What’s New on British Trams Online? 6th February 2022

Posted on Sunday 6 February 2022 by Gareth Prior

We are heading back to May 2009 for this week’s set of photos as we take a look at events held at the Crich Tramway Village to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first trams arriving on site:

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In Pictures: York Place prepares to say goodbye to trams

Posted on Saturday 5 February 2022 by Gareth Prior

With Edinburgh Trams’s York Place stop closing in just a few days – last departures on 9th February – in the coming days we will be sayign farewell to the stop with several pictorial articles of trams at York Place. We start with this early February collection from John Hampton.

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Around the World in Trams: Kolkata Works Car RS3

Posted on Saturday 5 February 2022 by Gareth Prior

In our final visit to India we this time feature one of the works fleet on the Kolkata system.

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Can you help the Brighton Tram 53 Society?

Posted on Saturday 5 February 2022 by Gareth Prior

Whilst we often look at tram restoration with the larger more visible groups there are also many small groups of volunteers in various locations around the country who are involved in restoring trams and one of those can be found on the South Coast. Restoring the last remaining passenger tram from the Brighton Corporation Tramways system, the Brighton Tram 53 Society have been making excellent progress but have now become stuck and so need some help with acquiring some parts.

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Out and About: A wet day in Edinburgh

Posted on Saturday 5 February 2022 by Gareth Prior

In this edition of “Out and About” we are back in the Scottish capital on a wet last day of 2021.

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Another delay to a resumption of services to Library

Posted on Friday 4 February 2022 by Gareth Prior

For anyone waiting to catch a tram to Library again on the West Midlands Metro your wait will go on as its been confirmed that the latest opening date of Sunday 6th February will not be met. In probably a sensible move no new date has been announced as they continue to work hard to ensure enough trams are available to operate a full service.

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Free tram travel for under 22s in Edinburgh confirmed

Posted on Friday 4 February 2022 by Gareth Prior

All residents in Edinburgh aged under 22 are now entitled to free travel on the entire Edinburgh Trams network it has been confirmed. The Scottish Government scheme was only funded for free bus travel but after a lot of will-they, won’t-they debate it has now been extended to the trams too as from Monday 31st January 2022.

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Picture in Time: Midland Metro 02

Posted on Friday 4 February 2022 by Gareth Prior

Another image from the past on Midland Metro in this edition of “Picture in Time” as we feature the second of the 16 strong class of Italian built T69s.

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In Pictures: Fisherman’s Walk the temporary Fleetwood terminus

Posted on Thursday 3 February 2022 by Gareth Prior

Its all about the temporary termini on UK tramways at the moment – we’ve had one at Bull Street on the West Midlands Metro for over six months and will see West End becoming one for a couple of months soon on Edinburgh Trams. Completing a trio of temporary terminus should be the most temporary of all with Fisherman’s Walk in Fleetwood due to be in use for this purpose for up to eight weeks allowing gas mains replacement works to take place. This article takes a trip to the northern extremities of the Blackpool Tramway to show the current arrangements.

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Change for Beamish’s transport events in 2022

Posted on Thursday 3 February 2022 by Gareth Prior

Over recent pre-Covid years Beamish had developed their annual transport events leading to an annual four day Great North Steam Fair with lots of different forms of transport all competing for space around the museum site. But now after a review of their operations, 2022 will see a change to this pattern and two separate two day events will take place – one in April and one in September. Whilst they aren’t specifically tram related, trams do run during them so we feature a quick look at what is planned.

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Robert Burns statue returned as tram works progress

Posted on Thursday 3 February 2022 by Gareth Prior

When work on the Trams to Newhaven project really got underway during 2019, the famous Robert Burns Statue was removed for safety and restoration work but now, just over two years later, it is back in prime position in Leith. The newly restored statue was unveiled once more on  Tuesday 25th January 2022 – Burns Night.

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In Pictures: Works at Picardy Place

Posted on Wednesday 2 February 2022 by Gareth Prior

We’ve reported recently that in order for the worksite between Picardy Place and York Place to be extended to allow more work to take place that the current terminus at York Place will be closing from early February and in this article we see the progress which has been made so far in this area.

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More tram shortages lead to reduced service on West Midlands Metro

Posted on Wednesday 2 February 2022 by Gareth Prior

Whilst much of the country has seen service reductions over the past few months as a result of staff shortages it seems that the West Midlands Metro are having a completely different problem leading to a reduced service – tram shortages. Although services did manage to resume in December after the complete month long service suspension as a result of the cracks discovered and it seemed as if things were improving recently there have been several occasions when not enough trams have been available to run leading to an irregular service.

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Out and About: Trams at rest in Manchester

Posted on Wednesday 2 February 2022 by Gareth Prior

The only day of the year in the UK where you will be unable to see a tram running anywhere is Christmas Day and in this latest edition of “Out and About” we take a look at trams resting on their day off in Manchester.

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In Pictures: Wolverhampton City Centre extension

Posted on Tuesday 1 February 2022 by Gareth Prior

For an extension which it has been said would be open by the end of 2021 progress on the final section of the Wolverhampton City Centre West Midlands Metro extension still seems to be making very slow progress with no signs of when trams may be able to start testing let alone when public services may kick off. Whilst there is no rush currently to get trams running – with the tram problems and the fact they haven’t yet started to run on the already completed extension of the line to Library – the slow progress here does make you think whether its another extension which is competing with Blackpool for how long it can take! Andy Walters provides these photos of the eventual Wolverhampton Railway Station terminus.

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Storm Malik leads to major recovery operation on Tyne and Wear Metro

Posted on Tuesday 1 February 2022 by Gareth Prior

Maintenance workers on the Tyne and Wear Metro were out in force again over the weekend after the network was severely affected by Storm Malik which led to the system being completely suspended on Saturday 29th January. The majority of services were able to resume from the start of service on Monday 31st January after the dedication of the team working across the weekend.

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No Tram-Train service on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th February

Posted on Tuesday 1 February 2022 by Gareth Prior

Network Rail will be undertaking engineering works in the Rotherham area on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th February which means there will no Tram-Train service to Rotherham Central and Rotherham Parkgate with tram services only running from Cathedral to Meadowhall.

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In Pictures: First new tram of 2022 arrives in Manchester

Posted on Monday 31 January 2022 by Gareth Prior

Saturday 29th January saw the latest new M5000 to be delivered to Manchester as 3135 became the first arrival of 2022. The now incredibly familiar journey across Europe via the Rotterdam to Hull ferry and then over England to Manchester was completed by the Alstom built tram to allow it to join its classmates in the UK.

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First track delivered to Dudley for Metro extension

Posted on Monday 31 January 2022 by Gareth Prior

Another week and another milestone for a West Midlands Metro extension. This time it’s the Brierley Hill extension with the first pieces of track being delivered for the line in Dudley. In total 300 metres of rail have been delivered to Castle Hill where they will shortly be installed as work there continues.

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Trams in Video: West Midlands Metro August 2021

Posted on Monday 31 January 2022 by Gareth Prior

West Midlands Metro is the subject of our latest “Trams in Video” as we take a look at operations over the August Bank Holiday weekend in 2021. This was during the city centre closure so trams were only running from Wolverhampton St George’s to Bull Street, with the trams operating under battery power between St Paul’s and Bull Street (with the usual battery operated section beyond Grand Central closed).

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