On Friday 14th August 2015 the history books were closed on the Ansaldo built T69 trams which had been operating on the Midland Metro line between Birmingham Snow Hill and Wolverhampton St George’s since it opened in 1999 with the withdrawal of the last remaining example. As we continue our commemorations of the T69s we take a look at their last week of operation…
Monday 10th August
By this time it was already known that this would be the final week of the T69s running and the first day of the last week saw both the remaining trams in action: 10 and 16. Although 10 did suffer with some problems with one of its doors it – along with 16 – stayed in service all day.
Tuesday 11th August
The day started with both 10 and 16 in service but the Network West Midlands liveried 10 was taken out of service at Wednesbury Parkway at 1147 whilst heading to Birmingham Snow Hill. It was replaced in service by Urbos 3 23. 16 managed to remain in service for the rest of the day.
Wednesday 12th August
This turned out to be the last day ever that two T69s were in service with both 10 and 16 again starting out in service. However this wasn’t to last too long with 10 being taken out of service mid morning. During a period of observation at Wednesbury Parkway our correspondent saw an Urbos 3 come out of depot shortly after 1000 and sure enough as 10 approached the stop it crossed over to enter platform 3 and was duly taken out of service. It had departed Wolverhampton St George’s at 0950 and arrived at Wednesbury Parkway at 1007. This turned out to be its last ever passenger journeys and it was then driven into the depot and stabled, although its pantograph remained raised. 16 remained in service for the rest of the day.
Thursday 13th August
No T69s in service!
Friday 14th August
The final day dawned wet but that didn’t stop 16 being allocated to service as previously advertised. The final public journey left Wolverhampton St George’s at 1144 to Birmingham Snow Hill and 16 was then terminated to prepare itself for the final VIP special back to depot. Leaving Snow Hill at 1216 16 ran non-stop to Wednesbury Parkway where it crossed over the track to platform 3 and terminated. The driver then changed ends and drove the tram into the depot complex. It went around the loop very slowly and then entered the depot building extension before stopping and the power was turned off one last time (except for a few days later when it shunted one last time!)
Thanks to Andy Walters for information contained within this article
And so after 16 years that is that for the T69s. If you are missing them there are several ways you can reminisce:
We have a Photo Gallery showing all 16 trams over the years – http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/gallery552.html to view 88 photos including many from the last week.
Purchase a copy of the excellent “An Illustrated History of the Midland Metro T69 Trams” by Andrew Coward – visit http://www.buryrossendalerails.com/ for details on how to buy a copy
View videos of the T69s in action on You Tube. Our regular contributor Andy Walters has several on his channel which can be found at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2JNPtA42Tt8x8yTzzaZpeA/videos.
10 on 11th August - its penultimate day in service.
16 catches the sun on 12th August 2015.
And the final day itself - 14th August - with one final view of 16. (All Photographs by Andy Walters)
With the West Midlands line becoming the second system to have replaced all of its original fleet the Light Rail Revival has finally come of age! The UK will soon need a Modern Tramways museum