Picture in Time: Manchester Metrolink 1011

We are heading to Manchester for the next edition of Picture in Time and this time around we are taking a look at T68 1011 back in the first year of the network.

1011 arrived in Manchester on 20th December 1991 having been built by Firema at the Casertane Works and was to enter service on the very first day of public service, 6th April 1992. Aside from a couple of collisions/derailments 1011 was just a normal T68 throughout its working life until it had the dubious honour on 18th April 2012 of being the first ever second generation tram to be withdrawn from service. The firsts for the tram don’t end there though as it became the first tram to be used as part of trial bike course when it was used for the Red Bull City Trial event in Manchester in August 2013 and it went directly from there (having been reliveried in the new Metrolink colours) to Booths in Rotherham for scrapping becoming the first second generation tram to be cut up.

This is 14th January 1992 as we catch up with 1011 during a driver training/test run.

Photograph by Ralph Oakes-Garnett

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3 Responses to Picture in Time: Manchester Metrolink 1011

  1. Andy Coward says:

    1011 was the first T68 I ever saw and it was on the same date at Whitefield, except it was in the evening. Little did I know at the time that I would clock up many miles driving T68s over several years. Ironically, 1011 was one of the more reliable members of the fleet, but it did suffer from sole bar corrosion, which is why it was the first one to be withdrawn – hard to believe it is now very close to five years since the T68 eradication began.

    Despite the M5000s being much more reliable, I do still miss the T68s and hope that one day I get a chance to drive one again.

    • Steve Hyde says:

      If I remember rightly Andy 1011 was used a mileage accumulation tram in the early days to try to shake out any latent defects as quickly as possible and ensure that they appeared during the warranty. It was used on all day duties almost daily unless needed for maintenance or defect rectification.

    • Phil says:

      I’d say that’s highly unlikely sadly. Metrolink will never run one again and its doubtful Heaton park’s will run there for a very long time.
      I loved the T68s on the outside but i think the M5000 is better on the inside.

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