Chris Rails saw this unique object at a Brighton open house, very 1930s tram Noveau,a section of tram track from North Road!

28th of May.

There is another work party this Saturday, will it be more then two this time?

25th of May photos.

25th of May.

Thank goodness at least one person joined me today, I would have felt very unmotivated. Malcolm Chambers turned up and together we removed a side panel of the metal skin, though it was Malcolm mostly doing this by drilling the screws out. I continued priming and de-rusting the cross members and bolts and managed to replace one of the rear bolts for the platform steels, it was a nice day out there. We need to get the new end of the building up shortly, so we need a special workday with anyone who has some building skills to do this, the date will be announced shortly, please can you help?

19th 0f May

Please note, work party next Saturday, if you can please get out there, we need to get the extension sorted. I have been in contact with the Charities commission and finally have a management name to speak to. It seems they might have lost the application that Ray sent in, not just the amended constitution, I won't type the words I would dearly like to use, but ... all this in addition to not ringing me back FOUR times. let us hope that finally the monolith moves.I have given the lights a quick clean and spray as well as all chrome work, WD 40 and polish reveals some good chrome work still in place! Roger and Sheila Sharman are busy on a display at Volks railway, more useful publicity for us and thank you to Volks for the space.

12th of May.

If you don't know already, we have a Facebook page, https://facebook.com/Brightontram53society, please visit and say like! A few more details about the fittings. At the H.C.V.S rally last week a gentlemen came up to the stand and said" I have some F class tram bits, would you like them?" After looking like a stunned merecat, El Presidente said yes, big please and took contact details. We all stood there afterwards and wondered that such things could happen.The gent concerned was Brian Johnson and is a long time bus and public transport fan, who is actively involved in Amberley as well as a lot of groups.A pair of Brighton "F" class trams stood at Fittleworth, West Sussex in the early 60s, numbers 63 and 54 and though they couldn't save them , they drew plans and stripped the fittings. Brian has waited almost fifty years, but when he saw we had signed up and were progressing, he felt the time had come to pass these very important fittings on.... thank you from us all Sir.

11th of May, where the new items go and work from today.

11th of May

El Presidente stumbled out of bed after another gig and got to 53 about 11.30.He removed the last floor brace, cleaned up and rust treated the metal and gave it a first coat of primer.The other struts got their second coat and some of the bolts got cleaned up. Bad news was that as I tried to get a screw out of one of the step plates it broke into 3, but i think this is repairable. it was the one that came with 53 and closer inspection revealed a rusty fracture line. These were recycled and this could date back much earlier then 1936! I also did some comparison shots with the new items to give you an idea of where they go.I am now cream crackered and a bath awaits......

May 16th, fittings.

May 16th.

The following pictures give a bit more detail of the bounty for 53. As well as the step, the door hangers and the second metal step plate, you will see door fittings, curtain hooks, curtain rings and the upper window handles. The wooden parts are bell covers that went on the pillars between each window and note we have enough lights to do the lower saloon. The parts came from trams 63 and 54, more later on the story...

May the 9th, the new pen! Also a few bits of tram, more later.....

May the 8th.

Great news, we have the second batch of the new pens in dark blue!!! Yes, you can now have a two pen set with the words tram 53 on, wild eh? Members £1.50, non members £2.00 per pen, will put up photos soon. On a more mundane level, if anyone is interested, we now own a complete set of lower saloon lights, curtain hooks, a platform step, door lock and latch, saloon door hangers, some original seat fabric, another door step with BTC on and some interior wood work , as well as two full sets of door handles, quarter light wood supports , and bell mountings for the lower saloon. Might put some pics up, if anyone wants, let me know, yawn.Oh, there might be a slim chance of a saloon door, but .....

Notice for this Sunday's work party.

Please note, i cannot make this Sunday, so I will be out at 53 on Saturday for a few hours, you are welcome to join me if that is easier, otherwise best of luck for Sunday!

H. C.V S rally, 5th of May.

5th of May, HCVS rally, Brighton.

The early morning sun caught El Presidente stumbling from his bed after a fun gig in Rotherfield. I met up with Gordon Dinnage to set up shop on Brighton seafront for the H.C.V.S rally. John Hayward, Malcolm Chambers and Ian and Margaret Fairhead were also in attendance.After watching a white van been towed off the site we set up the stand, which gradually collected money through out the day. A fantastic procession of commercial vehicles appeared and we saw some superb examples of vehicle preservation.We raised the grand sum of £92.50, an excellent result and we have an offer of some "F" class tram spares, more on that soon. If you haven't joined and are reading this, join now,things are happening....