm plastic card glued round an N sized battery box and is fixed by screws at the front and rear.

At each bus stop there is a magnet under the board which when it is under the road opens the reed switch on any bus passing above causing it to stop.

When the magnet is moved away, the reed switch closes and the bus moves off.

The 1½" x 3/8"x 1/8" Neodymium bar magnets slide in two 3/16" x 1/8" brass channels and brass connecting rods link each magnet to its servo motor.

The stops are worked by Heathcote Electronics servo motor controllers and all three are operated by a single push button switch.

Paul Jarman has provided paint RAL numbers to enable both buses to be painted, and after an internet search touch-up bottles were bought from RAL Colours.

The 'Northern' bus has been painted with RAL 3003 BET Deep Red and then gloss varnished before it was glazed. Now it is finished it has been added to the new Beamish Buses section in the Photo Gallery.

Some dissatisfaction with the build and finish of the 'Newcastle' Bus has meant the purchase of another kit. Its Faller type chassis has been built and tested.

On the Town board, most of the magnetic strip was correctly installed so only the bit under the street needed to be turned over. However all of the Park board was the wrong way up and had to be turned over.

After the strip was re-installed the correct way up, and checked with the bus chassis, the road surface was replaced with mainly new Metcalfe cobbles and tarmac so the buses now run all round the road circuit.

The Daimler CC bus with the side guard fitted is ready for the body to be painted with Northern General Transport - BET Deep Red or similar if Cherry Paints No.C232 cannot be found in the North East of England.

The wheels will be body colour while fuel tank, side guard and the mudguards will be black.

It has been trial run on Beamish but the motor kept unscrewing itself from the gear on the axle so a strap has been fitted over the motor to prevent this happening.

In addition it was reluctant to follow the magnetic strip so an additional Neodymium guide magnet was fitted and the nose weight was increased by filling the small space under the bonnet with lead.

It appears that the magnetic strip is not all laid the same way up as the Daimler does not want to follow the strip all the way round.

Most of the road surface will need to be lifted to sort out the magnetic strip which was installed and the street surfaced before there were any buses to test it.

The second KeilKraft kit has been built and modified by adding the drivers cab so it will become the Beamish replica London General Omnibus Company B type bus.

The modifications involved cutting off the surplus dash panel round the bonnet and lengthening the rear of the bonnet to make it level with the front of the canopy.

This ensured that the windscreen was vertical when the cab front was added before the offside of the drivers cab was completed.

The bus in white primer showing the drivers cab, fuel tank and the added panel at the rear under the stairs.

It will be finished in the early Newcastle livery used at Beamish of Saxe Blue and Primrose. It will be completed with a full set of adverts.

As on the Daimler the small space under the bonnet has been filled with lead to give more nose weight.

The Daimler CC Bus chassis is almost finished except for the front mudguards and the Faller steering arm.

The change over reed switch, used as normally closed and opened by the stop magnet, has been glued into two slots filed in the side of the N type battery box.

The battery will be partially hidden by a fuel tank on the off-side and the reed switch will be protected by refitting one of the side guards and both will be attached to the body.

Some time has now been found to build a Faller type chassis from a kit of parts from DCC Train Automation for one of the two KeilKraft London B type bus kits.

It used Faller part numbers 163002 (front axle), 163202 (2 steering arms) and 163101 (rear wheels and a M660G64 motor / gearbox, plus an N battery box, on / off and reed switches.

Almost the entire floor had to be removed and there is no room for the normally closed reed switch which may be mounted in a 'toolbox' on the side of he body.

The chassis was built from black plastic card glued to the ends of an N type battery box and just needs the mudguards adding.

It will be painted as the replica Daimler CC in Northern red and have some upper deck passengers and crew fitted.

In due course the second KeilKraft kit will be built and modified to become the Newcastle Corporation bus.

Leeds No.6 is the latest addition to the Beamish visiting tram fleet, again built and delivered by Alan Kirkman.

Since the Perth Green exhibition in March the fiddle yard track has been replaced so that the stops are now all out of sight behind the backscene.

The switch section for the automatic stop outside the Park has been moved further along the street onto the Town board to give trams at the Bank stop a longer time before moving off.

The magnetic strip that the buses will follow in the hidden section has been moved and the road for the buses has been paved right round with Metcalfe tarmac sheets.

As both J. R. & D. Edis Photographer and W. Smith Chemist are now open at Beamish, the frontage on the model has been changed to a photo of the actual building.

The frontage of the model when it was built was based on a reversed photo of the prototype on Elvet Bridge in Durham.

Alan Kirkman delivered three more visiting trams for Beamish, which was not being exhibited, to the exhibition at Beamish on March 5th.

The first was Manchester Combination Car No.765 as found at Heaton Park Tramway which visited Beamish in 2011.

This tram was built from a Tramalan white metal kit and was fitted with one of Alan Kirkman's HT2 all-wheel drive Halling based chassis and a PC trams T-pole.

The second tram delivered was Blackpool 'Boat' No.233, a very much missed tram, which arrived at Beamish on loan in 2012.

It was sold in 2013 by its owners, the Lancastrian Transport Trust, to a Tram Museum in America.

It was built from a Blackpool Plastics 'Boat' kit with a resin floor and seats and is fitted with passengers, a Halling based all-wheel drive chassis and a PC trams T-pole.

The third tram delivered was Blackpool Ex-towing Car No.280 which arrived at Beamish in January 2014 and left in March 2015.

It is now on loan from Heaton Park Tramway to Blackpool Heritage Fleet where it is operating in its later renumbered form as No.680.

This tram was built from a 'Kitchen Kits' resin body and was fitted with a Halling based all-wheel drive chassis and a PC trams T-pole.

Alan also delivered Blackpool Standard No.147 to Perth Green (Jarrow) exhibition when he visited on Sunday March 13th.

It was built from a Blackpool Standard kit from ELMTS with the revised resin bulkheads, stairs, platforms etc. and the superb Transfers (exclusive to ELMTS) supplied by Tramads, an Alan Kirkman HT2 chassis and a PC trams T-pole.

It was added to the Beamish fleet and ran for the rest of the day without problems.

Here are two of the visiting trams, Blackpool No.280 is about to pass Manchester No.765 at the Park stop at the Perth Green (Jarrow) exhibition.

Here are the other two visiting trams, Blackpool Standard No.147 passes Blackpool 'Boat' No.233 at the Bank stop at the Perth Green (Jarrow) exhibition.

The fifth visitor, Newcastle No.102, was also in service for both days of the exhibition along with Grimsby & Immingham No.26.

Another 50 figures have been painted and added mainly in the street on the Town board. Now it is beginning to look more like Beamish on a busy summer day.

More work is planned after the exhibition in March when new track will be fitted on the unseen part and the magnetic strip for the buses will be moved to clear the new poles.

Tram No.16 passes No.31 outside the Bank at Model Rail 2016 in South Shields on February 13th.

One of the first visitors to Model Rail on Friday came from York and, after reading these pages, had come specially to see 'Beamish' for himself.

The new amplifier board, from 'Bo4co' in the UK, has been fitted and is working so the brass band can play and entertain the visitors.

Music from Houghton Brass Band, which was recorded in the Hetton Band Hall at Beamish, will be amongst that played at exhibitions in the future.

Somewhere about another 30 figures have been added in the park and include the brass band in the bandstand. Another 20 or so have been added on to the street on the Town board.

Two speakers have been fitted under the bandstand to play music from a CD player but when this amplifier board, which was bought from 'zybing2010' in China, was fitted it didn't work!

In December, Beamish was exhibited at RAILEX NE 2015, the Blyth & Tyne Model Railway Society Exhibition.

Here is Blackpool No.284 passing Sheffield No.264 at the park stop.

Sunderland No.101 is at the bank stop with Sunderland No.16 heading toward the park stop.

The other two trams which ran at the exhibition were Grimsby & Immingham No.26 and Oporto No.196.

About 40 visitors and staff were added to Beamish during the RAILEX NE Exhibition with many more to come as and when they are painted.

Most were happy picnickers in the park enjoying the sun but a few visitors and some staff have appeared on the street.

Newcastle No.114 and Sunderland No.101 were amongst the trams in use when Beamish was out at Tyneside Model Railway Exhibition at Gateshead Stadium.

This photo, with its yellow sports hall lighting, has been adjusted to try and improve its colour.

Beamish will be out again in December at the Blyth & Tyne Model Railway Exhibition in Newcastle. Its location and postcode can be found on the 'Where to See Us' page.

The first visiting tram, Lytham St Annes No.33, was purchased recently. It is an unusual crossbench open topped double decker.

It was built from a Tramalan white metal kit and fitted with a Halling KSW chassis by the late Nolan Doe.

Alan Kirkman paid a visit to change the fiddle yard overhead to the new poles. After everything was done Alan produced some of his trams for clearance tests.

Blackpool Coronation No.304, much to our surprise, ran perfectly. Here it is at the bank stop in the town as No.31 passes on its way to the park stop.

While testing No.31, after its HT1 single bogie drive chassis was replaced by an all-wheel drive HT2, that the both chassis are short enough to work the automatic stops on the inside track.

The other tram we wanted to try was Newcastle No.102 which usually inhabits Foxwood Park. Here are Nos.102 and 114 outside the bank.

It ran round most of the Beamish track but failed to negotiate the curve just after the bank stop because the glazing restricted the motor bogie movement.

Both these photos were taken by Alan Kirkman and are used with his permission.

The park backscene has been fitted and as on the town board, it has been fitted with 1 mm card spacers behind.

All the buildings and the photo backscenes have been painted with matt acrylic UV varnish to reduce the fading caused by strong lighting.

This was followed by painting the Bank granite frontage and all of the windows in the Town with gloss varnish to improve their appearance.

The park curve backscenes have been fitted with 1 mm card spacers behind and show the gallopers, the showman's van and the events field.

The backscenes were produced by Malcolm Fraser from photographs taken by Gordon and were printed by Supersize Print who give an excellent service at great prices.

The Meadowcroft poles in the fiddle yard, which do not have bracket arm holes, were fitted a little too close for the T-poles to work satisfactorily, so replacement Tramalan poles have been fitted at the edges of the fiddle yard area.

Piano wire will be used for the span wires fitted in the bracket arm holes. The overhead will be attached to the piano wire spans over the next few weeks which will allow the Meadowcroft poles to be removed.

After the original poles are removed the magnetic strip the buses follow will be moved so the buses will clear the new poles.

Beamish was part of the 29th Shildon Model Railway Club Exhibition which was held at Locomotion on 10th & 11th of October.

Here Newcastle No.114 has just passed Grimsby & Immingham No.26 in the town with Sunderland No.101, Sheffield No.264, Blackpool No.284 and Oporto No.196 in the fiddle yard.

Oporto No.196 waits at the park tram stop until Grimsby & Immingham No.26 has cleared the single track.

Newcastle No.114 passes Grimsby & Immingham No.26 as it waits at the town tram stop.

The next job is to get some figures painted and glued in place to make Beamish look busy as, in summer, it always is.

At the Heaton Park Exhibition there were two visiting trams loaned by Alan Kirkman, here is his model and photo of Blackpool ex towing car No. 280 at the stop outside the Bank.

The other tram loaned for the day by Alan was Blackpool Vambac No.11, both trams ran without incident all day.

Trams in service on the inner track were Newcastle No.114 and Sheffield No.264.

The Co-op canopy has finally been built using a 3 mm by 2 mm plastic frame with 1.6 mm plastic covered steel columns fitted into pre-drilled holes and was completed with N gauge canopy brackets from York Modelmaking.

The frame was painted crimson and glued to the front of the Co-op and into holes drilled through the paving, which is fixed to the building.

The canopy itself was printed on to a translucent plastic sheet and, to prevent the printing being rubbed off, was varnished before being cut out and glued in place.

The town board backscenes have been completed using Townscene cloudy sky paper spray mounted on to the backscene boards with the photo scenes cut along the horizon and spray mounted on to thin card.

The top edge of the photo scenes were painted grey before having 1 mm card spacers added behind, to help with the perspective, before being fixed in place on the sky paper.

Street lights have been added, the white roof of the railway coach has been repainted grey and the fence between the railway and tramway has been moved outside the traction poles.

The paths in the park have been laid, after moistening the area to be removed and then scraping off the grass to be collected for re-use later. The seats, flower beds, trees, park railings and gates have been finished. There are only the band and lots of visitors left to add.

The 3 mm plywood park backscene board was fixed with plasterboard fixings screwed and glued very carefully through the plaster bandage into the high density foam. The town backscene board was fixed with screws into pieces of 12 mm square timber glued into both rear corners of the Co-op and one rear corner of the garage.

The rails round the park curve have been weathered and the track has been ballasted using N gauge ballast which was fixed in place by the usual method of diluted PVA, with a drop of washing up liquid added, dropped on to the dry ballast.

The fences alongside the road and tram track and across the park have now been installed again using Peco LK-45 Flexible Field Fencing.

The outside ten trees at the end of the park came from the Model Tree Shop and the central seven from a model railway exhibition.

All the other trees in the park, the back corners and outside the Bank came from the Model Tree Shop.

The brass railings outside the Bank and the Chemist and Photographers have been painted along with the drinking fountain.

NER 985 and coach were fixed in place with two wires over the chassis through holes drilled between the sleepers and twisted together under the board.

As the bandstand still looked too small, the eight columns supporting the roof were cut close to the decorated band at the top and the railings at the bottom and removed.

They were replaced by eight 40 mm lengths of 1.6 mm round bar which were glued between the floor and the roof.

This has raised the roof to make it look more like the Beamish bandstand. In addition the bandstand has been raised by adding a piece of 2 mm card underneath it.

After the exhibition the Town drinking fountain was built from a short length of 12 mm square timber and the spire and bowl from a Scale Scene horse trough kit.

Three of the stanchions left from Ravenscar Pier, from James Lane (Display Models) a North East supplier of model boat fittings, have been used next to the Fountain.

This section was built with rails made from brass rod, which will be polished and varnished as per the prototype. The stanchions will be painted black.

More stanchions were used for the railings outside J. R. & D. Edis Photographer and W. Smith Chemist on the other side of the street. These rails and stanchions will be painted black.

Brass wire was used here to give straight rails and was much easier to thread through the holes in the stanchions than the bendy wire supplied by James Lane (Model Supplies).

In the background the grass outside the tramway has been fenced off using Peco LK-45 Flexible Field Fencing.

At the T.L.R.S. North East area meeting it was suggested that the end of the railway could appear in the corner behind the Masonic Hall.

A red Triang R355R 0-4-0 Industrial Locomotive, a Hornby R110 4-wheeled teak coach and a Peco buffer stop were purchased and thanks must again go to John Docherty who donated the short piece of track.

The locomotive was repainted black, numbered No.985 and varnished. It will stand with the coach a little way from the buffer stop adjacent to the tram track.

It was suggested that Gateshead No.52 could be stored behind the wall next to Barclays Bank.

A redundant Bachmann Brill tram body was shortened by removing a two window section to give the correct length and the clerestory roof.

The chassis from a Bachmann 4 wheeled railway truck was shortened to 8 feet wheelbase to go under the body.

The tram was sheeted using a piece of tissue paper which became the tarpaulin when it was painted green and weathered.

The park shape was made from a piece of 50 mm thick high density foam insulation (Kingspan) using an old carving knife and a small curved multi-tooth plane for final shaping.

It was painted with dilute PVA to seal it which when dry was glued in place on the park board ready to be covered with Mod Roc plaster bandage.

The Mod Roc has been added to the foam shape with everything else covered with cloths.

This messy job was done in the shed, with its fluorescent lighting, which explains the unusual colour.

There was sufficient Mod Roc to cover the insulation twice, so a second layer was added when the first was dry.

When the Mod Roc was dry it was quite rough and needed to be sanded, filled and painted again with dilute PVA.

When we were happy with the surface, it was covered with Gaugemaster GM22 autumn grass matting.

The grass round the outside of the track on the end of the park board has now been laid and completes the basic landscaping.

The park paths are still to be done which will be followed by the installation of trees, fences, seats, flower beds, railings and people.

A temporary backscene was fitted during the Beamish Exhibition made from four A4 sheets of 1 mm grey card, four sheets of blue card, some Blu-Tack and sticky tape.

After some early electrical problems found when we were setting up were fixed, it ran almost without incident for the whole exhibition.

By the end of its first exhibition it was running all eight models of the current Beamish Museum tram fleet which gave a lot of satisfaction and pleasure.

Malcolm Fraser merged two photos of the Co-op frontage, removed the canopy, added the blue department signs and shop windows from a number of other photos to produce the final one.

The Co-op building has been completed, except for the canopy, with the addition of the sign and the tea-rooms entrance bridge to the park.

The J. R. & D. Edis Photographer and W. Smith Chemist is based on this grade 2 listed building in Old Elvet, Durham which has been built in reversed form at Beamish.

Malcolm Fraser also cleaned, corrected for the noticeable slope and merged two reversed photos of the period building in Durham to produce the final image.

The was printed on to self-adhesive photo paper, cut out and attached to 0.6 mm card which was easier to bend round the internal structure than 1 mm card would have been.

The completed range of buildings forming the Town street with the paving also finished.

There are only the street lamps, some fencing, the drinking fountain outside the Bank and lots of people left to be added.

An explanation of how the buildings were made can be found on the Trams & Townscape page.

The 'Park' board has had the street surfaced with cobbles and tarmac and a start has been made on the park wall.

Thanks must go to John Docherty, a fellow NE modeller, for the one Metcalfe Tarmac sheet needed to finish the job.

The track will be ballasted round the curve and grass laid outside it with some trees in the rear corner.

An H0 scale Shire Scenes etched brass bandstand kit was bought from Dart Castings to go in the Park where it be occupied by a band playing music from a CD player under the board.

Although it is H0 and will be a bit small it is the only eight-sided bandstand kit available as all the OO ones found were unsuitable as they were all six-sided.

It is part painted and will have the two panels on each side decorated and a Langley Models band playing music from a CD player.

On March 21st the first T.L.R.S. NE area meeting of 2015 was held where Beamish ran four trams, under automatic control, without incident all afternoon.

Alan Kirkman's first photo shows No.114 passing No.31 on the bank curve.

It also shows the T. Cowie Garage and the curved end of W. Smith Chemist to the right and the Barclays Bank and Masonic Hall beyond the trams.

Alan's second photo shows No.16 passing No.26 which is at the outer circle stop opposite J. R. & D. Edis Photographer and W. Smith Chemist.

Our thanks must go to Alan for attending the meeting and for his time the previous day sorting out a serious rail expansion problem which affected the park curve.

He also helped to make the inner circle switch section longer, this made the outer circle automatic stop live for longer and made sure the bogie trams left the stop while it was still live.

Alan Kirkman delivered Nos.16 and 284 when he came to do some overhead repairs and while they were running he took some photos.

Here are Nos. 284 and 16 in front of the Barclays Bank and Masonic Hall in what will become the town.

The garage is now almost complete, it just needs chimney tops and pots, ridge tiles and flashings added to finish it.

The rear extension has been built at about half its length to fit on the board. It was built with an open back to store out of service buses.

The internal support for the curved frontage is shown for the corner building which will be J. R. & D. Edis Photographer and W. Smith Chemist when finished.

This is a reversed replica of a period building in Old Elvet, Durham which has been built at Beamish.

The frontage will be printed onto self-adhesive photo paper and attached to 0.6 mm which will be easier to fit round and glue to the internal frame than the 1 mm card used for all the other buildings.

The main board, now called the 'Town' board, has had the street surfaced with cobbles and tarmac. The other board, now called the 'Park' board, will be done next.

The space in the corner will eventually have an embankment with trees on it, after the first exhibition at Beamish on April 11/12th.

Alan Kirkman has supplied some photos of the latest tram he has built for Beamish, this one is Blackpool Railcoach No.284 in its 1950's livery after it is restored at Beamish.

It was made from an early diecast OOC model which has had minor paintwork changes and was fitted with a Halling C bogie chassis, Mark Hughes etched brass tower and a T-pole.

The final model to be built will be Gateshead No.10 and in order to make an accurate model it will be built after G & I No.26 has been repainted into No.10 at Beamish.

The second board has now been covered with grey card except for between the rails, over the magnetic strip and on the reserved track at the end which will be ballasted.

Some paving has also been laid but until the Co-op building is available the paving outside it and the garage will have to wait.

All of the photos of the Beamish Town buildings have had verticals corrected, all overhead wires, traction poles and other obstructions removed, been printed on self-adhesive photo paper and attached to 1 mm card.

The walls were cut out and glued together to form the Barclays Bank and the front part of the Masonic Hall which was completed with Metcalfe roofing and will enclose the control panel and transformer.

The finishing touches such as Masonic steps and fence, chimney tops and pots, ridge tiles and flashings will all be added later.

Alan Kirkman has supplied some photos of the most recent tram he has built for Beamish, this one is Sunderland No.16.

It was built from the sides of a re-pillared Keil Kraft Birmingham Car, the upper and lower deck bulkheads from a Keil Kraft West Ham car and heavily modified dashes, platforms, windscreens, top deck ends, upper saloon seats and a shortened roof from a Tower E1.

It was fitted with cast reversed stairs, BEC P35 truck sides and a Halling KSW truck.

The main board has been completely covered with card except for the rails and the Conrad magnetic tape which has been used instead of the Faller steel wire.

Conrad say that the steering arm does not need to touch the road surface which means that the vehicles should have a longer running time and the mark caused by the steering arm rubbing on the road should not appear.

Here is the Faller coach, bought as part of a starter set, testing the magnetic tape. The chassis will be rebuilt to suit one of the Beamish buses after the trams are running and the buildings are finished.

The pavements and final road surface of cobbles and tarmac will be done after the second board has had the final layer of grey card added.

The good news that Paul Jarman recently announced, on the Beamish Transport Online blog, was that Blackpool Brush Car No. 621 has become a permanent addition to the Beamish fleet where it will operate, after being restored, as No. 284.

As a result No. 284 will become the eighth tram in the model fleet and will be painted in 1950's livery similar to that carried by Blackpool Vambac No.11 shown (Photo courtesy of Beamish Transport Online).

The five trams built for Beamish were received very late in September and four of the five are now safely in the lower level in their storage case.

Clockwise from top left they are - Sheffield No.264, Blackpool No.31, Sunderland No.101 and finally Oporto No.196.

They are placed this way so, when the case is stored with the handle at the top, the trams are on their wheels.

The upper level of the storage case with Newcastle No.114 in its new home waiting for 3 friends to join it.

These will be Sunderland No.16 and Gateshead No.10, both Beamish residents and the eighth tram which will be a Beamish visitor, the identity of which has yet to be decided.

All of the trams will be wrapped in tracing paper to protect them from any problems with the foam lining of the case and to help when lifting them out.

Alan Kirkman has supplied more photos of the trams he has been building for Beamish, this one is Sunderland No.101 with its four wheel centre entrance tram inspired livery.

This third tram was made from a Hadfield's Balloon plastic kit and has been fitted with a T-pole and a Halling C bogie chassis which has 8-wheel drive.

The fourth tram, Newcastle No.114, was made from a KW Trams white metal kit modified to take a Halling Vario.

In common with all of the trams built for Beamish it has been fitted with a T-pole.

The fifth tram, Blackpool No.31, was made from a modified Dreadnaught lower deck and a Tower SHMD upper deck and has been fitted with a Halling based Alan Kirkman HT1 single bogie drive chassis.

The only tram left to be built is Sunderland No.16. The plan is to have five trams at the first exhibition.

To enable an accurate model to be made Gateshead No.10 will not be built until Beamish complete No.10's overhaul and repaint.

Alan Kirkman has supplied some photos of the first two trams he has built for Beamish, the first is Oporto No.196.

This photo shows the tram with the base and the Halling Vario, extended to its maximum wheelbase removed from the body.

The wheelbase is adjustable from 23 mm by unclipping the base plate and moving one axle to give a wheelbase of 26.7 mm and 30.4 mm if both axles are moved.

This photo shows the completed model of No.196 in its South Shields inspired livery with roof adverts from artwork supplied by Huw Cairns.

The model was made from a shortened Bachmann Brill tram body and along with all of the Beamish trams has been fitted with a T-pole which will make exhibiting much easier.

A T-pole is a horizontally fixed trolley pole fitted with a transverse current collector like a bow at the end instead of a wheel. See the June photo of Nos.5 and 26 where both have T-poles fitted.

The second tram built for Beamish is Sheffield No.264 which will not be fitted with adverts until the restoration of No.264 is completed by Beamish.

It was fitted with a Halling Vario with the wheelbase extended to its maximum of 30.4 mm and was made from a mixture of Ambrico and KW Trams white metal parts.

Alan Kirkman installed the overhead on the last two days of May. He brought two of his own trams to test the track and overhead,

Here is Stockport No.5 at the automatic stop at the end of the street, next to one of the ornamental centre poles, where Grimsby & Immingham No.26 has just left the single track and will soon release No.5 to enter it.

Because of a severe case of ill health no more work has been done on the boards since Alan's visit.

All of the traction poles have been painted with Humbrol enamel No.101 and fitted. Two poles on each board have had the wiring connected for the overhead power supply.

The three section poles have been fitted at the front in the visible section of the tramway and the single section poles have been fitted in the fiddle yard where they will not be seen.

As there were not enough three section poles available, three single section poles were sleeved with two lengths of thin walled brass tube to give a more prototypical appearance and have been fitted at the rear of the visible section.

Alan Kirkman is planning to install the overhead late in May so there will be some photos next month.

Owing to illness not much has happened this month, however some time has been spent making a start on the back and end scene boards. These will protect the traction poles from damage after they have been fitted.

Most of the boards are fixed but the central boards, which should not be seen by visitors, are hinged to drop down so trams can be placed on to the track.

The baseboard between the sleepers has been painted black and the next job will be to paint the traction poles green.

The power unit and control panel have been fixed in place and wiring is now complete and has been tested, with the power unit safely covered, using a tram and wander lead.

As with Foxwood Park the boards are linked by a computer printer extension cable which was cut in half and used to wire the second board back to the control panel.

The main board was wired using the remaining wire from the Centronics cable used to wire the Foxwood Park rear board.

The track has now been laid and sectioned for fully automatic running including stops, single line access and fiddle yard.

Copper-clad sleepers were fixed where the section breaks were to be installed, being soldered to the rails before they were cut and where track lengths were joined.

The automatic stops on the outer track have been made for bogie trams and those on the inner track have been made for four wheel trams.

The positions of the Co-op and Garage at the top and the Bank and Masonic Hall, at the bottom, are shown by the cardboard cut-outs.

The section switches and thermal reset fuses were purchased from ESR Electronic Components Ltd of Cullercoats (near Tynemouth) who have excellent prices.

How's this for service, the control panel plan shown was emailed to Hitech Signs and Engraving Ltd at Washington, Tyne & Wear and enquired what the price would be on Monday 3rd, got a reply on Tuesday 4th, ordered it by email at 10.29 and it was delivered at 3.00 pm the same day.

After examining plans of the town street, borrowed from Beamish, two baseboards 39" by 24" were built from 2" by 1" dressed timber with a 9 mm MDF top and 2" x 1½" folding legs giving a finished height of 38".

There are two pairs of legs on one board and one pair on the other. They are aligned with dowels and fixed together by two 6 mm bolts and wing nuts.

Each pair of legs are held in position by a diagonal stay. For transport the legs are held in the folded position by over-centre clips.