More details revealed for temporary horse tram facility

Posted on Friday 16 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

Earlier this week we reported on the planning application submitted by the Department of Infrastructure for a temporary structure on the old Summerland site to house both the trams and horses to support the continued operation of the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway. Further details have now been released on the reasons for this application with confirmation that the condition of the current home of the trams is so poor that it poses a danger to public safety and that a new facility is desperately needed.

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Glasgow tram-train plan gets Council approval

Posted on Friday 16 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

Glasgow City and Renfrewshire councils have backed the £144 million project to construct a tram-train line between Glasgow City Centre and Glasgow Airport. As we have recently reported the plan is seen as the best option to link the airport with the city centre and will see services run on current rail lines between Glasgow Central and Paisley Gilmour Street before they will switch to new tram lines through to the airport.

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Posted in Glasgow Airport link | 2 Comments

Plaque and time capsule at St Peter’s Square

Posted on Friday 16 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

As work on the transformational Second City Crossing comes to a conclusion St Peter’s Square is starting to look its part as the major interchange stop it will become once services start running on the new route in early 2017. But away from the obvious changes here two other additions have been made with a time capsule buried for future generations whilst the official opening plaque has been restored in a new position.

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Metrolink disrupted after another car gets stuck

Posted on Friday 16 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

Services on the Manchester Airport Metrolink line were suspended during the afternoon of Friday 16th December after a car drove onto the tracks at Baguley becoming stuck. Passengers on board 3061 had to get off the tram with the use of ladders and the service was split to run from Cornbrook to Sale Water Park and Roundthorn to Manchester Airport. The car had to be removed from the track allowing services to resume at approximately 1500.

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Posted in Manchester Metrolink | 1 Comment

Woman hit by tram at Bulwell

Posted on Friday 16 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

A woman was hit by a tram at Bulwell on Nottingham Express Transit’s Hucknall line on Wednesday 14th December at around 1100. The woman was taken to hospital but her injuries were reported as being minor. Tram services were disrupted with a shuttle service running from Hucknall to Bulwell Forest.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Balloon 726

Posted on Thursday 15 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

Our latest instalment of Picture in Time is once again in Blackpool and the tram we feature is the last built of the iconic Balloon Cars – 726.

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway, Picture in Time | 1 Comment

Douglas tram curtailment plan stopped – for now

Posted on Wednesday 14 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

Controversial plans which would have seen the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway cut in length with the section between the Villa Marina and Sea Terminal abandoned have been narrowly rejected at Tynwald. However despite this vote it is not the end of the matter as it will go to another vote at January’s sitting.

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Posted in Douglas Bay Horse Tramway | 7 Comments

Urbos 3 25 involved in collision

Posted on Wednesday 14 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

On Thursday 9th December Midland Metro Urbos 3 25 was involved in a collision with a Police car in Wolverhampton causing minor damage to the tram. The collision happened by the wishbone bridge with the Police car – which was on call – striking the front nose of the tram. This is the third of the Urbos 3s to have been hit by vehicles at this location (19 and 27 being the others). 25 was returned to depot and repairs have been made with the tram now back in service (its first day back was on Monday 12th December).

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Picture in Time: Prague 180

Posted on Tuesday 13 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

We have previously seen the subject of today’s “Picture in Time”, Prague 180, in operation at Crich but not when it had only been in the UK a few days having escaped from its home country before the Soviet tanks arrived.

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Posted in Crich Tramway Village, Picture in Time | 1 Comment

703’s road trip fully funded – in a day!

Posted on Monday 12 December 2016 by Andrew Waddington

No sooner had the Blackpool Heritage Trust announced its intention to repatriate Balloon car 703 from Beamish Museum – where it has resided in Sunderland guise since 2010 – then an appeal for funds to cover the costs of transporting the tram back home had been covered! This is all down to the generosity of tram enthusiasts and represents a most amazing achievement for the operation.

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Posted in Beamish Tramway, Blackpool Tramway | 9 Comments

In Pictures: Edinburgh Gateway opens

Posted on Monday 12 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

The UK’s newest tram stop opened to the public on Sunday 11th December with the first trams calling at Edinburgh Gateway as expected. The new tram stop is provided between Gogarburn and Gyle Centre and features two platforms with full canopies unlike the small shelters provided on most of the rest of the network.

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Posted in Edinburgh Trams | 10 Comments

This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Sunday 11 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

We have a Photo Gallery for you this week:

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Glasgow 1016 joins the Blackpool Heritage fleet

Posted on Sunday 11 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

In an exciting move the Blackpool Heritage Trust have announced that they have acquired Glasgow 1016 – or at least the bits of the tram which still exist – with a view to restoring it to near original open top condition. The tram was previously owned by the Scottish International Tramway Association (SITA) who made a generous offer to Blackpool which it seems was too good to turn down. The parts of the tram have already made the trip down from Scotland but it will be a long term project to see the tram running again.

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway | 3 Comments

New advert for NET 211

Posted on Sunday 11 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

Nottingham Express Transit Incentro 211 has lost its three year old advertising vinyls for Alstom with a new design for Deliveroo now being carried by the tram. The pale blue Alstom livery was removed at the start of December with the new adverts gradually being applied over the following week. The tram now features dark green ends with the adverts for Deliveroo on the bodysides.

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Green is the colour!

Posted on Sunday 11 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

In 1957 the Manx Electric Railway was nationalised and with this nationalisation came a new livery with green replacing the traditional colours previously seen on the line. To mark the 60th anniversary of this 2017 will see several vehicles on the MER receiving a coat of green paint with Winter Saloon 21 and trailer 62 now confirmed to be joining Crossbench 32 in the nationalised colour scheme. The Heritage Transport Festival in July will also be commemorating the anniversary with a number of special events taking place on the MER.

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Posted in Manx Electric Railway | 1 Comment

In Pictures: Edinburgh Trams at twilight

Posted on Sunday 11 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

In this short pictorial we head to the Scottish capital city, Edinburgh, to take a look at a couple of trams in action at twilight in the city centre. The line – now two and half years old – seems to have firmly become part of the furniture in Edinburgh with general passenger numbers continuing to increase and as we’ve reported this year more frequent services now running at peak times. Photos from John Hampton.

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Picture in Time: Stagecoach Supertram

Posted on Saturday 10 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

For today’s edition of Picture in Time we are off to South Yorkshire for a photo taken on the Stagecoach Supertram system in 2000 during some adverse weather conditions.

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Get ready to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Manx Electric Railway…in 2018!

Posted on Friday 9 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

Now we like early planning but in possibly the earliest announcement of a special event Isle of Man Railways have confirmed that there will be a celebration of the 125th Anniversary of the Manx Electric Railway for a not to be missed week in September 2018.

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Another blow for Sutton Tramlink extension plan

Posted on Friday 9 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

At the end of 2015 it looked as if the plans to extend Tramlink to Sutton had actually taken a step forward with the then Mayor of London, Boris Johnson committing £100 million towards the project (which would still have been a small fraction of that required). However 12 months later and this so called guaranteed funding exclusively for the project doesn’t seem quite so guaranteed after all with new incumbent Sadiq Khan removing the funding from the latest TfL Business Plan. Although this isn’t the end of the project the Sutton line would have to jostle for funding through the TfL Growth Fund.

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Posted in Docklands Light Railway, London Trams | 1 Comment

Ice on the wires causes problems for NET

Posted on Friday 9 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

It is the same story as every year when temperatures fall, on Monday 5th December Nottingham Express Transit services were disrupted after a tram broke down at Moor Bridge with ice on the wires blamed. The tram was reported as broken down at around 0600 and services were unable to resume between Moor Bridge and Hucknall until 1015 once the disgraced tram had been moved out of the way. During the disruption both East Midlands Trains and Trent Barton buses accepted NET tickets.

Posted in Nottingham Express Transit | 3 Comments