Article updated 13/6/23
It was one of busiest weekends of the year in Manchester and with the planned strikes suspended at late notice Metrolink should have been ideally placed to move the crowds around the city. Unfortunately, severe overhead line damage occurred at Victoria leading to major service disruption which continued into Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th June.
We are heading “Out and About” again today as we feature some shots of the Stagecoach Supertram system in Sheffield City Centre.
The second edition of “Manchester Metrolink Then & Now” remains on the Manchester Airport line and indeed remains on Hardy Lane.
It may be a very long time before we can all enjoy a tram ride on the Birmingham Eastside extension (or at least the full route, it continues to be looked at to see if a partial route can be opened) but early June has seen more progress on the construction of the route. We say construction but what we are actually talking about is demolition as it is the parade of shops – which once included a McDonald’s – at King’s Parade, Dale End which has now been fully removed.
The behind the scenes tours of Tramtown – Blackpool Transport’s Rigby Road Depot – remain popular with the twice weekly tours seeing plenty of booking to get the chance to see what is going on at the historic facility. Members of the Fylde Tramway Society were treated to an extra tour on Friday 28th April when they got their own chance to see many trams which have been stored for a number of years. Stuart Cooke was one of those who enjoyed the opportunity to take a look.
This week our photos come from Edinburgh Trams where the Trams to Newhaven extension opened a few days ago.
Since March 2022, Edinburgh Trams 258 has been carrying adverts for their own recruitment as they geared up towards the Trams to Newhaven extension opening. Now, with the line opening to the public and that recruitment having come to an end, it has received revised adverts and publicises the extension with the slogan “Faster – Better – Longer – Cleaner”.
This Saturday evening “Around the World in Trams” stays in Gothenburg as we take another look at a tram operating in that Swedish city.
At the start of May we reported on the overhaul of Blackpool Coronation 304 which at the time was edging closer to a return with the tantalising prospect that further testing would be taking place to allow it to take its place in the operating fleet once more. The owners of the tram, the Fylde Transport Trust, have recently given an update on this work which has hit a slight delay but only one which should knock things back by around four weeks.
A few weeks ago we brought you the news that Stagecoach Supertram 116 had received a new advertising livery promoting the Park and Ride sites available across the network. At that time it hadn’t entered service and the photos we included were of it stabled in the tram depot but not long after that was published it did enter service and we can now feature it out on the system.
Members of the West Midlands Combined Authority are to be asked to agree a new funding package which will enable the second phase of the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill West Midlands Metro extension to start construction. The project was split into two distinct phases last year after increased costs meant that funding was no longer available for the complete length of the line, and now it appears that it could be a three phase project if this latest funding package is agreed.
The Department for Transport have announced an extraordinary funding settlement for Transport in Greater Manchester with an additional £18 million being awarded to the region to go towards protecting vital services. The funding has been awarded after lobbying from leaders in Greater Manchester along the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has bemoaned the fact that it is a lower percentage in funding than that awarded to London.
“Picture in Time” returns to Blackpool for the next few weeks as we feature another excellent set of photos from Donald Brooks of how things used to be on the tramway – at a time when this was the only operating public service tramway in the UK.
The Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust are now just looking to dispose of two remaining trams from their collection at Wyre Dock after Centenary 641 and Railcoach 678 departed following component recovery. This process has provided valuable parts for other preserved trams and would seem to be the best possible outcome when you consider there was no serious prospect of either tram being preserved in their own right.
This trip to the Crich Tramway Village was on Sunday 19th March 2023 not long after the season had got underway when there was a three tram service featuring Glasgow 22, Leeds 180 and Leeds 399. Photos from Stuart Cooke.
There will be no trams running to Phoenix Park over the weekend of 17th and 18th June with overhead line maintenance scheduled to take place.
Edinburgh Trams are now running in passenger service all the way between Edinburgh Airport and Newhaven after the opening of the Trams to Newhaven extension as planned at midday on Wednesday 7th June. There were almost simultaneous departures from each end of the line with the first passengers able to buy special platinum tickets from the machines at both Picardy Place and Newhaven tramstops.
West Midlands Metro services will be subject to changes during June 2023 with work being undertaken at Five Ways underpass and also at Dudley Street and Dartmouth Street.
The planned strikes due to affect Manchester Metrolink services on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th June have been suspended. Normal services will now run all weekend with some stops being temporarily closed – the link at the end of the article gives full details (original article is still included below).
It has been confirmed that no Manchester Metrolink services will run on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th June with Unite the Union confirming that their members will be going on strike on these days.
You turn away your attention from the West Midlands Metro for 30 seconds and another tram arrives! 49 is the latest Urbos100 to have made the trip from Spain with it turning up at Wednesbury Depot on Tuesday 6th June – the fourth delivery in the past month including one a week for the past three weeks!
