A rare London horse tram that has spent over 100 years sat on land near Newtown is to get a makeover and will be brought back into use.
The tram has been parked on land owned by Mervyn Lloyd Jones from Lower Brimmon near Newtown who earlier this year successfully campaigned to save the 500-year-old Brimmon Oak tree from the town’s planned bypass.
The tram was bought by a relative of Mervyn's in 1906 and was placed on land near to his home where he has protected it from the elements.
But with work going on in his fields to prepare for the development of the bypass, Mervyn decided it was time for the rare tram to be looked after by experts who will renovate it back to its former glory.
The Tramway Museum Society acquired it for The National Tramway Museums collection.
“I have spent the day extracting the tram from the field and supervising it's transfer to the National Tramway Museum at Crich Due to the very delicate state of the body great care had to be taken,” said Ian Ross of the society.
“After unloading at the museum and being placed on tram track for the first time in 110 years it rolled freely and was gently pushed in to the Museum's Workshop. It now awaits both a condition survey and a curatorial assessment.”
