In Pictures: Driver Training gets underway on West Midlands Metro

Posted on Tuesday 29 August 2023 by Gareth Prior

Trams are now running to Wolverhampton Railway Station on a regular basis – but its not quite time for passengers to enjoy the ride on the new line as an intensive period of driver training is underway ahead of services starting within the next few weeks. Driver training started on Tuesday 29th August and whilst this is good long-term news it does mean that no trams will be running in passenger service beyond The Royal for now.

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Posted in West Midlands Metro | 5 Comments

Work to refurbish Cullercoats Metro Station underway

Posted on Tuesday 29 August 2023 by Gareth Prior

Nexus are investing £579,000 in a major refurbishment programme of Cullercoats Tyne and Wear Station. Work is now underway on the project which is mainly focused on the restoration of the Victorian era footbridge.

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In Pictures: Another day at the East Anglia Transport Museum

Posted on Monday 28 August 2023 by Gareth Prior

In this pictorial article we head back once again to the East Anglia Transport Museum for views taken on Sunday 23rd July 2023. This was a standard operating day at the museum and as many reading these pages will be aware that means two trams and a trolleybus in action, and that was the case again on the day of Bryan Grint’s visit.

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Out and About: Manchester Metrolink around Victoria – June 2023

Posted on Monday 28 August 2023 by Gareth Prior

This instalment of “Out and About” is in Manchester as we take a look at a few trams running on Metrolink around Victoria Station.

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Stop by Stop Edinburgh Trams: Newhaven extension – The Shore

Posted on Sunday 27 August 2023 by Gareth Prior

Onwards we go as we travel along Edinburgh Trams’ Newhaven extension. We have now reached the fourth stop on the line at The Shore.

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Edinburgh Trams engineering works to see service change this September

Posted on Sunday 27 August 2023 by Gareth Prior

Services on the Edinburgh Trams network will be revised in the evening and early morning at the start of September to allow essential engineering works to take place. To minimise disruption the works will take place in 12 hour shifts overnight and during the work there will be no trams between Edinburgh Park Station and Edinburgh Airport.

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Out and About: Stagecoach Supertram – June 2023

Posted on Sunday 27 August 2023 by Gareth Prior

We are back “Out and About” today with a trip to Sheffield on the cards for us.

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In Pictures: Midland Metro 10 in storage at Long Marston

Posted on Saturday 26 August 2023 by Gareth Prior

At last year’s Rail Live event held at Long Marston, Midland Metro T69 10 was a surprise inclusion in the events as it was used by the British Transport Police for a demonstration using armed police officers. For this it received a repaint into a special livery, the third different livery it had carried during its lifetime. 12 months later and another Rail Live event has taken place and whilst 10 didn’t play an active role this time it is still on site as seen in the below photos.

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Around the World in Trams: Turin 6011

Posted on Saturday 26 August 2023 by Gareth Prior

Staying in the Italian city of Turin for this week’s “Around the World in Trams”.

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Crich receive Travellers Choice Award

Posted on Saturday 26 August 2023 by Gareth Prior

Crich Tramway Village have recently received a Tripadvisor 2023 Travellers’ Choice Award, based on reviews given on Tripadvisor over the last 12 months. The coveted award celebrates businesses that have consistently received great traveller reviews in the past year, placing these winners within the 10% of all listings on Tripadvisor.

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Havering Council to look into possibility of trams

Posted on Friday 25 August 2023 by Gareth Prior

Havering Council – in East London comprising areas including Romford and Hornchurch – launched a vision for improving infrastructure in the borough and Thames Corridor earlier this year at an event held at the Palace of Westminster. This vision will include development of business in the area as well as improving transport links, including the potential for a tram system.

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Picture in Time: Croydon Tramlink construction

Posted on Friday 25 August 2023 by Gareth Prior

“Picture in Time” continues in Croydon this week with another image taken during the initial construction of Tramlink in the late 1990s.

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In Pictures: Booking.com go double on Metrolink

Posted on Thursday 24 August 2023 by Gareth Prior

Another recognisable global brand have decided to use the power of advertising on a UK tramway with Booking.com taking out a contract for two identical adverts on Manchester Metrolink. The firms vinyls have now been wrapped on both 3031 and 3089 with the two trams having been first seen in service in this condition during mid-August.

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Tram allocations confirmed for Blackpool’s next Enhanced Weekend

Posted on Thursday 24 August 2023 by Gareth Prior

The August Bank Holiday weekend will see the latest Enhanced Weekend of operation for Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours with the heritage trams due to be operating various journeys between Pleasure Beach and Fleetwood over all three days between Saturday 26th and Monday 28th August.

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They’ve Run in 2023!

Posted on Thursday 24 August 2023 by Gareth Prior

Having last taken a look at which heritage trams have run in passenger service in British Isles during 2023 at the start of June you’d think almost three months later that there may be quite a few changes? In this latest update we see that its been a fairly consistent picture in most locations although the Isle of Man is the outlier with quite a few changes to report there. As always the aim of this article is to feature all tramways in the British Isles and to show which trams have run in passenger service so far this year. To qualify it has to have run with passengers on board so private hires count but not testing. If you notice and errors or omissions please let us know by using the contact details at the bottom of the article.

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Posted in Beamish Tramway, Birkenhead Heritage Tramway, Black Country Living Museum, Blackpool Tramway, Burton & Ashby 14, Crich Tramway Village, Douglas Bay Horse Tramway, East Anglia Transport Museum, Great Orme Tramway, Heaton Park Tramway, Manx Electric Railway, Seaton Tramway, Snaefell Mountain Railway, Summerlee Museum Tramway, They Ran in 2023, Volk's Electric Railway | Comments Off on They’ve Run in 2023!

In Pictures: 29 the latest tram to head to Worksop

Posted on Wednesday 23 August 2023 by Gareth Prior

The continued movement of Urbos3 trams from West Midlands Metro’s Wednesbury Depot to storage at Worksop has seen 29 become the latest tram to make the move. This is at least the third (and possibly the fourth) of the repaired Urbos3 trams which have made the move to Nottinghamshire for temporary storage.

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Posted in West Midlands Metro | 3 Comments

In Pictures: Lowestoft 14’s restoration continues

Posted on Wednesday 23 August 2023 by Gareth Prior

Over the past year or so the East Anglia Transport Museum tram collection has been increasing with a number of new additions in the form of three trams from Blackpool (Brush Cars 625 and 627 and Balloon 726) whilst Glasgow 488 (top deck only) has also arrived at the site in Carlton Colville. But there is another tram which has been seeing attention for a number of years and is still being worked on with a view to it too being prepared for service in the future. That tram is local car Lowestoft 14.

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Derby 1 returns home!

Posted on Tuesday 22 August 2023 by Gareth Prior

Back on 31st May there was a surprise arrival at Crich as Derby 1 was delivered from the Clay Cross store. At the time it was said that it was back for conservation work ahead of an exciting project and with the tram now having left it has been announced exactly what that is. The tram has returned back home to the city of Derby where it is to be displayed at “Great Northern Classics” which is in a building which was once a tram trolleybus.

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Marathon runner to run the entire Tyne and Wear Metro network

Posted on Tuesday 22 August 2023 by Gareth Prior

Ben Cook, 30, from West Moor is to take on the ultimate running challenge as he runs the entire route of the Tyne and Wear Metro over two days. He will run 63 miles over the August Bank Holiday weekend as preparation for a 100 mile ultra marathon he’s due to take part in during September.

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In Pictures: Resurfacing works underway on West Midlands Metro

Posted on Monday 21 August 2023 by Gareth Prior

For those of you who follow the West Midlands Metro closely the saga of the Wolverhampton extension needs no introduction. The much delayed (and pretty short) extension is still awaiting the time when trams may start running (or indeed see extensive testing take place) but the middle of August did some progress with the resurfacing of Piper’s Row.

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Posted in West Midlands Metro | 8 Comments