The four-day Easter weekend saw the first of this year’s special heritage tram events taking place in Blackpool, with the introduction of the green heritage timetable on Good Friday 3rd April. This was then followed by the inaugural operation of the ambitious gold heritage service two days later, which saw an impressive six historic trams rostered to operate, with six timetabled journeys to Fleetwood being performed during the day.
After six days of Pleasure Beach to North Pier shuttles, the heritage fleet finally broke free from the main promenade section and were given a longer run in passenger service for the first time in 2015 on Good Friday – the first day that the new green timetable had been operated. The four trams selected to run were Brush Railcoach 631, Centenary car 648 and Balloons 700 and 717. Miserable weather may have deterred some tourists but there were still plenty of enthusiasts out in force to enjoy the quartet of trams. It had been expected that a strict timetable would operate on green days with all journeys operating between Pleasure Beach and Little Bispham; however in reality this did not happen and, whilst most northbound journeys terminated at either Bispham or Little Bispham to provide the advertised frequency, there were also several shorter runs to destinations such as North Pier and Cabin. However, the highlight of the day was a surprise run through to Fleetwood by Balloon 700 late in the afternoon which duly became the first normal passenger working to the port by a traditional (albeit heavily modernised) tram in 2015, setting the scene nicely for a long and eventful weekend on the tramway.
A significant improvement in the weather led to the use of open top cars Boat 230 and ‘Princess Alice’ 706 on Saturday 4th April, along with Bolton 66 and Centenary car 642, the latter being a welcome choice as it only ran for a few hours on one day during the whole of 2014. As all four were making their year debuts, all of them were in great demand throughout the day and once again the trams ran to a variety of destinations, but with emphasis on Little Bispham as planned. For the second day running there was a nice extra treat at the end of the afternoon, when both open cars were dispatched to Fleetwood, becoming the first trolley fitted trams to venture this far in service this year. Boat 230 went first, also becoming the first Boat to run to Fleetwood in 2015 and the first ever tram crewed by volunteers to run this far, and about half an hour later it was followed by 706, bringing the curtain down on a glorious day of heritage tram action.
Sadly the sunshine did not last long and the fog returned with a vengeance for Easter Sunday, 5th April. This was the first day of operation for the enhanced Gold service – the most generous allocation of historic tramcars witnessed in Blackpool since 2011, and as such the less than ideal weather conditions were no obstacle to the many enthusiasts who were keen to sample what the new service had to offer. The six trams which began the day’s proceedings were Box 40, Standard 147, Boat 227, Centenary car 648, ‘Princess Alice’ 706 and Balloon 711. Most noteworthy was the appearance of 711 as this was its first use since returning from Crich, and having this tram running alongside Box 40 was quite appropriate as the last time both had been in service together was last October, when both were temporarily residing in Derbyshire! The choice of the red Boat car on such a cold and misty morning proved to be overly optimistic as the weather failed to improve very much at all, and the car was later swapped over for Balloon 717.
The second gold running day, Easter Monday 6th April saw cars 40, 66, 147, 631, 642 and 706 all in use. Once again an eerie fog swirled around the promenade to provide a rather unusual backdrop to the proceedings, but again loadings on the heritage cars were respectable with seats on all of the six Fleetwood tours in high demands. All of these trams again ran to Fleetwood with the exception of 66 which was exchanged for 717 as the driver was rather cold! Of note, both Centenary cars were turned short at Fisherman’s Walk over the weekend due to the infamous bollard at the Ferry which has still not been relocated.
The Easter weekend was certainly a great success for the heritage tours, introducing new innovations to the operation whilst also incorporating some of the best bits of the service from the last couple of years. Hopefully subsequent events will be just as enjoyable and profitable, although it would be nice if the sun blessed them a bit more! The next chance to enjoy this increased level of heritage output in Blackpool will be the May Day Bank Holiday weekend, but if you can’t wait that long a two-car service should operate daily until 12th April, and then every Saturday and Sunday throughout the peak season.
Contrasting Balloon cars 700 and 717 stand side by side on the loops at Pleasure Beach on Good Friday. Despite their very different looks, these are of course the only two of their class with twin destination indicators at each end.
A gloriously sunny Easter Saturday with Boat 230 at Cabin on its way back from Fleetwood; the longest journey undertaken by a Boat car so far this year.
Easter Sunday saw Box 40 return to Fleetwood Ferry for the first time since 2013, and it was captured alongside the old waiting shelter on Pharos Street before heading back to Blackpool.
Easter Monday at Bispham with traditional double deckers Bolton 66 and Standard 147 passing.
Later the same day and this incredible line-up of cars 706, 631 and 642 further illustrates the variety of trams on show over the four day holiday period. (All photos by Bradley Jones)
I went along on Saturday and this was my first visit to Blackpool for 25 years! I loved the trams and wish I’d taken up my interest in them sooner. Thanks for a great day! Maybe you could squeeze the odd ‘Gold Day’ on a Saturday too please! haha!
Good to see BT seem to ahve got their act together over the holiday weekend and stopped stealing the heritage crews. Still a bit disappointing to have the b-fleet on hehritage tours though. It’s especially sad that 700 was torn appart to become a member of the b-fleet but only seems to operate heritage services, which it would have been more suited to without the expensive and ugly modifications.
Cheers Franklin.
Can always rely on you for a negative twist on a positive article, and to raise old arguments long since done to death… 😉
OK true I guess, but everytime a see a photo of 700……………
I with Paul on this one. We can always rely on our friend Franklyn for some negativity on a positive story. The positive support out there in 2015 thankfully far out weighs this negativity.
A splendid turn-out. Well done to all concerned.
Does anyone else agree with me that pantographs on the Brush & Balloon cars look really out of place. I think they should be converted back to trolley poles. Same with the new style bumper on 717.
They’re so much more practical and easier to work with though. As for 717’s bumpers, as has been said on this site about 187 times already, find the cash and they will almost certainly be sorted out. Alternatively, be happy that these trams are running at all! Personally that is the main thing that matters to me, I would rather have operational trams with a few relatively minor inaccuracies than trams sitting in a shed gathering dust waiting to be restored to a more authentic condition.
Pans will probably stay for practical reasons, plus the fact that have actually run with them for over 1/3 of their lives!
717s bumpers are a matter of time due to limited finance and workshop staff time. Currently all efforts are concentrated on 715. Personally, I’d rather see resources put into major projects like returning another car to active use than minor cosmetic alterations to an already active car…
How many people look up to see whether a heritage tram has got a trolley or a pan? It would be nice if they had trolleys but I think it would / should be right at the bottom of a list of priorities. As has been said pans have been in use for 30 years now, not to mention in the 1920s for a short time.
I must admit I am addict to this site, one of the only things I do wish is that we could “like” the comments as per facebook as so many of them make sense. Regarding 717 I think both Andrew and Paul have hit the nail on the head. Firstly Pantos are the way forward and we are very lucky that Blackpool allowed the overhead to be suitable for trolley operation, (a time might come when that might change) if you look at mainland europe you will see a number of museum cars where the current collector has had to be amended to keep the car as a runner. Re the bumpers etc, we have to remember the Money word, if someone feels that strongly that the bumpers need to be changed back that they will pay for it then I’m sure the Trust will be delighted. What we need to remember is that money spent on that from the pot will stop something else being done, eg OMO 8 or Standard 143.finally well done for a good Easter weekend and the dedicated staff.
Tramtastic! Good show!