No.52 was built in 1901 by the Electric Railway & Tramway Carriage Works Ltd in Preston and carried the number 7. On the evening of the 5th February 1916 it was involved in Gateshead Tramway’s blackest day when it ran away down the hill towards the tight turn into Saltwell Road. Here it overturned, killing a family of three and a soldier who had been crossing the road at the time.

It was rebuilt and returned to service in 1920, later being renumbered ’52' in 1928. Mr William Southern was a former driver in Gateshead and a regular on 52. On the closure of the system in 1951 he purchased 52 and moved it to his allotment in Low Fell. Following his death, it was donated to the Tramway Museum Society and moved to Crich where it was damaged in an arson attack while in the Clay Cross store. It 2015 ownership was transferred to Beamish where it will eventually be rebuilt.

The sheeted model is made from a shortened Bachmann Brill body mounted on a shortened railway truck chassis and is standing behind the wall next to Barclays Bank.

© Gordon Bulmer 2022