Advent Calendars now available!

Posted on Friday 1 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

The excitement keeps coming! Its 1st December so that means our annual Advent Calendars are now available with a different photo each day. Once again we have two Advent Calendars – Traditional Trams and Modern Trams. You can access both at http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/advent.html. New images will be added the previous evening.

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Happy Birthday to us!

Posted on Friday 1 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

1st December 2002. The day the internet changed! Well, not really but it was a significant day for this website as that was the day we officially launched to a completely unsuspecting world. Of course that means that today marks our 15th anniversary!

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Posted in British Trams Online at 15, Opinion, Site News | 7 Comments

Blackpool North Station extension given go-ahead

Posted on Thursday 30 November 2017 by Gareth Prior

The final hoop has been jumped through, the extension of the Blackpool Tramway to Blackpool North railway station has been given approval by the Secretary of State for Transport. Which is probably just as well considering preparatory works started earlier this month!

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More double trams for Altrincham and Bury lines

Posted on Thursday 30 November 2017 by Gareth Prior

One of the big complaints on Manchester Metrolink is the overcrowding seen on peak time servcies and in order to try and combat this more double trams are being introduced on the Altrincham and Bury lines. Two doubles are already running on the Altrincham line with two doubles also set to be introduced on the Bury line from early December.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Balloon 708

Posted on Thursday 30 November 2017 by Gareth Prior

For our final instalment of Picture in Time for 2017 we are heading back to Blackpool for a typical 1980s image of a tram running along Lord Street.

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More tram shunting and a new roof at Crich

Posted on Wednesday 29 November 2017 by Andrew Waddington

Progress on the main depot refurbishment project at Crich Tramway Village has been brisk, with replacement of the roof of more than one third of the main running sheds already completed. Depot 2 (covering roads 4, 5 & 6) has now been completely re-roofed, and this building has been filled with trams again so that Depot 3 can be worked on next.

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First tram runs along Bilston Road since June!

Posted on Wednesday 29 November 2017 by Gareth Prior

The sight of trams running along Bilston Road is set to become a regular feature once again with the track relaying project rapidly approaching a conclusion. The road will be reopened to traffic from Saturday 2nd December after which time full tram testing will also get underway but these will not be the first trams to traverse the new track as Urbos 3 18 – the one example fitted with batteries so far – was used on an initial run in the early hours of Wednesday 29th November.

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Picture in Time: Snaefell Mountain Railway 2

Posted on Tuesday 28 November 2017 by Gareth Prior

In this edition of Picture in Time we are back on the Isle of Man for an image from the Snaefell Mountain Railway in 1992.

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In Pictures: A Brush car bonanza!

Posted on Monday 27 November 2017 by Andrew Waddington

The last major event of the year celebrating the 80th anniversary of Blackpool’s Brush cars took place on the final ‘Gold’ operating day of 2017 for the heritage trams, with all operational members of the class participating in a short procession and then running in service throughout the day. This was part of the expanded running weekend on Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th November – the last such event of this year in Blackpool.

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In Pictures: Nearly there on Bilston Road!

Posted on Monday 27 November 2017 by Gareth Prior

After over five months of disruption the end is now very much in sight on the track replacement project along Bilston Road with just a few final pieces of the jigsaw to be completed before the road is fully reopened and testing can start. These latest images show the new smooth road surface is place plus the last of the work at the Priestfield end.

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In Pictures: Citylinks carry on with training

Posted on Monday 27 November 2017 by Gareth Prior

Although the Citylink tram-trains have now entered service in Sheffield, with examples now having run on the Purple, Blue and Yellow routes, there is still some training on going to bring more drivers up to standard on the new order in South Yorkshire.

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Nominations now open for Tram of the Year

Posted on Sunday 26 November 2017 by Gareth Prior

With December on the horizon it is that time of the year once again when we start to look back on the year to see which trams, tramways and events have stood out from the crowd enough to be crowned winners at the British Trams Online Tram of the Year awards. In 2016 we were celebrating Blackpool Marton 31, Manchester Metrolink 3120, the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway and the 140th anniversary of the same tramway as the winner but what has done enough to even make it onto the nominations list for 2017?

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This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Sunday 26 November 2017 by Gareth Prior

We have more photos for you this week as we add two all new galleries plus add a few more photos to an existing collection:

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Picture in Time: Dublin Luas 3003

Posted on Saturday 25 November 2017 by Gareth Prior

Making its debut in the Picture in Time series in this edition we travel to Dublin for an image taken during 2004 of one of the Alstom Citadis trams, before they were lengthened.

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Luas Cross City line to open 9th December

Posted on Friday 24 November 2017 by Gareth Prior

The much anticipated Cross City line on Dublin’s Luas network will open to the public at 1400 on Saturday 9th December. The 5.9km extension has been under construction since June 2013 and will, for the first time, provide an interchange between the Red and Green lines on the network.

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Disruptions to trams and buses in Blackpool

Posted on Thursday 23 November 2017 by Andrew Waddington

With the off-peak winter season now in full swing on the Blackpool tramway, some signs of disruption have started to appear. This has also extended to road traffic, as preparations for the much-anticipated extension of the tramway up Talbot Road to North Station are now getting started.

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Hole in the wall at Crich

Posted on Thursday 23 November 2017 by Andrew Waddington

As part of the current depot refurbishment work taking place at Crich Tramway Village, a large hole has recently appeared in the back wall of Depot 2. Whilst this part of the main running sheds is completely devoid of trams, the opportunity was taken to remove and replace an elderly generator which had been in situ for 43 years!

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Record breaking year for Isle of Man Railways

Posted on Thursday 23 November 2017 by Gareth Prior

Despite a year that might be described as difficult especially in respect of the Snaefell Mountain Railway, Isle of Man Transport have announced that 2017 saw record passenger numbers carried across the four railways and tramways they operate. The Isle of Man Steam Railway, Manx Electric Railway, Snaefell Mountain Railway and Douglas Bay Horse Tramway saw a combined 13% increase in passengers.

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In Pictures: Blackpool Brush 625

Posted on Thursday 23 November 2017 by Gareth Prior

With the 80th anniversary year of the Blackpool Brush Railcoach starting to come to an end we take a look at another of the surviving class members in our latest delve into the archives. This time around we land in 2004 for a view of 625.

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In Pictures: The other side of Edinburgh 276 – Hogmanay

Posted on Wednesday 22 November 2017 by Gareth Prior

A few days ago we featured the latest adverts to be carried on a tram in Edinburgh with 276 receiving vinyls for Christmas 2017. However, that was just one side of the tram as on the other side the advert is for Hogmanay 2018 with more local schoolchildren artwork used on the vinyls in telling people they can take the tram to the major celebrations taking place in the city centre, which will also feature free trams throughout the night.

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