Dundee’s newest tourist attraction, the Dundee Museum of Transport, was launched in spectacular style at the weekend, with thousands of visitors packing into the Market Street premises.
The museum officially opened its doors to the public on Saturday with a gala display of classic cars, vans, lorries, buses and tramcars delighting more than 1,000 paying visitors.
It was an even bigger attendance on Sunday, with more than 1,500 people turning up to see a spectacular classic car rally which was joined by around 200 vintage vehicles.
Photo gallery: Dundee Museum of Transport enjoys busy opening weekend
Management committee member Matthew Jackson said the weekend had surpassed their expectations.
“It was very successful, much more successful than we thought it would be,” he said.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=H2ia2WUvnk0%3Frel%3D0
“Today’s been even better and busier than Saturday, it’s a fantastic start with fantastic crowds and it’s all gone like clockwork. We’re very pleased with the way it’s gone.”
One of these is the last surviving horse-drawn Dundee tram, which was rescued from a Perth Garden earlier this year and brought back to the museum to be fully restored.
Since its establishment in 2010, the support for the museum has grown significantly, including the announcement last month of a working partnership with National Express Dundee.
Chairman Jimmy McDonnell said: “It has been a long and incredibly busy road for us and we are really excited to bring such a fantastic visitor attraction to Dundee, tapping into the local culture and transport history, not only for Dundee but beyond.
“However, in order for us to be able to fulfil our mission objective of acquiring the old Maryfield Tram Depot for our permanent home, we will be relying heavily on the success of our current premises to comply with the strict requirements set out by the Heritage Lottery Fund and to ensure that our hard work to get to this stage pays off.
“We ask that the people of Dundee take some time to come down to visit and appreciate the local history that we have on show some exhibits that have never seen daylight or public viewership before.”