Since being delivered to Croydon back on 4th May 2560 – the seventh Stadler Variobahn for the Tramlink network and the first of the second batch – has not been seen out of the depot confines often in daylight hours but all that changed on 26th August when it made an appearance on a test run. 2560 was taken out of the depot on a typical summers day visiting various different parts of the system including Elmers End. Since delivery the tram has spent most of its time at Therapia Lane but has previously made some nocturnal test runs.
2560 at Elmers End on 26th August. (Photograph by Ian Buck)
The precise alignment between tram entrance and platform seen here rather underlines the enormous gaps when boarding a main line train. One thinks: well, if we have (fairly) high platforms on main line services, let them be high enough to align exactly with the platforms – as they do in this picture!! It would be a long task to achieve this but let’s get on with it!