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Beats a garden shed

Harold Cunliffe
13/ 3/2008

AFTER waiting 30 years for a tram a Middleton woman became the proud owner of her own carriage when she retired.

This unique garden feature was used as a summer house and garden store at her home in Greenway, Alkrington. This strange but true story was related to me by John (Jack) Jessop during a telephone conversation last year. Mr Jessop who has had a lifelong interest in trams, trains and transport spotted the unusual garden shed in a neighbours garden when he and his family moved house during the 1960s.

From his new home on Elleray Road he could see a shed which was tram shaped, and according to John, ‘It required further investigation’. He soon struck up conversation with his neighbour and he was invited to nip through the garden hedge to have a closer look. Within minutes he identified it as a Manchester tram. Inside the shed the original fittings from its days touring the local area were still visible – lights, seating and the beautifully etched glass windows.

How did this body from a Manchester tram become a garden feature in the first place?

Mr Jessop discovered that in the 1930s a Miss Luke worked for the Manchester Corporation Transport Department in Piccadilly, Manchester. She would wait at Mossway for the tram each day to transport her to work and back. She did for 30 years. Upon her retirement she was asked what her preferred retirement gift should be. A watch? Clock? Canteen of cutlery? All these did not appeal to Miss Luke. At a loss as to what to ask for she informed the manager that she would like a tram as a memento.

She was in luck. At the time there were retired trams awaiting the scrap heap at Hyde Road depot. The manager arranged for one of the bodies to be converted into a shed by removing the upper deck and running gear. Eventually the body was taken to her Greenway home to be placed onto wooden sleepers.

No doubt this gave Miss Luke hours of pleasure, somewhere to go and have a quite read and also made a great talking point. John to his credit arranged to have the tram body inspected by the Manchester Transport Historical Collection. It was confirmed as Manchester tram number 173.

Mr and Mrs Whitehorn who later owned the tram body, or what was left of it, made an agreement with the Transport Society to exchange the tram remains with a brand new shed. This was a very satisfactory arrangement for both sides, otherwise it would have ultimately ended up being destroyed. After years of careful restoration, followed closely by John Jessop, the tram was eventually restored to its former glory.

It is on display at the Transport Museum at Boyle Street, just off Queens Road, Cheetham. It is envisaged that the tram will be put back into service at Heaton Park in the future.

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