Best of British at Beamish

Saturday 13th June 2026

I’m embarrassed to admit this blogpost has been languishing half completed in my ‘pending file of blogposts’ for nearly two years but an email from my friend Tony Kennan the other day sending me a photo of Brighton, Hove & District’s Bristol K looking as fabulous as ever as it made a guest appearance at the recent Beamish Museum Transport Week has inspired me to finish uploading all the photographs I took during the visit I made to the Museum in October 2024 and share the brilliant time to be had there with you all.

If you like reminiscing about “life in the good old days” it’s well worth paying a visit to Beamish Museum located near Stanley in County Durham. It was the first regional open-air museum in England opening in 1972 since when it has significantly expanded on its 350 acre site, not least with an expanding “50’s style shopping High Street and suburban area” to compliment the older generations of buildings and exhibits that have long been the hallmark of this remarkable “Living Museum”.

Those with a public transport interest will enjoy the opportunity to ride on heritage trams and buses which provide a regular circular service around the site with stops by all the main areas.

There’s also a restored Rowley station and section of railway…

… and many many buildings all restored and occupied by actors/guides playing the parts of shopkeepers, innkeepers, dentist, policeman and others just as life was lived back in the 1950s, 1940s and back to the early 1900s.

As you can see from the above map of the 350 acre site there are different areas depicting past living which are all connected by the circular bus and tram route running round the entire area.

The 1900s High Street at the top centre of the map is where I remember the Museum starting out in 1972 where there was only a short stretch of tramway…

… but over the last 50 years there’s been a huge expansion of the exhibits to view and buildings to visit including the most recent addition being 1950’s style of buildings as shown on the top right hand corner of the map.

This includes a cinema…

… a row of shops…

… with an electrical shop…

… a record shop, toy shop…

… a police house, a bowling pavilion…

… and a recreation of homes from that era.

As a child of the 1950s it really was a memory jerker to wander around and imbibe the atmosphere of a now far off way of living, so forgive me for including a few more photos from the houses on view.

But, for those with a great interest in transport, a ride on the trams and buses is a great way to take in the expanse of the whole site as well as seeing the Northern bus garage that’s been rebuilt on the site thanks to help from that company.

Here are some of the Beamish fleet that was out and about on the day I visited in glorious October sunshine.

Sadly the day I visited the Museum’s locomotive ‘Dunrobin’ was udnergoing restoration at the Severn Valley Railway…

… so no trips on the railway were available but the signal box was open for visitors…

… as were all the wonderful buildings from the early 1900s as a reminder for those of us of a certain age of what our parents and grandparents grew up with including this rather scary looking dental practice…

… and bank…

… and garage workshop…

… and provisions store…

and a bedroom.

The Museum is just full of wonderful memories from the past…

… everywhere you look.

It’s a great place to visit for everyone…

… but for those with an interest in transport, it’s a definite bucket list place to visit.

Located near Stanley, it’s easy to visit using Go North East’s routes 8 (from Sunderland) and 28/29 (Newcastle and Gateshead) and enjoy 25% discount on a standard individual admission charge. There’s also the Durham Explorer 874 at weekends from Durham operated by NorthStar.

Roger French

Summer blogging timetable: 06:00 TThSSu