The museum's very own Mack snowplough was out clearing our arena today! The Mack has been our most popular climb aboard exhibit for a staggering 25 years! Two generations of people have practised driving it. Just think about it, a ten year old in 1985 would be 35 now! We estimate that 625000 youngsters have climbed aboard over the years. Next season it will be giving rides for the first time... a chance for some of that 625000 to have a real 'shottie'.

CLOSED SEASON The Grampian Transport Museum is now closed for the season. Although the doors are closed, work still continues as we prepare the museum for next year, with new and exciting exhibitions! Even though we are busy, all enquiries will be responded to, so don't be afraid to contact us if you have any questions   The museum will re-open for the 2011 season on Friday the 1st of April. OCTOBER OCTOBER HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES The October school holidays are always good fun at the GTM. This year a special Halloween theme has been adopted with quizzes and competitions for our younger visitors. The museum is actually quite frightening! Of special interest to parents and grandparents with their young charges will be our ACTIVITY DAY on Thursday 21st October. We have gathered together some great extras for visitors to produce an action packed afternoon! Outside we will be offering, free of charge, rides for visitors on our remarkable 1890 Horse Brake. This is a large 20 seat horse drawn carriage that will be pulled by a pair of massive Clydesdales. Brakes, also known as Station Brakes were the type of horse carriage that replaced Stagecoaches after the arrival of railways from about 1840 as they collected passengers from railway stations to continue their journey. We will also have our road train running as a great favourite with the very young! Also, for the first time, we have on site for the afternoon an amazing flight simulator that captures the essence of a ride aboard an RAF HARRIER vertical take off jet fighter. This is the ultimate in simulation and not to be missed. The simulator has been kindly sponsored by BDP oil & Gas Logistics and Lawrence of Kemnay and so is offered at a fraction the normally high ticket price. (The guys from Lawrence of Kemnay will be exhibiting the new 4 door Subaru WRX and others in the range... for the grown ups!) Inside the main building will be Halloween based arts and crafts, tattoos and a party atmosphere. The Traveller’s Rest Tea Room with its new displays of Dinkey toys will be in full swing as will the ever popular now fully restored 1923 Mortier Dance Organ. The museum opens at 10am and outside activities start at 12.30pm. SEPTEMBER OCTOBER HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES Looking forward to the October holidays? During the October break, we will be running a programme of exciting activities including some great new ideas! The daily activities will be building towards the activity day on the 21st of October which will feature a whole host of exciting activities including rides on horse-drawn vehicles! The museum's 1890 20-seater horse bus will be pulled by a pair of Clydesdales named Jamie and Harry! 2011 23-09-2010 To kick off the 2011 membership year, we will be hosting a 'Winter Warmer' party here at the museum. On the 15th of January 2011 in the Collections Centre, members will be treated (FOC) to a great night complete with stovies, mulled wine, locally brewed beer and live music. There are limited spaces available and this party is for 2011 members only, so it's a great incentive to renew your membership early, or to become a member of the museum for the first time! More information will be released closer to the time.   The bidding process for event dates next season is already underway and dates are quickly being snapped up. Confirmed so far, 2011 will feature SpeedFest, the Grampian Motorcycle Convention, Ride-On!, a new cycling event, an equestrian event and there are plans to host a 'Street and Custom Cars' show. It's going to be an exciting year!   As far as the museum's exhibition goes, proposals include refreshing our Coaching and Cars for the Future exhibitions, and replacing the Motor Spirit exhibition with a 'Chronology of the Cycle' exhibition. This new, interesting display will stress the importance of the early cycling lobby in paving the way for the motorcar by keeping roads open in the wake of the railway boom. THE GRAMPIAN MOTORCYCLE CONVENTION The North's Premier Motorcycle Event Sunday 5th September 11am to 5pm   Another season has almost passed us by, and with it, another bike convention. And what a success it was! The sun shone as thousands of bikers descended upon Alford for the event which was jam-packed full of displays, trade stands and bikes of all shapes, sizes and ages. A fantastic and exciting Arena programme kept the action flowing with various stunt shows, displays, bike pursuits and of course, the famous Moped Marathon! We had nearly 5000 people through the gates, just 1000 short of our record crowd of 1999 (and the best since!), which was boosted by the performances of British superbike champion Niall Mckenzie.   Scotland's Cycle Stunt Team - 'The Clan' - wow the crowd with their display   The Supermotos go off-road     Car park full of bikes   Parking was a bit short!     THE GRAMPIAN MOTORCYCLE CONVENTION The North's Premier Motorcycle Event Sunday 5th September 11am to 5pm The Grampian Motorcycle Convention is fast approaching. You better get geared up for another fantastic motorcycle event!   This year, the convention is being organised by the Bon Accord Motorcycle Club and more details can be found on www.grampianmotorcycleconvention.com   The convention will feature vintage, classic and modern bike parades, classic racer demonstrations, trade shows, arena trials, super motos and the famous Scottish Championship Moped Marathon!   This event is not suitable for dogs, but dogs will be allowed entry on a lead and under close control.   AUGUST CLACHAN YELL ARENA CONCERT 25-08-2010 The Arena Concert held at the museum last weekend was a roaring success. Clachan Yell, Sandi Thom, The Willie G Trio and The Brothers Reid all performed fantastically to a large crowd on what was luckily the only nice day of the Summer! We learned a great deal from it and already have plans to put on a similar yet better show next year!       CLACHAN YELL 11-08-2010 FAMILY FUN DAY 05-08-2010 Wednesday, the 11th of August is the museum's family fun day. A great day out for the whole family with a host of great performances and activities! MID SEASON CAR BOOT SALE AND AUTOJUMBLE 04-08-2010 This Sunday, the 8th of August, is our mid-season car boot sale and autojumble and will feature everything! Come along and grab yourself a bargain! PERFORMANCE AND SPORTS CAR RIDES 30-07-2010 This Wednesday, the 4th of August, the museum is hosting its second Perfromance and Sports Car afternoons from 13:30 to 16:00, included in your museum admission. Come along for a fantastic afternoon! JULY VINTAGE CAVALCADE 26-07-2010 The 'other half' of Motorvation!, our Vintage Cavalcade, has now flown by! Yet again we had a fantastic entry of interesting, beautiful and some outright strange examples of vehicles (petrol and steam powered!) from the turn of the 20th century right up to 1955. Participants enjoyed a refreshing road run in the morning, circling round the glorious Grampian countryside before heading to the event at the centre. Various demonstrations occupied the arena in the afternoon, showing off the speed and handling of vehicles from various decades. Major Tim Lloyd, a 1930's Sentinel salesman, got caught in the Tardis and ended up trying to sell the crowd a Sentinel DG6, which had made the trip to the event all the way from Elgin (a 120 mile round trip in a 30mph steamer!) Thanks to our sponsors and everyone who attended and helped run an interesting event!       VINTAGE CAVALCADE 15-07-2010 The Vintage Cavalcade is approaching fast and we're gearing up for another great event. Come along to see a varied and interesting collection of pre-1955 cars, steamers and commercials. With a full arena programme, various trade stands and the special appearance of the 'Slinger', the Vintage Cavalcade should be fantastic! The Slinger PERFORMANCE AND SPORTS CAR RIDES 09-07-2010 This Wednesday, the museum is hosting its first Perfromance and Sports Car afternoons from 13:30 to 16:00, included in your museum admission. Come along for a fantastic afternoon! HORSE POWER 08-07-2010 Due to circumstances out of our control, we are afraid we have to cancel the Horse Power event this year. All being well though, we will run the event in 2011. CLACHAN YELL 06-07-2010 JUNE HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES This Summer the museum has a host of holiday activities for the whole family! A selection of quizzes and competitions will be ongoing throughout the Summer break. Great fun for kids of all ages! Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon (13:30 to 16:00), you will be able to have a ride round our circuit on a vintage vehicle, included with your admission ticket! We also have two performance and sports car days planned for Wednesday the 14th of July and Wednesday the 4th of August (again 13:30 to 16:00) and not forgetting our Family Fun Day on Wednesday the 11th of August! GREENPOWER F24 15-06-2010 Another Greenpower has come and gone! The weather wasn't as good as expected, but the kids still had a great time. There was a fantastic display of engineering and driving skills across the weekend, from everyone involved! Please check the Greenpower website for more information. MAY VINTAGE CAVALCADE 24-05-2010 Now SpeedFest has past, we are starting to look towards the other half of it: the pre-1955 Vintage Cavalcade. Entries are coming in quickly although there are still many places available. If you have a pre 1955 motorcar or commercial that you would like to exhibit at this exciting new event, then contact the Grampian Transport Museum now for entry information! Keep an eye on the website and the events page for more info as it becomes available! SPEEDFEST 18-05-2010 SpeedFest was a fantastic day out with a spectacular display. It was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone and already has us looking to the future! For further information and detail please click here! APRIL SPEEDFEST 09-04-2010 SpeedFest is fast approaching and is looking to be a fantastic event! It will feature a selection of a hundred post-1955 classic, sports, performance and competition cars (with some notable pre-1955 cars included to set the scene.) For more information, please click here! SPRING AUTOJUMBLE 01-04-2010 This Sunday is our first annual event, the Spring Autojumble and automobilia fair. It will feature around 50 stalls selling everything associated with land travel and transport from small parts to complete vehicles. Come along and pick yourself up a bargain! LAWSON GATHERING 28-03-2010 The first day of the season was a huge excess, despite the grim weather! Many people attended the launch of our new 'Craigievar Express' book including members of Postie Lawson's family, some from as far away as Austrailia. To coincide with the launch of the book, the Express was steamed for the first time in several years and was demonstrated on our track!         MUSEUM OPENING 2010 28-03-2010 The museum is now open for the 2010 season! Come along and see our new exhibition including the two new temporary exhibitions, 'The Coaching Era' and 'Cars for the Future'.   JANUARY BREAKING NEWS! 20-01-2010 SpeedFest Top quality performance and sports car show Jaguar roadshow of 6 historic racers including C-types and D-types coming to Alford from the Mile Miglia in Turin, sponsored by Stratstone Jaguar, Scots Bearings and Overton Vehicle Recycling, stunt driving by the world's best, Russ Swift, sponsored by the John Clark Group (Mini), supercar pursuit, supercar rides, 2 car classic autotests, trade stands, simulators, and children's rides! EXHIBITION NEWS! 18-01-2010 The Coaching Era This exhibition will include the recently acquired 'Moffat Hero' stage coach, a Mail Coach and a couple of good examples of private carriages. It will tell the story of road improvements, turnpike trusts, first horse-drawn public transport, stage coaches, moving the mail and the use of horses and coaching inns for long scheduled journeys. Two 'larger than life' characters from the period will be included to tell the human story: Aberdeenshire's Captain Barclay of Ury with his 'Defiance' Stage Coach service and Edinburgh's John Croall, the biggest and most determined stage coach proprietor in Scotland. Cars for the Future This temporary exhibition will probe the future of the car. It has been requested by our education sector users! We are asking relevant organisations for assistance in presenting some topical and current material: power trains, models, electric vehicles, duel fuel and eco vehicles etc. We intend to run this show for 3 years but to refresh it for every season to keep it right up to date, current and topical. The timing is perfect as eco friendly cars are poised to appear in numbers on British roads over the next few years. EV technology in particular will be fully explored. We would like to acknowledge and thank the Postal Heritage Museum (British Postal Museum and Archive), the Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon, Jaguar Heritage, Mitsubishi Cars, Peugeot, Renault and Aberdeen City Museums for exhibit loans. NEW EXHIBITIONS 04-01-2010 Inside the museum we are putting together two new special exhibitions. 'The Coaching Era' and 'Cars for the Future'. More information can be found on their relative pages. If anyone has any material or information that can help, please contact us! MUSEUM OPENING 2010 01-01-2010 The museum will re-open for the 2010 season on Sunday the 28th of March. To mark the occasion, we will be steaming Postie Lawson's beloved Craigievar Express for the first time in 5 years after it has had important restoration work during the Winter period. This is to coincide with a Lawson family gathering, including family members from as far away from Australia!         Connect with us on Follow us on