Departmental Tram DE320224, Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway 1961.

This rare original 2¼-inch square unmounted colour transparency was taken at Pyewipe Depot, Grimsby, during the final months of the Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway. It depicts Departmental Tram DE320224, the railway’s engineer’s tram, used for maintenance work, breakdown recovery, towing disabled tramcars and transporting engineering staff, tools and equipment. Although never carrying fare-paying passengers on the Grimsby system, it played an essential role in keeping the line operational.

The vehicle was built in 1925 for the Gateshead & District Tramways. Following the closure of that system, it was purchased by British Railways in 1951. Rather than entering passenger service, it was rebuilt at York into a departmental vehicle and entered service in 1954 as District Engineer’s Tram DE320224. It remained in use until shortly before the Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway closed on 1 July 1961.

Standing outside the workshops at Pyewipe, with one of the line’s green passenger tramcars alongside, the photograph captures an often-overlooked aspect of the railway’s daily operation. While the passenger fleet carried dock workers and local residents between Grimsby and Immingham, DE320224 worked behind the scenes, supporting maintenance activities and recovering disabled vehicles whenever required.

Photographed only weeks before the closure of Britain’s only main-line railway-owned electric interurban tramway, this image records a vehicle that was rarely photographed in colour. The original large-format transparency preserves exceptional detail and provides an invaluable record of the railway’s engineering operations during its final year of service.

Format: Original unmounted 2¼-inch square colour transparency (approximately 57 × 57 mm).

Date: 1961.

Collection: Grimsby & Cleethorpes Museum Collection.