Blackpool Railcoach 679 Farewell Tour
On Saturday 29th November 2008 a farewell tour was held on the Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramway for Railcoach 679 which was due to enter preservation with the Lancastrian Transport Trust. Fellow LTT tram Coronation 304 was also used during the day which saw several trips between Tower and Thornton Gate before a late afternoon/early evening Bispham-Fleetwood-Starr Gate-Foxhall Square-Depot trip with both of the trams. Unfortunately 304 suffered a trolley wheel fault and so was unable to do the final Fleetwood run meaning 679 worked this part solo with a little help from LTT’s preserved bus 529. The day was met with freezing fog throughout but that didn’t detract from what was a very enjoyable day – if not cold! On the following pages there are several photos from the day including both the aforementioned trams as well as a few other shots from the day. Photos are taken by British Trams Online Webmaster Gareth Prior and Mark Jobling. The plan is now for the tram to be restored in original condition as English Electric Railcoach 279 in time for the 2010 125th Anniversary celebrations. For this to happen money is required by the LTT and details of how you can help with this – and the other projects they are involved in – can be found here. You can navigate between the photos by using the links at either the top of the page (just above this box) or at the bottom of the page "Next Page of Photos" or "Previous Page of Photos"). As always please enjoy the photos and comments are, as always, appreciated at the usual email address.