Summerlee Heritage Park
Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life, formerly known as Summerlee Heritage Park, is an industrial museum in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It was built on the site of the Victorian Summerlee Iron Works and incorporated the main workshop of the former Hydrocon Crane factory. The museum is managed by CultureNL Ltd.
It temporarily closed in 2006, but reopened on 26 September 2008 following a £10m refurbishment (pictured right).
The former main hall was completely redesigned by North Lanarkshire Council's in-house Design Team and now includes a stainless steel café pod and futuristic viewing pavilion. The museum aims to show Lanarkshire's contribution to engineering, and incorporates interactive displays and a temporary exhibition space.
The museum also incorporates several railway steam locomotives, preserved carriages from a 1960s era Glasgow Class 311 and has a short working tram line.
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The Summerlee Transport Group (STG) was formed in 1988, in order to support the maintenance and operation of the tramway. The original tramway used to terminate only 300 yards from the entrance at the timber shed, before the extension of the Gartsherrie Branch canal bridge and thence towards the Miners' Cottages. As continued tradition, the cars still halt at the timber shed before continuing over the bridge and around the bend.
The tramway was the first operational tramway in Scotland for twenty-six years following the closure of the Glasgow Corporation Tramway in 1962, and continued to be the only tramway in Scotland for another twenty-six until Edinburgh reopened its tramway in 2014, save from the Glasgow Garden Festival Tramway, which opened six weeks after the Summerlee Line.
Whilst the first two operational trams at Summerlee were continental cars, it has always been the intention to use traditional British cars, preferably with local connections, which is now being realized.
Coordinates: 55°51′59″N 4°01′51″W / 55.86639°N 4.03083°W
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