Luas strikes suspended

Posted on Tuesday 19 April 2016 by Gareth Prior

The next round of strikes planned on Dublin’s Luas system have been suspended with further talks between operator Transdev and the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical union (Siptu) now set to take place to try and bring an end to this length industrial dispute.

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In Pictures: Open toppers rule at Crich

Posted on Tuesday 19 April 2016 by Gareth Prior

Tuesday 19th April turned out to be a fine day weather wise which meant that the three tram service at the Crich Tramway Village was solely operated by open trams for the first time in 2016. The chosen three trams were London County Council 106, Blackpool 236 and Glasgow 1068 with all three popular with visitors to the museum on this day. Photos courtesy of Gordon Burch from Crich Tramway Village.

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Posted in Crich Tramway Village | 9 Comments

Now Tynwald asked to remove all provision for horse trams in Douglas Prom works

Posted on Tuesday 19 April 2016 by Gareth Prior

It really does seem that there are some on the Isle of Man who really do want to get rid of the Douglas Horse Tramway forever with Tynwald now being asked to proceed with the plans for the Promenade redevelopment works with no provision at all for the trams until their future is secured. The motion was proposed by Leonard Singer, MHK for Ramsey, and was due to be heard during the sitting of Tynwald on 19th April.

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Posted in Douglas Bay Horse Tramway | 3 Comments

In Pictures: St Peter’s Square construction works

Posted on Monday 18 April 2016 by Gareth Prior

As we reported last week further progress has been made on the Manchester Metrolink Transformation works around St Peter’s Square with the start of platform construction (pre-fabricated sections being craned into place) whilst further into the Second City Crossing (2CC) all utility diversion works have now been completed. This pictorial update – courtesy of Keith Chadbourne – shows the latest state of play in the area around St Peter’s Square.

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In Pictures: Luas Cross City line extension progress

Posted on Monday 18 April 2016 by Gareth Prior

The main news coming out of Dublin recently may have been all to do with the ongoing strike action on the Luas system but there is also some more positive news to report with progress continuing on the construction of the Cross City line. In this pictorial update – with photos from David Jones – we take a look at some of the works currently underway within Dublin City Centre ahead of the planned opening of the line at some point in 2017.

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Stadler 2556 returns to service

Posted on Monday 18 April 2016 by Gareth Prior

For the first time London Tramlink can now call upon all ten of the Stadler built Variobahns for service following the return to the operating pool of 2556. Of course 2556 has been out of service since summer 2015 after an incident which saw the pantograph ripped off causing damage to its roof with the tram even spending over four months back in Germany for repairs. The tram was returned to Croydon on 24th January 2016 and after testing has now been able to return to service with it first noted running on line 1 on Saturday 16th April.

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This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Sunday 17 April 2016 by Gareth Prior

We are back with another main site update this week and we bring you three more Photo Galleries alongside our usual updates:

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Posted in Beamish Tramway, London Trams, Seaton Tramway, Site News | 4 Comments

Picture in Time: Stagecoach Supertram 118

Posted on Sunday 17 April 2016 by Gareth Prior

We head off to Sheffield for today’s archive image for a view of one of the trams of Stagecoach Supertram as seen in 2003.

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Douglas Horse Tramway timetable revealed

Posted on Friday 15 April 2016 by Gareth Prior

Isle of Man Railways have revealed the timetable for the Douglas Horse Tramway in 2016 with services running between Saturday 30th April and Sunday 30th October although not every day with only three weeks during the season seeing a seven day operation. The timetable also confirms that services will run between Derby Castle (with the Strathallan names seemingly consigned to history but considering this terminus is slap bang next to the MER terminus this will hopefully avoid any confusion for visitors) and the Sea Terminal and that there will be enhanced services for three days during the Manx Heritage Transport Festival in July and for the 140th anniversary on 7th August.

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Posted in Douglas Bay Horse Tramway | 1 Comment

Platform arrives at St Peter’s Square

Posted on Friday 15 April 2016 by Gareth Prior

This week has seen an arrival at St Peter’s Square but not a tram but a platform which was craned into position as work continues on the Metrolink transformation works. This is the first of two island platforms to be constructed at this junction between the two cross city lines and will be formed of pre-cast sections to save time.

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Live service information on the way for Tramlink

Posted on Friday 15 April 2016 by Gareth Prior

Users of London Tramlink will soon be able to benefit from live running information at the touch of a button with Transport for London set to release new open data feeds in the next few weeks. This will enable app developers to use the feeds to make the information available to anyone who wants to see it and will mean any prospective passengers won’t have to walk down to their local tramstop to see when the next tram is due.

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RAIB report released into pedestrian being hit by tram on Metrolink

Posted on Friday 15 April 2016 by Gareth Prior

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) have concluded their investigation into an incident in Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester on Tuesday 12th May 2015 and released a report detailing what caused the incident and recommendations to prevent similar incidents from happening again in the future. In this incident a pedestrian suffered serious injuries after being hit by a tram shortly after it had left the stop at Market Street.

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Posted in Manchester Metrolink | 1 Comment

Midland Metro welcomes 37 to the operating fleet

Posted on Wednesday 13 April 2016 by Gareth Prior

20 of the 21 Urbos 3 trams for Midland Metro have now carried passengers with the latest to enter service being 37 – the last of the trams to have been delivered back on 7th July 2015. 37 had been undergoing commissioning and mileage accumulation over the past few months and after the rectification of a small fault was passed over to traffic with its first passenger use believed to have been on Tuesday 12th April (unless anyone knows differently?)

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Posted in West Midlands Metro | 6 Comments

Picture in Time: Sheffield 264 (the Beamish one!)

Posted on Wednesday 13 April 2016 by Gareth Prior

In an odd quirk of fortune there are two trams from Sheffield numbered 264 which were saved for preservation and in today’s “Picture in Time” image we take a look at the one which has just returned to service at Beamish.

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In Pictures: Manchester Metrolink 3112 enters service

Posted on Monday 11 April 2016 by Gareth Prior

3112 has become the latest M5000 to enter service on Manchester Metrolink with its passenger carrying debut coming on Saturday 9th April. The tram was first operated in passenger service on the Rochdale Town Centre to Ashton-under-Lyne service working solo throughout its first day.

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Posted in Manchester Metrolink | 2 Comments

Luas strikes continue

Posted on Monday 11 April 2016 by Gareth Prior

Despite hopes in March that the disruptive strike action on Dublin’s Luas tram system over pay was over the dispute is ongoing with further strikes due to take place later this month and into May. The last we reported on this damaging saga was in March when a deal seemed to have been reached following lengthy discussions but this pay offer was rejected with workers demanding higher pay increases.

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Posted in Dublin Luas | 3 Comments

This is the continuing saga of Metrolink vs car

Posted on Monday 11 April 2016 by Gareth Prior

It really is getting boring now but the continuing saga of the motorists of Greater Manchester against Metrolink has continued during April with two further collisions – one in Wythenshawe and the other in Rochdale – to report but also hope that incidents at Holt Town may be reduced following the installation of more signage.

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Posted in Manchester Metrolink | 7 Comments

Trailer T7 to be reborn

Posted on Sunday 10 April 2016 by Andrew Waddington

Following a great deal of upheaval, it has been confirmed that the ownership of Blackpool Trailer 687 has changed once again, with the tram now becoming an official member of the Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust’s collection. Plans have also been unveiled which should see the tram cosmetically restored in its original guise as T7 which will represent a welcome upturn in its fortunes after several years of uncertainty.

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Posted in Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust | 3 Comments

Burton & Ashby 14 to run in 2017?

Posted on Sunday 10 April 2016 by Andrew Waddington

Amazing news from the Statfold Barn Railway concerns Burton & Ashby 14, which was famously repatriated from the USA last year and securely housed in one of the centre’s buildings. Since its arrival not much has been heard about the tram, but a recent open day revealed that it has actually received considerable attention since its return to the UK – and most excitingly of all, plans are afoot for it to operate in its home country again next year!

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Posted in Burton & Ashby 14 | 10 Comments

Picture in Time: Manchester Metrolink 1001

Posted on Sunday 10 April 2016 by Gareth Prior

We head back 21 years to 1995 for today’s edition of Picture in Time with a view of the very first of the T68s constructed for Manchester Metrolink – 1001.

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Posted in Manchester Metrolink, Picture in Time | 8 Comments