Tuesday 10th July 2012 saw the second tram in consecutive days to leave Blackpool’s Rigby Road depot for good, when Centenary car 647 set off for pastures new on the back of a low loader provided by Scott’s Heavy Haulage. The tram, which last ran on 6th November 2011, has been acquired for preservation by the North Eastern Electrical Traction Trust and is unlikely to ever return to Blackpool, making this a significant day in the relatively short history of the tram.
647 is an extremely important vehicle in British transport history as it was the last full-size passenger tram to be constructed for service in Great Britain. Although 648 was the last Centenary car numerically, its origins date back to 1985 when it debuted as 651 with experimental equipment, whereas 647 did not arrive in Blackpool until 1988. In its short working life the tram carried an incredible number of advertising liveries, starting with an unusual design for the Blackpool Opera House 42nd Street show late in 1990, and ending with a vinyl wrap for B & M Bargains which was applied in the summer of 2009 and is still retained today. A more noteworthy change saw the end profile radically alerted during a refurbishment in 2003, which eliminated the expensive curved windscreens originally fitted to all eight Centenary cars, and which were prone to cracking.
Following sale to NEETT, 647 spent a short period in the Electrical Compound for removal of its pantograph tower, lifeguards and transponders. On the morning of July 10th, it was towed out of the Rigby Road depot for the very last time by Unimog 938 and, after some delays, was loaded up onto the waiting lorry. At around 3:30pm, the historic tram finally left its home of just over twenty-four years, arriving in the Gateshead area late that evening and finally being unloaded at about midnight. Unfortunately, like so many other recently preserved trams, 647 is set to endure a period of outside storage but with plans being formulated by its new owners to secure suitable covered accomodation, hopefully this won’t last too long. The same low loader duly returned to Blackpool the following day to collect another of NEETT’s recent acquisitions.
Following a competition held amongst tram enthusiasts, a new livery has been selected which 647 will eventually receive for display in the North East. It was considered inappropriate to paint it in a traditional green & cream livery as it has only run with advert and plain base liveries in its current condition, and therefore the public were invited to choose a design that would reflect the history of the Blackpool tramway. Blackpool Transport’s Bryan Lindop was given the tough task of choosing a winner from many excellent entries, and ultimately chose a red, white and teak livery inspired by the 1920s Blackpool Corporation colours, as seen on the preserved Marton Box 31 at Beamish. Such a traditional paint scheme will certainly look unusual on a modern tramcar and we look forward to seeing the results in the not too distant future!
Meanwhile, 647‘s departure leaves just two of the eight-strong Centenary class still at Rigby Road. 642 is believed to be the subject of a potential new preservation bid, and hopefully if successful this will be announced in due course. Following rejection by the Tramway Museum Society, car 648 now looks set to remain in Blackpool indefinitely as part of the heritage fleet, although despite being serviced for use it has only operated once so far this year. Just a year ago it was expected that many of these trams would be broken up so it is both surprising and very pleasing that all of them look set to survive for the forseeable future, with the valuable 647 arguably facing one of the most positive futures of all.
The odd sight of the archaic-looking Unimog 939 pushing a very smart 647 towards the waiting low loader on Blundell Street, bringing its working life in Blackpool to a close. (Photo by Andrew Blood)