Some maintenance work has been carried out on a set of points at the southern end of the Blackpool tramway on the week commencing Monday 25th April. The points at Starr Gate, used by terminating service trams to cross over onto the northbound line, have been the focus of the work enforcing a slightly different operating procedure for a few days.
With the points out of bounds during the daytime, trams must now load passengers using the southbound alighting platform. Once the driver of a tram has changed ends, it then travels ‘wrong line’ for a short distance before using the crossover just north of the Starr Gate tram stop to regain the correct line. This crossover is normally used for shunting purposes to get trams leaving the depot to the terminus and therefore these moves offer a bit of novelty for riding.
The trackwork is expected to continue throughout the week but should be completed by the Bank Holiday weekend, so anyone wanting to ride or photograph these moves is advised to act quickly!