On Saturday 11th April, a group of railway enthusiasts hired Blackpool Balloon 701 for a full system tour, with all proceeds being generously donated to the Blackpool Heritage Trust. This included use of various different turnback points and the novelty of a double deck tram ride to and from Starr Gate, still a relative rarity for the heritage fleet.
Before the day of the tour there had been some doubt that 701 would be available as it had been suffering from compressor defects and its only day of public service in 2015 had been cut short with the tram being dispatched back to the depot after the aforementioned fault relapsed. However, after being fitted with a freshly overhauled compressor, 701 was declared fit to run and managed to complete a full day’s work – indeed it was then chosen for use on the blue heritage service the following day alongside Brush car 631.
However, the Saturday did not pass entirely without incident as ‘Princess Alice’ 706 had to be towed back to Rigby Road at the end of the afternoon by Balloon 717 after its trolley head became detached. 706 had actually been sent out after lunchtime as a replacement for Centenary car 648 thanks to an improvement in the weather, giving the chance to see three Balloon cars running together, including open top and enclosed variants in the 1930s style livery.
Shortly before midday on 11th April, and 701 is seen on arrival at North Pier for the start of the tour with Centenary car 648 on the heritage service in front - bringing back memories of 1991 when both trams were painted in the same liveries as those which they carry now.
A real treat for Balloon car fans as 701, 706 and 717 all meet at Pleasure Beach against a gorgeous blue sky.
701's tour included two trips to Fleetwood; here it is pictured outside the Ferry cafe on the first.
On the return leg from Fleetwood, 701 unloaded its passengers at Bispham before performing an unusual shunt move from the southbound line onto the centre track where it was stabled for a crew meal break before continuing south.
One of the day's highlights was a trip to Starr Gate aboard 701, and so our final picture shows the tram standing at the southern terminus. (Photos x 5 by Rob Bray)
Looks like it was cracking tour. Great that 701 is back in the fold as well.
Super colour scheme – a nice complement to the traditional green and cream.
The car looks superb – just a shame the effect is spoilt by the huge FTS roundel.
Oh please, not that argument again… Have you been concluding with Franklyn to cast a negative shadow over a positive story?
Until someone can confirm whether it was the insistence of the FTS or BT’s own decision to apply the logo, we don’t know who such criticism should be addressed to…
The point about that roundell is they COULD have put it on ad anvert between the decks. When 701 was originally painted red and white it carried a between the decks advert for Travelcards. As far is I’m aware it never ran without an advert, so moving the roundel up, accompanied by some text explaining what the FTS actually is would have not only generated more interest in the FTS, it would have made the tram more historically accurate, which is surely a good thing when the new trust and BTS heritage depatrment are doing their best to be taken seriously in the world of preservation.
It just seems a shame that when so much time and money is spent on restoration and recreating old liveries, small things end up spoiling the overall effect. With 701 it’s the wrongly positioned and over size logo, with 706 it’s that little downward sweep right under the destination display (it should go straight across as it did in 1985) and with 717 it’s those awful fenders and rubber bumpers. The rubber bumpers were removed from a Brush car and proper lifeguards re-fitted, so why can’t they do this little job with 717 as well? It may only be details, but when you’re dealing with heritage and preservation of items of historic significance, details do matter.
If you want me to be REALLY picky about 701 I can also tell you that the external handrails should be yellow and the red should continue down to the bottom of each side of the doors, not be cut off horizontally by checker plate. It took me all of 30 seconds to Google search an authentic image, so why couldn’t someone in Blackpool do the same? The answer is probably that it’s just a re-paint and not a restoration, which is fair enough. When they do get around to a proper restoration (as I’m sure they will one day) they’ll need to change one half of the windscreen too.
It’s a pity you couldn’t get a high enough resolution to count the rivets.
Personally I think they could have made the roundel a little larger, maybe covering both decks with some contra-vision across the windows. Then we could have had a real talking point….! đ
So we aren’t allowed to mention something which we disagree with now? Do we live in an IS state? What’s the point in pretending you like something? ALL organisations improve themselves by listening to constructive criticism. As said the livery and the move to bring it back – fantastic (though Travelcard advert anyone??)
As for being negative about it – I don’t think I could be more positive and supportive towards 701 than last Sunday, when I risked hypothermia Guarding it.
A little OTT don’t you think John…
The point you missed is there is a time and place to debate some subjects, and some ‘pet hates’ have been done to death over and over again. Like Franklyn’s incessant ranting about âPurple Wormsâ and nagging about 717s bumpers, we are well aware of your opinion of the FTS and the roundel on 701, but this isnât the place for it. This should have been a story praising the heritage fleet for another successful private hire, not for criticising their decision to publicly recognise a significant contribution to 701’s return to action – that was done 6 months ago!!
Iâm sure you will be equally upset next weekend if the feedback on Heaton Park Blackpool day focuses on one minor aspect of the appearance of a tram instead of celebrating the addition of 280 to the operating fleetâŚ
And the moral of the story is… in future, think twice before sharing good quality photos of Blackpool trams with a bigger audience, as rather than people admiring them, it seems to result in lots of moaning about things that have been discussed to death already on this site. Thank goodness some enthusiasts are realistic and actually appreciate the work being done on the Blackpool heritage fleet, rather than studying every tram in the fleet looking for something to pick fault with!
P.S. Seriously, we’re talking about 717’s bumpers AGAIN!?!?
It will be interesting to see if BHT eventually move to a greater level of historical accuracy. It’s current focus is quick jobs that look very good, but are historically not quite right (eg 272/T2 in cream but double ended, 648 and 631 look great but have the wrong windows etc). Traditionally this has been acceptable as its been a commercial enterprise, but as a preservation entity expectations may be higher.
It’s all down to personal preference – I’m not too fussed about it as long as the overall look is right, but I do have a pet hate on fleet numbers! 604 shouldn’t have 230 on in that livery, which is made more bizarre by 600 which should be 225 in its livery!
I think the vast majority of readers fit into your latter category Andrew, I wouldn’t worry about the minority. even if BHT restore a tram to a completely accurate condition or livery for a certain period of its 70+ year existence there will be some moaning that that period is well represented and the tram in question should have been restored to an earlier or later condition, as seems to happen a lot in railway circles. I think the old phrase ‘He who pays the piper calls the tune’ is relevant. Personally I am quite happy for BHT to restore the vehicles as they see fit within their obviously limited budget and get them out on the road, accept that they will never please everybody and stick to their guns!
Its all a matter of perspective, perhaps we should put HPT roundells on Hull 96. My comment wasn’t meant to inflame any discussion.
I think we will leave the discussion on 701’s logos there, it has been discussed more than enough now and there is nothing new to add. As has been said earlier this article was only meant as an excuse to share some nice pictures of a private hire, nothing deep or controversial!
I have had the same from similar critics. I have had my Crossley getting on for 44 years (yes 44 years). I recently decided to paint it in Pre-War Manchester Streamline livery as it is basically similar body style and to give those never to have seen the livery to witness it for real. You would not believe some of the responses from purists and rivet counters. Most of whom have probably never owned a preserved bus or tram or even contributed. Unfortunately this is the mindset that you attract by being different. No thoughts however of the countless hours, time and money spent keeping a preserved vehicle for getting on for 50 years.
You could always turn the screws on the critics a bit (a lot?) Ralph and threaten to give it a coat of SELNEC or even Stagecoach livery! Then you might be lucky enough for them to vow never to speak to you again so you won’t get criticism! It’s a few years since I last saw / travelled on your Crossley but I’m sure it would look great in any livery. (I think Stagecoach might be pushing it a bit even by your ‘liberal’ rules!)