Birkenhead Tramway and Wirral Transport Museum

Let’s be honest with ourselves. Museums like this prove that characters like Corrie’s Roy Cropper are 100% realistic. Okay, so your average anorak might not marry a transsexual, run a successful greasy spoon or take it upon himself to become the conscience of a Scottish murderer, but you sure as heck know that Mr Cropper would love a day out here. Transport history might not interest everyone, but we should learn about it really. Without it, we’d never have got from A to B.
Birkenhead (the Scouse pronunciation sounding something like Bergh-chken’edd, if you take the ‘ch’ as its German counterpart or perhaps the pronunciation of the ‘j’ in ‘Mojito’) Tramway and Wirral Transport Museum is just the ticket (oh, delightful punnage!) if you’re looking to find out a little about how our beloved north west came to have such a rich transport heritage. You only have to look at the Cammell Lairds shipyard, the Starbuck factory on Cleveland Street (which has nothing to do with coffee or Family Guy) and the fact that Birkenhead was the place that received the first ever European tramway in 1860 to realise this, and the museum covers it all. Birkenhead’s tramway operated until 1937 before buses took over, but here in Manchester we still have a tramway, nyah nyah nyah. Wait a minute, I’m supposed to be bigging up Merseyside. Woops. Er, vehicles built in Birkenhead are still being used on some of the most high profile railways to this day and you can see some of the amazing historic vehicles at this very museum.
Granted, you’d probably at least have to have some level of interest in the mechanics of transport to appreciate this place, but you really should give it a fair trial. It’s fascinating if you’ve got someone around to explain all the ins and outs (for me, my father) but do try, because it’s a rather special place.

We also paid a visit here and rode on what we assumed was a restored tram, only to be informed by the driver it was brand new and had come from Hong Kong as a gift to the museum

Birkenhead, in 1860, was the first place in Europe to install a tram system on the streets. Although they stopped operating before I was born, people were still nostalgic about them in the 1960’s (they were stopped in 1937).
In 1995, parts of the tramway were reopened and you can now travel on a series of historic vehicles, dating from as early as 1901 and from the local area plus one restored car from Lisbon!
There are also collections of buses, cars, motorbikes (Yay!) and even a model railway!
Definitely worth a visit, whatever your age. Just catch a tram from Woodside!