In 1948, a group of tramway enthusiasts decided to buy an open top tram that they had been on during the last tram ride of Southampton Tramways. For just £10, they bought Southampton No. 45, Although there were trams and locomotives in British museums, there were no working museums or heritage railways in Britain at this time, so at first the idea of amateurs running a tramway or railway seemed impossible. In 1955 the Tramway Museum Society was started and in 1959, the Society chose a place for the museum after a very long search. The site was found by the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society when they were taking apart the old track from George Stephenson's railway for a project in Wales.