The Flemish Tram and Bus Museum ( Dutch: Vlaams Tram- en Autobusmuseum, abbreviated as VlaTAM) is a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

public transport Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

that exhibits historical

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

s and

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

es. The museum is situated in the Berchem district of Antwerp, in the former tram shed of Groenenhoek, dating from 1912.

History

In 1961, the Tram Museum Association was founded by a group of tram enthusiasts, who in 1962, opened the Buurtspoorwegmuseum, in

Schepdaal Schepdaal is a village and deelgemeente of Dilbeek in Flanders, Belgium. History The oldest mention dates back to 1260, when the area was called Scepdale. Before 1827 Schepdaal was a part of Zierbeek, named after the stream with the same name ...

. As this collection grew a second museum, initially known as the Antwerp Tram and Bus Museum, was opened in Edegem. The tramshed in which the museum is currently housed ceased to be used in 1996, with the collection from Edegem being moved over in 2000, to allow it to be opened as a museum on 5 May 2001. The museum was opened by Steve Stevaert, who was Vice-President of the

Flemish Government The Flemish Government ( ) is the executive branch of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region of Belgium. It consists of a government cabinet, headed by the Minister-President of Flanders, Minister-President and accountable to the Flemish Par ...

and the Flemish Minister of Mobility, Public Works and Energy. The museum is supported by transport company

De Lijn Vlaamse Vervoersmaatschappij De Lijn (, ), more commonly known as De Lijn, is a state-owned enterprise run by the Flemish government in Belgium to provide public transport with about 2240 buses and 399 trams. De Lijn was founded in 1991 after the ...

. It mainly exhibits trams and buses of the Vicinal company, the city tram companies of Antwerp and Ghent, and the various

subcontractor A subcontractor is a person or business which undertakes to perform part or all of the obligations of another's contract, and a subcontract is a contract which assigns part of an existing contract to a subcontractor. A general contractor, prime ...

s of Vicinal and De Lijn. Its collection includes the only surviving gyrobus in the world and the first electric tram built for Antwerp, as well as numerous other artefacts connected to the history of public transport in Belgium. The museum was closed in 2010 for repairs, and reopened to the general public on 16 June 2019 after renovation of the roof of the building. The

archives An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...

and the library of the museum are open by appointment. The museum holds more than 55 vehicles, dating from 1873 to the present day.

References

Museums in Flanders Museums in Antwerp Tram museums Bus museums Transport in Antwerp

External Links

* {{Official website, 1=https://www.vlatam.be/