Edinburgh Trams nominated for more awards

Edinburgh Trams has been nominated in five categories at the 2017 Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce Business Awards. Taking place on Monday 27th February Edinburgh Trams has been nominated as Best Performing Business, Creative Marketing, High Growth, Excellence in Health and Safety and Young Leader of the Year.

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Defibrillators to be carried on all Edinburgh Trams

Every tram in the Edinburgh Trams fleet is to carry a potentially life saving defibrillator as part of the St John and the City public access defibrillator project. The aim of the project is to place the devices at strategic sites across Edinburgh. The new defibrillators will not only be used if someone on a tram is taken unwell but can also be used if a member of the public suffers a cardiac arrest in the vicinity of a tram.

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An early start for daily heritage tours in Blackpool

Due to the school half-term holidays taking place during February, Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours have started running a daily heritage service – the earliest in the year that this level of service has ever been provided since the tramway’s light rail upgrade. Due to variation in the dates of school holidays, this will last for a fortnight. From 11th to 24th February, the familiar ‘blue’ service will be operating every day with two trams in use and this has already provided a few surprises!

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Picture in Time: Great Orme Tramway 4

And we are off to Wales for the next edition of Picture in Time as we go black and white for an image of the Great Orme Tramway in August 1963.

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This week on British Trams Online

We have another small collection of photos for you in this week’s main site update:

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In Pictures: Urbos 3 27 back in service

No sooner had Midland Metro’s Urbos 3 27 undergone a test run then it returned to service with its first passenger runs in several months taking place on Saturday 11th February. Allocated to diagram three the tram left depot on the 0458 to Grand Central and then remained in service for the rest of the day. Of note is that one saloon of 27 has been fitted with new LED lighting with the other end still featuring the traditional strip lighting as carried on all other trams.

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Picture in Time: Docklands Light Railway 33

Today in Picture in Time we are on our way to the capital for a look at the Docklands Light Railway. The unit we are featuring this time around is one of the B90s, no. 33.

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A new roll for Bispham Station

One of the most distinctive structures on the Blackpool tramway is without a doubt the impressive building on the seaward side of the tracks at Bispham. As well as providing shelter to passengers waiting for a tram, this once housed an inspector’s office and toilets, but the area has been somewhat neglected in the recent past – until now!

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In Pictures: Midland Metro Urbos 3 27 on test

After several months out of service – following a collision with a road vehicle in Wolverhampton – Urbos 3 27 is nearing a return to service with the tram undergoing a test run on Friday 10th February.

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Heaton Park Tramways receives a delivery from Metrolink

The Heaton Park Tramway – the UK’s one truly preserved tramway and described in a recent press release as Manchester’s second tramway (although you could suggest Metrolink is Manchester’s second tramway!) – have recently received a new delivery from Manchester Metrolink. But this is not the much anticipated arrival of T68 1007 – that excitement is for the future – but rather a selection of tram rail and fittings which are spares from the construction of the Second City Crossing.

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English Trams and Trolleybuses tour now on sale

Have you ever wanted to do a tour of many of England’s tram and trolleybus systems and museums but haven’t quite known how to organise it? Well the good news is an escorted tour of several systems across England is being run by renowned holiday firm Ffestiniog Travel this year and there are still places available!

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Balloon 701

Picture in Time today takes a look at another long gone all over advert, indeed the hotel being advertised no longer exists either, as we feature Blackpool Balloon 701 in 2006 whilst it was carrying this design for the Palm Beach Hotel.

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In Pictures: 3116 back in service on Metrolink

A few days ago we brought you the news that Manchester Metrolink 3116’s had finally returned to service some five months after it last turned a wheel in anger. Further to that story it can now be confirmed that the tram has now visited Eccles and Ashton-under-Lyne and then worked with 3094 on the East Didsbury circuit. With thanks to Steve Kemp we bring you a few photos of 3116 back in use.

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Picture in Time: Leeds 600 & Glasgow 812

It is the summer of 1971 for this edition of Picture in Time as we head to a quarry in Derbyshire which is, of course, home to the National Tramway Museum or as it is known today the Crich Tramway Village.

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Douglas 28 on the move

It may be remembered that last year, a small number of Douglas horse trams were sold off at auction. Initially it was announced that, once sold, the trams would all have to be removed from Strathallan depot within a fairly short timescale, but one of them managed to remain on site into 2017. However, on 1st February Douglas 28 finally left the tramway behind en route to a new home at an unconfirmed location.

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In Pictures: Sheffield to Rotherham Tram-Train project

This week not only do we report on a breakdown of one of the tram-train vehicles but we also bring you another photo update on the construction side of the project from the camera of Glyn Hill. With the project now not likely to see its first services until 2018 (at the earliest) there is still some progress on the construction and in this update we concentrate at the Rotherham end of the line.

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399 204 breaks down on test (**Photo now added**)

Firstly, the good news – it is now obvious that test running of the tram-trains is underway on the wider Stagecoach Supertram network. Unfortunately, the reason why we can confirm this is because one of the vehicles broke down in the early hours of Monday 30th January causing delays to Blue route trams at the start of service.

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M5000 3116 returns to service

Having last operated in July 2016 Manchester Metrolink M5000 3116 has now returned to service following attention in the works. Following successful tests the tram returned to service this week being initially used on the Exchange Square to Rochdale Town Centre service. As things stand currently the tram has not been to Eccles, Ashton-under-Lyne or East Didsbury.

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Lorry gets stuck on Midland Metro tracks

Midland Metro services were into Birmingham City Centre were suspended for nearly six hours on Tuesday 31st January after a lorry driver got lost which ended up which his vehicle becoming stuck on the grassed section of track between Bull Street and St Chad’s.

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Posted in West Midlands Metro | 5 Comments

Silver and Highly Commended for Seaton Tramway at awards

Seaton Tramway are once again celebrating following the receipt of awards at the recent South West Tourism Excellence Awards. Although not walking away with the main prizes Seaton were awarded a Silver Award in one category whilst also being highly commended in another.

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