No sooner have we said goodbye to the last of the T69s then we are welcoming another one of the Urbos 3s into the operational fleet on Midland Metro with 32 entering service on Monday 17th August.
It is understood that 32 had been ready to enter service for a few days but the decision was taken to continue mileage accumulation works beyond the usual level (it already had over 3500km on the clock when entering service). With the T69s not now available to supplement the Urbos 3s it has now been cleared for service and joins its fellow Spanish built trams in providing the service. There are nominally 16 Urbos 3s available for service with all of 18–33 having at least carried passengers at some point in the past 11 months although several have spent periods out of service with the situation of just which trams are available remaining fluid on a regular basis. A further five trams await an entry into service (17 and 34–37) and will presumably follow over the next few months.
As we have mentioned the T69s let’s not leave them out of this article either! Following on from last week’s final passenger runs we can now report that the very last movement under their own power has taken place with 16 being shunted on Tuesday 18th August. 16 was shunted just out of the depot gates as far as the signal before heading back into the depot yard and being stored along with the other T69s at the bottom of the yard. It has now had its front skirts removed and now cuts a forlorn figure along with 03, 04, 05, 06, 08, 09, 10, 11 and 12 with all of them waiting for their futures to be decided.
* We will be celebrating the T69s later this month with a extensive gallery of photos of the trams over the years and also an article looking at their last week in service.
32 on its first day in service - 17th August - at Loxdale heading for Birmingham Snow Hill.
The last movement of a T69 under its own power as 16 shunts itself to storage at the bottom of the depot yard on 18th August. (Both Photographs by Andy Walters)