Stockport 5, Seaton Tramway and Metrolink 3073 win at the Tram of the Year!

Posted on Sunday 10 January 2021 by Gareth Prior

It’s a tram which has so often been the bridesmaid in the British Trams Online Tram of the Year contest but at the fourth time of asking it has finally won the main “Tram (Traditional) of the Year” category – that tram is Heaton Park’s Stockport 5! Other winners in this contest have been the Seaton Tramway which is named both “Tramway of the Year” and “Event of the Year” (for the 50th Anniversary event) while the “Tram (Modern) of the Year” once again goes to Manchester Metrolink with 3073 becoming the fourth of the M5000s to win that category.

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In Pictures: More snow on the Tyne & wear Metro

Posted on Saturday 9 January 2021 by Gareth Prior

Its that time of the year where snow has a knack of falling which gives us all – on our daily exercise as we continue through lockdown no. 3 – the chance to get some slightly different photo opportunities. A few days ago we saw a light dusting of snow on the Tyne and Wear Metro but on 8th January 2021, although still relatively light, there was a bit more snow allowing another shot of Metrocars in the snow! Trevor Hall captured this image.

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Around the World in Trams: Den Haag 3143 & 5013

Posted on Saturday 9 January 2021 by Gareth Prior

The next stop in our world tour is Den Haag in The Netherlands, or The Hague to give it its English name, a location famous for being the home of the International Court of Justice as well as being the seat of the Dutch Parliament.

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West Midlands Metro services delayed after taxi gets stuck on the tracks

Posted on Saturday 9 January 2021 by Gareth Prior

Services on the West Midlands Metro into Birmingham City Centre were suspended for over three hours on Saturday 2nd January after a taxi became stuck on the tracks just beyond the stop at St Chad’s. The taxi was found on a section of reserved track as the line continues between St Chad’s and St Paul’s with the taxi having had to drive along a section of grassed track alongside the office Snow Hill office development.

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Lockdown Walks: Manchester Metrolink 3078

Posted on Saturday 9 January 2021 by Gareth Prior

Once again we head to Manchester for another “Lockdown Walk”.

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Blackpool Towing Car 671 finds its new home

Posted on Friday 8 January 2021 by Gareth Prior

The first of the trams asked to leave Rigby Road Depot has found a new home with the Fylde Transport Trust announcing that Twin Towing Car 671 will be moving to the North West Museum of Road Transport in St Helens. It will go on display – which also houses a couple of buses from the FTT collection – and will receive a repaint into the cream livery the towing cars were originally painted in.

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In Pictures: Driver training on the Tyne and Wear Metro

Posted on Friday 8 January 2021 by Gareth Prior

At the end of November 2020, the Tyne and Wear Metro introduced a revised timetable with fewer trains running to allow for a backlog of driver training to take place. The driver school is now well underway and they have moved from the classroom to the mainline with the trainees being seen taking some of the trains out as part of their continued learning. One such occasion was 18th December 2020 when 4068 was being used for this purpose. Trevor Hall captured the images in this article.

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Picture in Time: Crich Depot Yard

Posted on Friday 8 January 2021 by Gareth Prior

For the next few editions of our traditional tram “Picture in Time” series we will be featuring what is now known as the Crich Tramway Village with a batch of images taken through the years at the museum.

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In Pictures: Latest from the Birmingham Westside extension

Posted on Thursday 7 January 2021 by Gareth Prior

The West Midlands Metro Birmingham Westside extension (phase two) looks likely to be the next UK tram line to open to the public (due to be somewhen in 2021 although no specific date or even time of year has probably sensibly been announced yet) and in this article we take a look at some early 2021 images to show the progress being made on the construction of the line. Andy Walters provides us with these photos.

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In Pictures: Snow on the Tyne and Wear Metro

Posted on Thursday 7 January 2021 by Gareth Prior

More snow pictures for you! This time around we head to the north east and the Tyne and Wear Metro with just a light dusting having fallen on South Gosforth Depot. As we’ve reported over the past few months this depot is about to embark on a major redevelopment in preparation for the delivery of the new Stadler built trains. Trevor Hall took a trip out to capture this shot.

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Stop by Stop Nottingham Express Transit: Clifton South line – Holy Trinity

Posted on Thursday 7 January 2021 by Gareth Prior

Today we continue our way towards Clifton South on the Nottingham Express Transit network and we reach Holy Trinity.

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In Pictures: Latest from Trams to Newhaven extension

Posted on Wednesday 6 January 2021 by Gareth Prior

The Trams to Newhaven project in Edinburgh – due to see trams running from the end of the current line at York Place to Newhaven via Leith Walk and Ocean Terminal from 2023 – may have had a Christmas shutdown but before then a good deal of progress was made with the November and December period seeing the first track laid. In this latest pictorial update John Hampton brings us a couple of images taken in late December showing some of that track now in place.

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In Pictures: And it snows in Manchester too!

Posted on Wednesday 6 January 2021 by Gareth Prior

Not to be outdone by Edinburgh and Sheffield we can also bring you a photo of snow in Manchester! The snow we feature in Manchester comes from a couple of days later, on the very last day of 2020 and is again a fairly light dusting which didn’t cause any major issues to the service. Keith Chadbourne is our photographer for this one.

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Still Standing! Oldham Metrolink tracks

Posted on Wednesday 6 January 2021 by Gareth Prior

Throughout this series so far we have been concentrating on first generation tramway infrastructure which is still standing, but there are also some more recent items which are no longer in use but still remain. And we are going up-to-date in this edition of “Still Standing!” as we take a trip to Oldham.

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In Pictures: Sheffield snow!

Posted on Tuesday 5 January 2021 by Gareth Prior

The snow which hit the UK at the end of December also affected Sheffield, although with the differing altitudes that the Supertram system serves it was very much a mixed picture as to how much snow there was on the ground! The city centre was mostly clear with just a light dusting which soon disappeared but in some other areas – such as out at Herdings Park – there was much more allowing the “Christmas card” type views as seen in the below images. Bob Hayes provides us with these photos from 29th December 2020.

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Blackpool Brush 625 and Balloon 726 join the FTT collection

Posted on Tuesday 5 January 2021 by Gareth Prior

In an unexpected move the Fylde Transport Trust have announced that they have acquired two further trams with Brush Car 625 and Balloon 726 joining the collection. These two trams were in private ownership but after a change in circumstances were made available at the end of last year with the FTT now stepping in to secure their future.

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Whatever Happened To? Midland Metro 08

Posted on Tuesday 5 January 2021 by Gareth Prior

Its time for another edition of “Whatever Happened To” as we head back to the West Midlands to take a look at one of the original T69s.

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In Pictures: Lightopia at Heaton Park

Posted on Monday 4 January 2021 by Gareth Prior

There’s always something magical about trams running after dark, even more so when there are special lighting effects and it’s a fairly rare occurrence. For the second year in a row Manchester’s Heaton Park Tramway has supported the Lightopia Festival which has taken place in the park during December and into early January with a special after dark system running on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

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Metro drivers get look at new trains through virtual reality

Posted on Monday 4 January 2021 by Gareth Prior

Drivers on the Tyne and Wear Metro have got their first look at the new trains with Stadler – the builders of the new trains – providing virtual reality headsets. These allow drivers to see the inside of the cabs before it has been built.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool OMO 8

Posted on Monday 4 January 2021 by Gareth Prior

In this latest look at archive photos from the Blackpool Tramway we are again in September 1976 with the subject of our attention this time around being one of the OMO cars, a tram which have been credited with saving the tramway in the 1970s.

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