Author Archives: Andrew Waddington

In Pictures: Trackwork completed at Crich

Posted on Sunday 11 February 2018 by Andrew Waddington

The winter track renewal work at Crich Tramway Village has now been completed, and on Saturday 10th February, London Tramlink 058 was used to test the new rails, before completing a full run along the entire length of the demonstration … Continue reading →

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In Pictures: Yet more shunting at Crich on February 10th!

Posted on Saturday 10 February 2018 by Andrew Waddington

Barely a week seems to go by without a fairly major shunting operation at Crich Tramway Village, and the latest such exercise took place on Saturday 10th February. Depot 2 is currently devoid of trams due to the ongoing depot … Continue reading →

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In Pictures: First Gold event of 2018 in Blackpool

Posted on Thursday 1 February 2018 by Andrew Waddington

Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours kicked off 2018 in splendid style on the weekend of 27th & 28th January, with a special ‘Gold’ weekend featuring a regular service to Starr Gate and a larger than usual number of heritage tours operating … Continue reading →

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In Pictures: Triple tram hire in Blackpool

Posted on Friday 26 January 2018 by Andrew Waddington

One week ahead of the first public running day for Blackpool’s heritage trams in 2018, a particularly interesting private hire took place for an enthusiast’s birthday, utilising three different trams across the day. Most noteworthy of all was the inclusion … Continue reading →

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Tram allocations revealed for first Blackpool ‘gold’ event of 2018

Posted on Thursday 25 January 2018 by Andrew Waddington

The first ‘Gold’ operating weekend of 2018 for Blackpool’s Heritage Tram Tours is almost upon us, and following the exciting news that a heritage service will operate over the entire system on Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th January, the planned … Continue reading →

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In Pictures: Shunting in the snow at Crich

Posted on Wednesday 24 January 2018 by Andrew Waddington

With further significant progress on the depot refurbishment works at Crich Tramway Village, yet another major shunting operation took place at the home of the National Tramway Museum on Saturday 20th January. Depot 4 now appears to be completed, enabling … Continue reading →

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In Pictures: LCC 1 restoration progress

Posted on Wednesday 24 January 2018 by Andrew Waddington

Whilst the big news from Crich Tramway Village this winter may be the ongoing depot refurbishment works – more on which will appear on this website shortly – the reconstruction of London County Council 1, alias ‘Bluebird’, has certainly not … Continue reading →

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In Pictures: Winter work on Blackpool Vanguard 619

Posted on Friday 12 January 2018 by Andrew Waddington

Since its arrival at Heaton Park in June 2010, Blackpool Replica Vanguard 619 has been an extremely useful and popular member of the Manchester tramway’s fleet. However, a period of outside storage (although with its open sides boarded up for … Continue reading →

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Standard 147 in the works

Posted on Friday 12 January 2018 by Andrew Waddington

Since its return to Blackpool almost a year ago after a highly successful and popular loan period at Beamish Museum, not much has been seen or heard of Standard car 147. On its return it was decided to carry out … Continue reading →

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Trams to be restored for Fleetwood dockyard tramway scheme?

Posted on Wednesday 10 January 2018 by Andrew Waddington

The Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust has recently announced ambitious plans to carry out major restoration work on some of its collection of ex-Blackpool trams, for operation on a brand new line at Fleetwood. This is part of a radical new … Continue reading →

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Crich depot re-roofed

Posted on Monday 8 January 2018 by Andrew Waddington

The project to improve the main tram depots at Crich Tramway Village is coming along very nicely indeed, with the new roof now in place over the entire complex comprising Depots 2, 3 & 4. This work was actually completed … Continue reading →

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‘Winter Gold’ heritage service extends to Starr Gate

Posted on Monday 8 January 2018 by Andrew Waddington

In a welcome development, Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours have announced that their first two ‘Gold’ operating weekends of 2018 will feature a heritage tram service along New South Promenade. From 1020 until 1620 on each day, there will be a … Continue reading →

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In Pictures: Brush cars bring 2017 to a close for the heritage fleet

Posted on Friday 5 January 2018 by Andrew Waddington

The last public operation by the heritage trams in Blackpool consisted of three ‘Santa Special’ running days on Saturdays 9th, 16th & 23rd December. However, that wasn’t quite the end of the year for the heritage fleet as on 30th … Continue reading →

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A bus to join the National Tramway Museum collection?

Posted on Friday 22 December 2017 by Andrew Waddington

It appears that the Tramway Museum Society is set to diversify its collection at Crich Tramway Village, home of the National Tramway Museum – with plans now afoot for the first ever bus to join the permanent vehicle fleet! No, … Continue reading →

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Balloon 711 on standby for snow

Posted on Friday 22 December 2017 by Andrew Waddington

It is traditional for the Blackpool tramway to prepare for possible snowfalls by equipping two Balloon cars with snowploughs. Last year saw 711 from the B Fleet selected for this role, and it has been chosen again this year. The … Continue reading →

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Glasgow 488 restoration update

Posted on Thursday 21 December 2017 by Andrew Waddington

Not a lot has been written about the progress on the restoration of tramcar Glasgow 488 at the Boston Lodge railway works in Wales, for eventual operation at the East Anglia Transport Museum, on this website for some time – … Continue reading →

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In Pictures: Unusual moves at Starr Gate

Posted on Wednesday 20 December 2017 by Andrew Waddington

There has been some disruption to the Blackpool tramway’s southern terminus at Starr Gate this week, with a short section of the northbound running line closed at this end of the line on 19th & 20th December. During this time … Continue reading →

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Flexity 018 completes Blackpool’s latest tram order

Posted on Monday 18 December 2017 by Andrew Waddington

Following hot on the heels (wheels?) of 017, Blackpool’s tram fleet expanded again on Friday 15th December, with the arrival of Flexity 018 – the second of the two brand new trams ordered from Bombardier to assist with service demands … Continue reading →

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Trams move in and out of the Crich workshop

Posted on Monday 11 December 2017 by Andrew Waddington

As reported previously, some further shunting of various trams took place at Crich Tramway Village on Saturday 25th November ready for the next phase of the depot refurbishment work to get underway. However, there were also a few trams being … Continue reading →

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Santa joins Heritage Tram Tours

Posted on Monday 11 December 2017 by Andrew Waddington

Father Christmas took time out of his extremely busy schedule to make the first of three visits to Blackpool on Saturday 9th December, when the Heritage Tram Tours team operated the first of their 2017 ‘Santa Specials’. This saw a … Continue reading →

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