In Pictures: Work underway for new tram depot at Carlton Colville

Posted on Wednesday 6 July 2022 by Gareth Prior

There is no doubt these are exciting times for the East Anglia Transport Museum. If we’re not reporting on new acquisitions or looking at current members of the collection we’re featuring work on expanding the site and it’s the last of these that we feature this time around.

Continue reading →

Posted in East Anglia Transport Museum | Comments Off on In Pictures: Work underway for new tram depot at Carlton Colville

Tram extension to Port Erin?!

Posted on Wednesday 6 July 2022 by Gareth Prior

There has regularly been talk on the Isle of Man of extending the Manx Electric Railway along the horse tram tracks in Douglas but what about a major extension all the way to Port Erin?! If a sign in the town – which is the southern terminus of the Isle of Man Steam Railway – is to be believed its already happened!

Continue reading →

Posted in General | 1 Comment

Birmingham Eastside extension progresses with building demolition

Posted on Wednesday 6 July 2022 by Gareth Prior

The Birmingham Eastside extension, one of four new lines currently being built on the West Midlands Metro, has recently seen more good progress with a derelict college building in Digbeth being demolished. The building has been removed to allow trams to turn from Meriden Street to Digbeth High Street and is a key part of the preparation works ahead of the start of tracklaying later this year.

Continue reading →

Posted in West Midlands Metro | Comments Off on Birmingham Eastside extension progresses with building demolition

In Pictures: Testing comes to an end in Blackpool for now

Posted on Tuesday 5 July 2022 by Gareth Prior

It was planned to take place on five days and it did take place on five days, although they may not have been the five days that had been originally intended, and now the first period of daylight testing on the Blackpool Tramway extension to North Station is over. Testing resumed on Monday 4th July and concluded on Tuesday 5th July with three trams and then four trams used respectively.

Continue reading →

Posted in Blackpool Tramway | Comments Off on In Pictures: Testing comes to an end in Blackpool for now

Trams start testing to Edgbaston Village

Posted on Tuesday 5 July 2022 by Gareth Prior

Its been a day of tram testing – whilst in Blackpool its been the last day of testing on the North Station extension (more on that in the next article) down on the West Midlands Metro it was the first day of testing to Edgbaston Village.

Continue reading →

Posted in West Midlands Metro | Comments Off on Trams start testing to Edgbaston Village

Light rail operators look at ways of tackling anti-social behaviour

Posted on Tuesday 5 July 2022 by Gareth Prior

Light rail operators across the UK and Ireland are getting together to look at ways to tackle the increase in anti social behaviour seen across the countries since the lifting of Covid restrictions.

Continue reading →

Posted in UKTram | Comments Off on Light rail operators look at ways of tackling anti-social behaviour

In Pictures: Heaton Park Tramway have a Tramtastic day

Posted on Monday 4 July 2022 by Gareth Prior

Four trams in service and stored trams on display were amongst the highlights of the Heaton Park Tramway’s Tramtastic event which took place over the weekend of Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd July. Although a two day event this report takes a look at what happened on the first day – Saturday 2nd July 2022.

Continue reading →

Posted in Event Reviews, Heaton Park Tramway | Comments Off on In Pictures: Heaton Park Tramway have a Tramtastic day

Trams start running at Crich again!

Posted on Monday 4 July 2022 by Gareth Prior

As promised, Saturday 2nd July was a good day for the Crich Tramway Village as after a little over six weeks trams started running once more! Both days of the first weekend back saw a standard three tram service in operation – including the first use of an open balcony car for 2022!

Continue reading →

Posted in Crich Tramway Village | Comments Off on Trams start running at Crich again!

Out and About: Trams around St Andrew Square in Edinburgh

Posted on Monday 4 July 2022 by Gareth Prior

“Out and About” returns today as we take a trip to St Andrew Square in Edinburgh – the current city centre terminus of the Edinburgh Trams system – to see some of the trams in service.

Continue reading →

Posted in Edinburgh Trams, Out and About | Comments Off on Out and About: Trams around St Andrew Square in Edinburgh

Trams &: Gateshead 10 & Foden Steam Tractor

Posted on Sunday 3 July 2022 by Gareth Prior

In this edition of “Trams &” we take a trip into the Town at Beamish where Gateshead 10 is pulling up to the stop and finds a steam lorry alongside.

Continue reading →

Posted in Beamish Tramway, Trams & | Comments Off on Trams &: Gateshead 10 & Foden Steam Tractor

New tram into service and new advert on another

Posted on Sunday 3 July 2022 by Gareth Prior

There’s another couple of changes to the status of the Manchester Metrolink fleet to report on. First off we have seen another of the new batch of M5000s to enter service whilst there is also a new advert now applied to one of the earlier trams.

Continue reading →

Posted in Manchester Metrolink | 1 Comment

Nottingham tram becomes film studio for school pupils

Posted on Sunday 3 July 2022 by Gareth Prior

Pupils from Beeston Fields Primary & Nursey School recently got the chance to use a tram on Nottingham Express Transit to film a video which will be shown at the forthcoming Flying High Trust Awards at the Motorpoint Arena in July. A tram was made available at Toton Lane terminus for the school to complete the filming, the results of which will be unveiled at the Awards.

Continue reading →

Posted in Nottingham Express Transit | Comments Off on Nottingham tram becomes film studio for school pupils

In Pictures: Blackpool North extension testing hits a snag

Posted on Saturday 2 July 2022 by Gareth Prior

We saw earlier in the week the start of daytime testing on the Blackpool Tramway extension to the North Station terminus with the promise at that point of a full week of testing. But as we all know things don’t always go according to plan and after the first two days seemed to go well the testing has rather stalled since with two days completely cancelled and the other seeing a much reduced output.

Continue reading →

Posted in Blackpool Tramway | 4 Comments

Around the World in Trams: Lviv Works Car 2

Posted on Saturday 2 July 2022 by Gareth Prior

Its not all about the passenger trams as in this latest instalment of “Around the World in Trams” we take a look at a tram which was, at this point, a works car.

Continue reading →

Posted in Around the World in Trams | 1 Comment

Still no long-term funding agreement for TfL

Posted on Saturday 2 July 2022 by Gareth Prior

The continued political games between the Department for Transport and Transport for London shows no signs of coming to an end with yet another short-term funding agreement announced – this one truly is short-term as its only a 19 day extension. The new funding settlement will now expire on 13th July 2022.

Continue reading →

Posted in Docklands Light Railway, London Trams | Comments Off on Still no long-term funding agreement for TfL

Edinburgh Trams name their charity of the year

Posted on Saturday 2 July 2022 by Gareth Prior

Edinburgh Trams will be supporting the Breast Friends and Family charity for the next 12 months in memory of a former senior tram driver who lost her brave battle against breast cancer last June. Evelyn Kiernan is being remembered by former colleagues and they will now support the charity that helps cancer patients and their families.

Continue reading →

Posted in Edinburgh Trams | Comments Off on Edinburgh Trams name their charity of the year

Overhead problems return to West Midlands Metro

Posted on Friday 1 July 2022 by Gareth Prior

Back in the day (well, around 2019), the biggest problems to impact services on the West Midlands Metro were overhead line problems with relatively frequent issues seeing the service having to be suspended. Into 2022 and there have been far bigger problems for the West Midlands Metro with the entire fleet of Urbos3s having to be withdrawn for repairs. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t still infrastructure issues, as seen on Friday 1st July with a problem with the overhead at Hill Top Tunnel.

Continue reading →

Posted in West Midlands Metro | 3 Comments

Two week closure for part of Tyne and Wear Metro network this July

Posted on Friday 1 July 2022 by Gareth Prior

There will be no Tyne and Wear Metro services between St James and Tynemouth for 14 days between 16th and 29th July to allow for more modernisation works on the network. This will include the complete renewal of an ageing bridge along with track and overhead renewals.

Continue reading →

Posted in Tyne and Wear Metro | Comments Off on Two week closure for part of Tyne and Wear Metro network this July

Picture in Time: Gateshead Garden Festival – Sunderland 100 & Blackpool 167

Posted on Friday 1 July 2022 by Gareth Prior

And its back to the Gateshead Garden Festival for this edition of “Picture in Time”.

Continue reading →

Posted in Picture in Time | Comments Off on Picture in Time: Gateshead Garden Festival – Sunderland 100 & Blackpool 167

Horse tram service from the end of July?

Posted on Thursday 30 June 2022 by Gareth Prior

Can it be true? Are we actually going to see horse trams running on the Isle of Man again? If all goes according to plan a service on the remaining section of the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway between Derby Castle and Broadway should start from the end of July for a brief season until September – but there does remain some work to be completed before this can be fully confirmed.

Continue reading →

Posted in Douglas Bay Horse Tramway | 2 Comments