Stop by Stop Nottingham Express Transit: Hucknall & Phoenix Park – Butler’s Hill

Posted on Sunday 19 March 2023 by Gareth Prior

We now reach the penultimate stop on the way to Hucknall in this instalment of “Stop by Stop”.

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In Pictures: A little bit of snow at Beamish

Posted on Sunday 19 March 2023 by Gareth Prior

Whilst further south there was major disruption caused by snow (with Crich having to delay their 2023 opening by two days) up in the northeast of England, whilst there was snow of the white stuff which came down, it was far lighter and just added to the photos at Beamish!

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NET ticket prices to increase

Posted on Sunday 19 March 2023 by Gareth Prior

Ticket prices on Nottingham Express Transit are set to increase from April; although the exact rise has yet to be announced. The news that this would be happening was revealed in a verbal statement at the recent Greater Nottingham Light Rail Advisory Committee from operators Tramlink Nottingham.

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What’s New on British Trams Online? 19th March 2023

Posted on Sunday 19 March 2023 by Gareth Prior

We’re off to the West Midlands Metro again for this week’s set of photos:

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West Midlands Metro Brierley Hill extension gets a boost in the budget

Posted on Saturday 18 March 2023 by Gareth Prior

Amongst the higher profile childcare and pension announcements in the UK budget on 15th March was a small announcement that the West Midlands Metro extension to Brierley Hill would get a further £60 million in funding. This comes as part of the Deeper Devolution Deal and whilst it does not cover the shortfall its hoped it will be used as a springboard to secure the rest of the cash to complete the line.

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Around the World in Trams: Santa Cruz 21

Posted on Saturday 18 March 2023 by Gareth Prior

We head back to Europe for the next location in “Around the World in Trams” and it’s the sunny climate of Santa Cruz de Tenerife that we’ll be staying in.

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Another small improvement in Metro performance

Posted on Saturday 18 March 2023 by Gareth Prior

There have been another four weeks since we last reported on the performance of the Tyne and Wear Metro which means another poster has been put up at stations on the network to give another update of how things are going. As with last time there has been an increase in the figures but its only a minor change and still a lot of room for further improvement; maybe with the removal of peak time extras permanently there will be a bigger increase next time?

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Performance and passengers up on NET

Posted on Saturday 18 March 2023 by Gareth Prior

Its almost time for another meeting of the Greater Nottingham Light Rail Transit Advisory Committee which means that its also time for the public release of the latest report of performance and other issues with Nottingham Express Transit. There is good news in this report as it shows that not only performance but passenger numbers have increased.

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Manx Electric Railway starts running in its 130th anniversary year

Posted on Friday 17 March 2023 by Gareth Prior

Wednesday 14th March saw the Manx Electric Railway start operation for another year – a year in which it will celebrate its 130th anniversary! It was three car timetable B which was running on the first day and that timetable is due to be used for the rest of March (no service Mondays or Fridays) before things start to pick up with more intensive services from the start of next April.

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Tyne and Wear Metro timetable to change as fleet reliability falls

Posted on Friday 17 March 2023 by Gareth Prior

Nexus have announced that a new timetable is to be introduced on the Tyne and Wear Metro. In effect this means that fewer trains will be run at peak times with the extra services which run between Pelaw and Monkseaton no longer operating.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Boat 606

Posted on Friday 17 March 2023 by Gareth Prior

Time for another “Picture in Time” and this week we include a couple of photos of one of the always popular Open Boat Cars.

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Crich starts another season – just a bit later than planned!

Posted on Thursday 16 March 2023 by Gareth Prior

The 2023 season is now underway at the Crich Tramway Village, although the first trams ended up running a couple of days later than planned thanks to the snow! Originally due to open for the first time this year on Saturday 11th March there was heavy snow in the Midlands the day before which meant it was not safe for visitors, volunteers or staff to get to the museum so the sensible decision to delay opening was made.

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Double trams on Edinburgh Trams extension

Posted on Thursday 16 March 2023 by Gareth Prior

Its certainly been a week to remember for the Trams to Newhaven extension in Edinburgh with the start of testing of the 2.91 mile route. After the first tram (258) undertook the first test on the night of Monday 13th/Tuesday 14th March further testing has been taking place – and this has included two trams on the extension at the same time!

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Plans for Blackpool 619 relaunch event confirmed

Posted on Thursday 16 March 2023 by Gareth Prior

As announced a few weeks ago, Sunday 26th March will not only mark the start of another season at the Heaton Park Tramway but will also see the relaunch into service of Blackpool Replica Vanguard 619. With this tram running for the first time since 2017 (save for some use during Lightopia in December 2022) the day will, unsurprisingly, have a Blackpool theme including a two tram service plus three visiting buses.

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Metrocar 4001 to be preserved

Posted on Wednesday 15 March 2023 by Gareth Prior

It has been confirmed that the first Metrocar is to be preserved at the Stephenson Railway Museum. In a way this will be a homecoming for 4001 as the museum is located where the original Tyne and Wear Metro test track was.

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Overhead problems on Metrolink

Posted on Wednesday 15 March 2023 by Gareth Prior

Services on some of the Manchester Metrolink have been disrupted on Wednesday 15th March following an overhead issues at Queens Road Depot. This meant that fewer trams than normal could leave the depot in the morning which of course means fewer services could run.

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In Pictures: Trams to Newhaven testing begins!

Posted on Tuesday 14 March 2023 by Gareth Prior

Monday 13th March was a historic day in Edinburgh as for the first time since 1956 a tram ran along Leith Walk. That’s right testing has now begun on the Trams to Newhaven extension of Edinburgh Trams with 258 allocated to the initial slow speed tests starting a little after 2000 and continuing throughout the night and running all the way along the line to Newhaven.

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In Pictures: Demolition continues in Birmingham

Posted on Tuesday 14 March 2023 by Gareth Prior

Although we now know that we don’t know when the Birmingham Eastside extension of the West Midlands Metro will open or even whether it will open in two sections because of the complications of HS2 work at Curzon Street, work is continuing on those sections which can be worked on.

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In Pictures: Snowy photos from the West Midlands Metro

Posted on Monday 13 March 2023 by Gareth Prior

Our second snowy pictorial of the evening comes from the West Midlands Metro. It was a similar situation on the system as it was on Manchester Metrolink where despite the amount of snow which had fallen there wasn’t any real disruption to the service. But with the snow on the ground it still made for some good photography as we see in the below images courtesy of Andy Walters.

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In Pictures: Snow in Manchester

Posted on Monday 13 March 2023 by Gareth Prior

As we’ve seen the past few days saw snow hit various areas in the UK leading to travel disruption with various media reports of cars stuck on the roads overnight. Despite the heavy snow on the whole tramways in the UK didn’t suffer too much disruption (Sheffield being the exception with the city offering suffering the worst due to its location) which allowed contributors to this website to get out and about and capture some snowy images. In this first of two articles this evening we head onto Manchester Metrolink.

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