Article updated 01/05/2025 following a change to the news article from West Midlands Metro where they changed the frequency of the service to standard Sunday timings.
With the West Midlands Metro being an official transport partner of the Great Birmingham Run are encouraging participants and spectators for the event on Sunday 4th May to use the tram. Trams will run as normal up to every 12 minutes to get people to the start line in time.
In this article we feature a small selection of photos taken on Ireland’s only operating tramway – Luas in Dublin. A major success story, this network first opened in 2004 and since then has seen not only extensions built but trams extended and a much bigger fleet of Alstom Citadis trams than that with which it started. Geoff Pickles paid a visit in March.
Article updated 30/04/2025
Manchester Metrolink services haven’t had a great day after an issue with the overhead at Deansgate-Castlefield. Originally described as the loss of power, it was later confirmed that 3132 lost its pantograph leading to the problems.
No trams have been able to run across Manchester City Centre from mid-morning on Tuesday 29th April 2025 after power loss. All services from the outer reaches of the network were terminating short of the city centre, with the Ashton line suspended in its entirety.
Whilst the big news from the Tyne and Wear Metro continues to be the withdrawal of all the fully commissioned new trains for operational issues, there is still a network to run and the latest performance posters had at least seen an improvement in the number of services running on time – whether this is maintained with just the aging Metrocars to operate remains to be seen.
In one of our recent updates from Beamish we featured a photo showing how the tram depot was off limits to allow some work to take place. This is all part of the general upgrade of the depot facilities to make it not only a more pleasant working environment but also to make it safer for the maintenance team when working on the trams.
Sunday 4th and Monday 5th May will see the Crich Tramway Village have a packed programme of springtime fun and fairy dust as part of the “Magical May” event. There will be Spring magic and enhancement for all the family alongside all the usual museum attractions including the operating trams of course.
Its another edition of “Old(er) and New” and we’re back in the city of Manchester to take a look at a T68 and a M5000 in the same place.
We have another look at a tram running in 2025 and this time we feature a photo taken on Edinburgh Trams.
Of all the Blackpool trams which are still extant, only one can call Lincolnshire its home (indeed it’s the only Blackpool trams known to have resided in the county). That tram is Balloon 708 which was acquired by the Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft and travelled east in November 2023. With the Trolleybus Museum opening for its new season for the first time on 5th April, it was a chance to catch-up with the double decker once again in its new home.
The next set of South Yorkshire Supertram engineering works have been announced with work due to take place at Gleadless Townend over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend which (and the good news is that there isn’t long to wait until its here!) is between Saturday 3rd and Monday 5th May 2025.
More photos this week as we head to London Trams for a selection taken earlier this month:
Its not that unusual for the same company/event to advertise on more than one tram, but usually the multiple ads come at around the same time, but not in the case of Soccer Aid and Manchester Metrolink they’re not! Some five weeks since 3031 received the first advert, 3038 has now received another wrap for the same event in an identical style.
Its time for one last photo from Latvia and the tram system in Riga as “Around the World in Trams” continues.
Advertising on tram networks comes in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes it’s a full vinyl wrap or small panels on the trams, and sometimes it involves tramstops. With the Snooker World Championships once again taking place at the Crucible in Sheffield (as it has done since 1977), Supertram have been publishing the event with large adverts on the stop at Sheffield Station/Sheffield Hallam University. Stuart Cooke took a look for us.
We recently ran a report on the forthcoming Family Day set to take place at the Very Light Rail Innovation Centre in Dudley on Saturday 17th May and now it has been confirmed that Coventry City Council will be a leading event partner. As previously reported this partnership will include the first passenger runs of the Coventry Very Light Rail vehicle, with trips being offered on site at the Dudley facility.
The Crich Tramway Village has reached double figures of fully commissioned passenger services with Wednesday 23rd April seeing the return to action of Blackpool 236 for the first time in 2025.
Blackpool’s heritage trams need at least £150,000 of funding if they are to run again in 2025 according to reports in the media (including the BBC). Having been suspended since November 2024 following a full review of their operation by Blackpool Transport Managing Director, Jane Cole, it had been hoped that they may return to the rails this year, but there is currently no funding in place to allow this to happens with warnings that if it isn’t found soon they will miss the complete year from the Prom.
“Picture in Time” remains on the Isle of Man but we go up to the summit of Snaefell for this edition.
The project to create a new Access Tram for Crich has moved a step forward with the official launch of a fundraising which would allow the tram to be completed and in service by spring 2026. This important project would see Blackpool Centenary 645 used to become Access Tram II, as well as retaining capacity for seated passengers.
It was all going so well… The phased introduction of the new trains being built by Stadler for the Tyne and Wear Metro had seen nine of the units enter passenger service between December 2024 and April 2025 but this has now been paused with all of the train taken temporarily out of use. In a statement the reason for their withdrawal has been an operational issue which is now being fully investigated before they can run again.
