Dundee Transport Museum move is sign of life beyond city centre

For a long time, Dundee didn’t have a transport museum, and it always puzzled me.

When you think back to Dundee in its industrial heyday, you think about jute and jam. But maybe you also picture city centre streets filled with trams hurtling back and forth.

One of my favourite books in primary school was called Time Tram Dundee. It was written by local author and poet Matthew Fitt and it made for a fantastic journey through the history of the city and its people.

It was obvious even to my childish eyes that Dundee should have a place to showcase these old vehicles that played such an important role in the city’s social history.

And of course, that became the case when the Dundee Museum of Transport opened its doors in 2014 at a site near Dundee’s City Quay.

The writer Andrew Batchelor next to a quote: "A lot of the criticism that I hear is from people complaining that every notable Dundee tourist attraction is in roughly the same area."

Since opening, it has been a brilliant addition to the city, and has done a great job of promoting the city’s transport heritage.

Touring its collection of old buses, cars and bikes, along with some of the street signs that used to guide Dundonians back in the day, is like stepping into a time capsule that transports you back to the way life used to be.

But on my most recent visit, it was a newer addition that caught my eye – one that transports visitors into a possible future for the museum.

Next stop Maryfield for Dundee Transport Museum

I’m talking about a promotional board showcasing an artist’s impression of what the museum’s proposed move to the former Maryfield Tram Depot could look like.

artist's impression of interior of new Dundee museum of transport — Dundee Museum of Transport design plans for Maryfield Tram Depot

Artist impression of exterior of new Dundee Museum of Transport — How the new Dundee Museum of Transport might look from the outside.

The plans looked fascinating. So to hear the news that the move has now been approved fills me with joy.

The proposal opens up so many exciting opportunities to the team who run the museum.

It gives them a much-needed boost in size, which will allow them to showcase even more of Dundee’s historic transport heritage.

And it is fitting that this museum will be housed within a depot which used to store the vehicles that were once the last word in public transport.

black and white photo of trams on streets of Dundee — Trams were once a common sight in Dundee.

But I am also delighted that this move will give us another attraction which sits outside the Dundee waterfront area.

There’s more to Dundee than the waterfront

Anything that encourages visitors to venture out beyond the waterfront and city centre has to be good news.

A lot of the criticism that I hear is from people complaining that every notable Dundee tourist attraction is in roughly the same area.

That simply isn’t the case.

exterior of Maryfield tram depot, Dundee. — The old Maryfield tram depot off Forfar Road, Dundee, proposed site for the new transport museum.

There are fantastic reasons to visit Dundee wherever you care to look for them.

But the new improved transport museum will be a very obvious example to point the critics towards in future.

That’s why it’s so exciting to see the plans for the Maryfield Tram Depot. And it will be great to see the Dundee Museum of Transport get the space and recognition it so rightly deserves.