East Anglia Transport Museum

11/7/2010

Tucked away behind housing estates in a sleepy corner of Suffolk at Carlton Carville, lies the East Anglian Transport Museum, East Anglia's 'Premier working transport museum'. As the name suggests, this open air museum plays host to transport from days gone by, old fashioned trams and buses trundle around the grounds, giving tourists a taste of what it would have been like to travel by tram in the 1920s or by bus in the 1950s, complete with the ticket collector and his hole punch.

The transport museum

Throughout the year the Lottery funded EATM puts on themed experience days, where transport enthusiasts can come and ride on the vehicles that the museum owns.These events can range from trips to Blackpool to the 'ever popular' Trolleybus weekend. This year I went to the annual bus and coach event day, where a large number of both modern and vintage buses were on working display, using local bus routes to ferry people to and from the nearby towns of Beccles and Lowestoft. As well as riding the buses, you could also climb aboard the trams that travel around the museum grounds and go on the narrow gage railway train.

Over head cables that are used by trams

We rode on the green one

After paying £6.50 to enter the museum, Joe and I queued up to ride on one of the trams, I insisted we go on the top deck to get the optimum tram experience. As the tram filled up, we pulled away started our journey round the park, after a 5 minute journey, we came to the end of the track and had to turn around. The tram was electric and for us to be able to travel back, the electric cables that the tram uses as a power source, have to be unhooked and rehooked to the back of the vehicle. When this happens the lights turn out - I thought this was quite exciting. I wish we had more modern day trams in cities, they are far more exciting than buses and trains. Below are pictures of the interior of the tram.

Top deck

More comfortable bottom deck

Narrow gage railway

Don't know why this was here

Buses that took people to Beccles and back

Vintage cars

The museum was really busy, there were lots of children around, with parents and grandparents, who all seemed to enjoying themselves. We had to wait 3 times to get on the narrow gage railways because it was so packed. Joe and I stayed about a two hours, we walked around the museum park, which as well as housing buses and trams, also displays vintage cars and motor cycles and has several old fashions shops that you can look around. We only rode on the tram and narrow gage railway, which were both fun, but after a while - since neither of us are vintage transport enthusiasts - the novelty wore of and we went home.

For times and prices visit the EATM website: http://www.eatm.org.uk

East Anglia Transport Museum Society Ltd.
Chapel Road, Carlton Colville, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR33 8BL