More tram shortages in Sheffield leads to further Purple route disruption

Posted on Friday 14 July 2017 by Gareth Prior

The ongoing saga of tram shortages on Stagecoach Supertram – the sooner the Citylink trams are cleared for entry into service the better – has reared its ugly head again with the Purple route once again feeling the brunt of these issues. As from Friday 14th July – and this time until further notice rather than a set end date – a revised service will be introduced for trams to and from Herdings Park.

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Posted in South Yorkshire Supertram | 1 Comment

Work set to start in Wolverhampton

Posted on Friday 14 July 2017 by Gareth Prior

The much anticipated short Wolverhampton City Centre Midland Metro extension is getting closer with works set to start shortly. The first tracks for the extension are due to be installed once a survey is undertaken with traffic management to be put in place from Bilston Street to Market Street for the duration of the work – it is expected that the work will take five months to complete.

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Posted in West Midlands Metro | 1 Comment

Utility diversion works under way on Trafford Park line

Posted on Friday 14 July 2017 by Gareth Prior

Those of you who looked at last week’s Photo Galleries would have seen some photos from the Trafford Park extension of Manchester Metrolink where the first work has now started on construction. This first stage is the diversion of various utilities and having experience of this work across the expanded network a collaborative approach will once again be taken with up to 40 ducts and pipes relayed for electricity, water, gas and telecommunications by one contractor within each joint utility trench.

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Car v trams in Croydon and Blackpool

Posted on Friday 14 July 2017 by Gareth Prior

The last few days have seen further incidences of trams being involved in collisions with cars in both Croydon and Blackpool. The latter system also saw a car abandoned on the tracks close to Cleveleys

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Edinburgh Trams Service Change: Sunday 16th July

Posted on Friday 14 July 2017 by Gareth Prior

Edinburgh Trams services will only run between Edinburgh Airport and West End Princes Street for a few hours on Sunday 16th July because of a street parade in connection with the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival. The last full route service from the Airport will depart at 1240 with a return from York Place at 1322. Services will then run Airport to West End only until 1533 from the Airport and 1614 from York Place (at the latest, services may resume earlier).

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Brush 631

Posted on Thursday 13 July 2017 by Gareth Prior

We are going back to Blackpool in this edition of Picture in Time and this time we feature a tram which remains in the town as part of the active heritage fleet.

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Picture in Time: Great Orme Tramway 7

Posted on Tuesday 11 July 2017 by Gareth Prior

The Great Orme Tramway in Llandudno, North Wales is the feature of this edition of Picture in Time as we head back to 1989 for a view of one of the upper section trams.

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TMS trucks to help restore trams elsewhere

Posted on Monday 10 July 2017 by Andrew Waddington

In a very welcome act of great generosity, the Tramway Museum Society have provided two tramcar trucks to other preservation organisations, to assist with the restoration of two very special trams. Both of the trucks had been housed at the National Tramway Museum’s reserve store at Clay Cross for many years, prior to being extracted and moved away earlier this month.

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Posted in Birkenhead Heritage Tramway, Brighton Tram 53 Group, Crich Tramway Village | 2 Comments

Bring on the Brush cars!

Posted on Monday 10 July 2017 by Andrew Waddington

As many regular readers of this website will know, 2017 sees Blackpool’s Brush cars celebrate their 80th anniversary and some celebrations are taking place in the town to mark this milestone. This looks set to start on Friday 14th July, when visiting car 623 is set to make its debut following its recent return to Blackpool on loan. In addition, work is progressing nicely on the overhaul of 621 which appears to be on target for its planned return to use in September.

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway | 2 Comments

This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Sunday 9 July 2017 by Gareth Prior

We return with a main site update this week with another couple of new Photo Galleries:

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Picture in Time: Manchester Metrolink 1016

Posted on Saturday 8 July 2017 by Gareth Prior

Another visit to Manchester is on the cards for the latest instalment of Picture in Time and we feature another of the T68s in the early days of the system.

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In Preview: Edwardian Event at Crich Tramway Village

Posted on Saturday 8 July 2017 by Gareth Prior

One of the highlights of the special events programme at Crich, the Edwardian Event, will take place on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th July. As well as the regular tram service, Sheffield 15 will be in service on the first day of the event alongside re-enactors adding to the museum street scene.

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Huge increases in Tram-Train pilot costs

Posted on Friday 7 July 2017 by Gareth Prior

A report released by the National Audit Office has shown that the costs involved in the Tram-Train pilot, which will eventually see services run between the Stagecoach Supertram network and Rotherham on the national rail network, has increased five times from the original agreed budget. It is now expected that it will cost £75.1 million for the Network Rail modification works against the agreed budget of £15 million.

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Posted in South Yorkshire Supertram | 14 Comments

In Pictures: Classic Motorcyles at Crich

Posted on Friday 7 July 2017 by Gareth Prior

Sunday 2nd July saw the Classic Motorcycle Event take place at Crich. As usual with classic vehicle events such as this a number of motorcycles visited Crich and were seen mingling with the standard tram service which unusually saw four trams in service for much of the day.

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First track laid on Bilston Road

Posted on Friday 7 July 2017 by Gareth Prior

The rapid progress being made on the track relay along Bilston Road has continued with the first sections of track being laid last weekend. The project – which only started in June – is due to take six months with Midland Metro services due to resume to Wolverhampton St George’s by December but with the quick progress already made could an early return be on the cards?

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Centenary 641

Posted on Thursday 6 July 2017 by Gareth Prior

We take you back to Blackpool again in this instalment of Picture in Time and this time we feature the very first of the Centenary Cars.

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British Trams Online help to bring Birkenhead 20 to Blackpool!

Posted on Thursday 6 July 2017 by Andrew Waddington

British Trams Online is delighted to announce that we are sponsoring a tram loan which will see one of the Birkenhead heritage tram fleet make the journey to Blackpool for the first time ever. Following negotiations between the Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society and Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours, it has been agreed that Birkenhead 20 will visit Blackpool for a one year loan period, commencing later this month!

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Posted in Birkenhead Heritage Tramway, Blackpool Tramway | 5 Comments

Picture in Time: Blackpool Standard 40

Posted on Tuesday 4 July 2017 by Gareth Prior

We head to Crich for this edition of Picture in Time for an early image of Blackpool Standard 40.

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In Pictures: Cruden Bay Tramway 2

Posted on Sunday 2 July 2017 by Gareth Prior

The Grampian Transport Museum in Alford is usually the home of two trams. Earlier this week we reported on Aberdeen horse car no. 1 which has gone back home to Aberdeen for a few months but that still leaves one further rare survivor at the museum – Cruden Bay Tramway 2.

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Posted in General | 5 Comments

In Pictures: 60 years not out!

Posted on Sunday 2 July 2017 by Gareth Prior

Volunteers are the lifeblood of heritage tramways in the UK and for one such volunteer at the Seaton Tramway the past week has seen him celebrate 60 years driving. David Rivers started driving for Modern Electric Tramways when the operation was still at Eastbourne in 1957.

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