Santa Claus is coming to the tramways!

As is the norm for this time of year, Father Christmas has been very busy not only preparing presents for the big day itself, but also meeting youngsters at various tramways across the UK. As well as the previously advertised Santa Specials in Blackpool, he has also made appearances at Beamish, East Anglia and Heaton Park so far this month.

Santa made an early visit to Manchester on 28th November, where he enjoyed a ride aboard Manchester 765 for the launch of the Christmas festivities in the park. Other attractions including a local brass band who performed from the mobile platform of Blackpool Vanguard 619 which joined 765 for the arrival of Father Christmas before he took up residence at Heaton Hall. The tramway will not be directly involved with any further Christmas events, however to complement what is taking place elsewhere in the park, trams will be running each Saturday and Sunday until 20th December, as the tramway’s contribution to the expanded package of family activities on offer at weekends up to Christmas.

Beamish Museum is always a good place to visit for an enjoyable day out and the run-up to Christmas is an extra special time with plenty of decorations around the Town area and lots of extra activities, as well as special evening events for pre-booked guests which always sell extremely well. Although the trams themselves are not directly involved with the events over Christmas, they are naturally kept busy transporting guests around the site and the running fleet are currently sporting traditional festive decorations. The aforementioned evening events also provide a rare chance to enjoy trams in the dark at Beamish – and even Newcastle 114, not exactly the most suitable tram for the cold winter nights, has been used! This of course confirms that 114 is fully fit after its mishap during its birthday celebration weekend in November. Its use once again serves as a reminder of how hard-working the Beamish trams are, with a small number of operable cars meaning that the open toppers are still being employed in winter. The expected return to use of Sheffield 264 at some point during 2016 should ease this situation by providing another useful double-deck enclosed tram, and hopefully this will precede a programme of work aimed at boosting the available pool of vehicles for service.

Meanwhile at the East Anglia Transport Museum near Lowestoft, ‘Santa Trams’ have made a welcome return to the 2015 events programme having been unable to operate last year due to essential track replacement work. The first such event for this year was held on 6th December with, unusually, three trams in service – London Transport 1858 and two Blackpool cars, VAMBAC Railcoach 11 and Standard 159. Both of the Blackpool trams were suitably decorated with large stars adorning the exterior of 159 in a throwback to its final years of service in Blackpool when it was adorned with illuminations. Also of note, this was 11‘s first use for several months following attention to some electrical issues which had conspired to confine this much-admired tram to the depot for much of the year.

However, most eyes were probably once again on Blackpool where the first of three Saturday Santa Special days was held on 5th December. This featured two trams shuttling between Pleasure Beach and Bispham, these being Twin set 675+685 and Balloon 717, whilst the illuminated Western Train 733+734 was used by Santa and his helpers as an unusual grotto, parked at North Pier for much of the day with the interior of both cars impressively decorated. The Train then performed just one passenger trip to Little Bispham and back at the end of the afternoon, allowing its many admirers to enjoy a rare winter ride on this iconic tram for a modest additional charge. Unfortunately the weather was absolutely dreadful on this first day but, as ever, some hardy enthusiasts turned out as did a respectable number of families taking their children to see Santa aboard the Western Train. Hopefully the weather will be a bit kinder to the next two event dates, to provide a fitting finale to a glorious year for the heritage trams.

There can be few, if any trams in the world better suited to Santa Special duties than one resembling a toy train covered in bright lights! 733+734 brighten up a dismal late afternoon at North Pier, Blackpool on 5th December. (Photo by Bradley Jones)

 

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