Blind Ambition

When you think of Blackpool’s Heritage Tram Tours you tend to think of the ever increasing number of trams available for service but possibly one of the more interesting developments has been the creation of new destination blinds for the trams. All the new blinds have been created by Peter Watts based on original destination blinds which are now considered historic artefacts in themselves are to avoid damage are being replaced by these replicas. Last year Peter made an appeal through British Trams Online for anyone who had a Blackpool blind to contact him so he could make copies and after several contacts were made we can update the story…

The appeal led to Peter making contact with several individuals who had blinds in their own private collections and also with the Crich Tramway Village who have a large collection of blinds, some of them in trams but a lot of them stored in the archive – including some which had never been used.

One of the first contacts was made with Christoph Heuer from Kassel in Germany who had two blinds and these were sent to Peter for copying. The first blind was a 1967 version from Railcoach 620 which was in a very good condition considering it had only been used for three years with 620 being withdrawn in 1970 for conversion into an OMO. This gave some useful information which has already been used for the new Heritage replica blinds in Boat 230 (due to be fitted in April).

The second blind from Christoph was from a Standard tram and this again gave some useful information which will be used in later replica blinds. This was also in very good condition.

Pete Smith from Nottingham was also quick off the mark to contact Peter with news that he had an original Twin Car blind from 1960 with yellow lettering. Peter’s father collected the blind and he was able to scan it whilst he was visiting the UK for the January Winter Gold event (and here’s a tip from Peter for you – the low table in the room at the Hilton Hotel was just the right width for a Twin Car blind!). This blind wasn’t in a great condition but the scanning process still went well and it is now recorded for the archives. Of interest with this blind was that the whole blind was in yellow and not just, as expected, the standard Twin Car destinations. In effect Blackpool Transport had taken a standard 1960 blind and printed it in yellow. This blind included some interesting destinations but if you want to know what they are you will need to attend Peter’s presentation to the FTS in September!

Another yellow Twin Car blind is held by Paul Turner and Peter is hopeful he will be able to scan this during his next visit to Blackpool in April.

By far the most interesting contact made following the article however was from the Crich Tramway Village and their curator Laura Walters. As would be expected from the national collection Crich have a large number of destination blinds and Laura offered Peter an open invitation to visit the museum and have full access to all Blackpool blinds which was a chance he couldn’t say no to!

Peter spent a full seven hours at Crich and still didn’t have time to record all of the blinds! Laura had arranged for some blinds to be brought from Clay Cross (from OMO 5, Dreadnought 59 and Brush 298) and Peter was also able to access all the blinds in the trams at the museum. But possibly the most exciting development was being able to see the blind archive which included four whole shelves of Blackpool blinds. Some were from buses but the majority were from trams dating from the beginning of the 20th century right through to the 1980s and included some mint examples never used in trams (one 1967 Railcoach blind and one from the 1980s). Fortunately Peter had taken his partner Isabelle along and between them they managed to scan 10 complete blinds and photograph many others. The information collated has filled some missing gaps. As there is so much more information at Crich Laura has extended her open invitation to Peter and he plans to make another visit later this year.

Peter would like to pass on his thanks to Crich and particularly Laura for her help in his task to record as many Blackpool blinds as possible. This cooperation between different tram heritage organisations in the UK often goes on behind the scenes with enthusiasts none the wiser and it is good when it becomes public knowledge to show how friendly organisations can be.

Peter is still keen to record more Blackpool tram blinds so if you have one in your own private collection and would be willing to let Peter record it for the archive and aid his creation of more replica blinds please contact us through the usual channels and we will pass your details on.

Destination blind heaven! Shelf and after shelf of destination blinds at Crich including four from Blackpool. Also seen in this photo are some Bradford blinds. (Photograph by Peter Watts)