British Trams Online downtime

Posted on Saturday 4 February 2017 by Gareth Prior

Some of you may have noticed that for a period on Friday 3rd February British Trams Online was completely unavailable. Despite my initial fears that I had again managed to forget to renew the hosting package (not realising I could be that stupid again!)  it later transpired that was due to major issues at the hosting company which had seen all websites hosted with them become unavailable. As you can see the website is now back in its entirety and regular updates will resume shortly. There won’t be a main site update this weekend anyway – for unrelated reasons – but we will update this page with more news over the weekend before the full site returns later in February.

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Picture in Time: Nottingham Express Transit 206

Posted on Saturday 4 February 2017 by Gareth Prior

We head off to Nottingham for today’s instalment of Picture in Time with an image coming from 2007 of one of the original Incentro trams in the original livery. It is no. 206.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool OMO 1

Posted on Thursday 2 February 2017 by Gareth Prior

The very first of the One Man Operated trams is the feature of today’s Picture in Time as we take a look at the Plum and Custard liveried no. 1 in 1973.

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Picture in Time: Seaton 6

Posted on Tuesday 31 January 2017 by Gareth Prior

We are back on the Seaton Tramway for today’s view from the archives as part of Picture in Time with no. 6 the tram being featured.

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Heritage Tram Tours launch 2017 in style!

Posted on Monday 30 January 2017 by Andrew Waddington

The weekend of January 28th & 29th saw the first heritage tram tours of 2017 operating in Blackpool, with the now familiar ‘Gold’ service in operation to start the year with a bang! This ran to the usual pattern with a total of six different trams running per day, mostly between Pleasure Beach and Bispham or Little Bispham with additional journeys to Fleetwood and a variety of other destinations spread out across the day.

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New ‘Limited Stop’ signs on Blackpool’s heritage trams

Posted on Monday 30 January 2017 by Andrew Waddington

A small yet welcome change has adorned a number of Blackpool’s traditional trams for the start of the 2017 operating season. Since the heritage service was revived with a more frequent service and volunteer crews in 2015, trams have carried notices informing would-be passengers that they operate a limited stop tour service, in an attempt to help confused people differentiate them from the modern LRT trams.

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This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Sunday 29 January 2017 by Gareth Prior

We head to Manchester for a small selection of photos this week:

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Picture in Time: Midland Metro 12

Posted on Saturday 28 January 2017 by Gareth Prior

Off to the West Midlands for this edition of Picture in Time as we take a look at one of the original T69 trams which operated on Midland Metro.

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Passenger numbers up on Midland Metro

Posted on Friday 27 January 2017 by Gareth Prior

New figures reported by the Wolverhampton Express and Star have shown that Midland Metro is more popular than ever with more than a million passengers being carried on the line in November and December – a 300,000 increase. The increased passenger numbers come at a time when Midland Metro is in a major expansion programme with the line through Birmingham City Centre just the start of things to come.

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September start for Edinburgh Tram inquiry public hearings

Posted on Friday 27 January 2017 by Gareth Prior

Although it has been a lengthy process to get to this stage it has now been announced that the Edinburgh Trams Inquiry public hearings will start in September with this stage likely to take several months. The hearings will take place on three days a week – Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – from Tuesday 5th September.

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Weather causes delays for Metrolink and NET

Posted on Friday 27 January 2017 by Gareth Prior

Both Manchester Metrolink and Nottingham Express Transit have suffered service delays in the past week with the blame in both cases being put down to ice on the wires. For Metrolink the problems happened on Tuesday 24th January with freezing fog the culprit whilst NET’s delays were reported the following day, Wednesday 25th January.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Coronation 663

Posted on Thursday 26 January 2017 by Gareth Prior

Its 1969 for the latest edition of Picture in Time and we are once again on the Lancashire coast and Blackpool as we take a look at one of the surviving Coronation Cars.

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Glasgow 22 in, Glasgow 1068 out at Crich in 2017

Posted on Wednesday 25 January 2017 by Gareth Prior

18 different electric passenger trams are set to be used in service at the Crich Tramway Village in 2017. As expected London Transport 1622 is not part of the operational fleet this year and it has been joined in the withdrawn stakes by popular open topper Glasgow 1068. On the other side of the coin it has been confirmed that Glasgow 22 will join the operating pool again this year having only just seen use at the very end of 2016.

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Closure ahead for Tramlink track replacement

Posted on Tuesday 24 January 2017 by Gareth Prior

No services will run on London Tramlink between Mitcham and Wimbledon from 11th to 20th February to allow for track replacement work to take place. A replacement bus service will be in operation throughout serving Wimbledon, Morden Road and Mitcham stops only.

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Picture in Time: Manx Electric Railway 2

Posted on Tuesday 24 January 2017 by Gareth Prior

Today Picture in Time is back on the Isle of Man as we take a trip to Ramsey and find one of the “oldest trams in the world to still run on their original line” operating over 50 years ago when it might not actually have been able to use that title!

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Testing continues on Second City Crossing

Posted on Monday 23 January 2017 by Gareth Prior

Opening of Manchester Metrolink’s Second City Crossing (2CC) continues to move closer with another round of successful testing taking place over the weekend. Nine trams were out on the line on Sunday 22nd January with Cllrs Andrew Fender and Pat Karney joining the engineers to witness the rigorous testing and commissioning process.

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Another rise in passenger numbers for Edinburgh

Posted on Monday 23 January 2017 by Gareth Prior

2016 was another record breaking year on Edinburgh Trams with half a million more passenger journeys made, a year on year growth of 10%. A total of 5.6 million passenger journeys were recorded according to figures released by Edinburgh Trams – a figure which remains ahead of expectations.

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Picture in Time: Manchester Metrolink 1008

Posted on Saturday 21 January 2017 by Gareth Prior

Two more images from Manchester Metrolink for today’s Picture in Time with the T68 featured in this edition being 1008 with both photos dating from 27th April 1992.

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FoI request shows Snaefell runaway had brake failure

Posted on Saturday 21 January 2017 by Gareth Prior

On 30th March 2016 Snaefell Mountain Railway no. 3 ran away from the Summit with no crew or passengers on board before derailing shortly before the stop at Bungalow, leaving the tracks and being more or less destroyed on the mountain side. Although an investigation had been undertaken the results of this had not been released publically but a Freedom of Investigation request by the Isle of Man Newspapers has now seen further details revealed of what caused no. 3 to runaway. It has been confirmed that both parking brakes on the tram had failed which, coupled with the temporary arrangements at the Summit owing to overrunning construction works, led to the tram heading down the mountain.

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TfL continue to review Tramlink operation

Posted on Saturday 21 January 2017 by Gareth Prior

A report due to be heard by Transport for London’s Safety, Sustainability and Human Resources Panel next week has revealed that further “infrastructure mitigations” may be introduced on certain sections of London Tramlink in a bid to further improve safety on the network. It has also been confirmed that passenger numbers have returned to pre-accident levels.

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