The Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramway 2005

For the fourth successive year BRITISH TRAMS ONLINE’s webmaster Gareth Prior reports on “A Week in Blackpool”, in a format completely ripped off from another publication…

Saturday 3 September 2005

Weather: Warn and sunny. Slightly blustery.

It was, of course, the first weekend of the Illuminations and coupled with unseasonly weather thousands of people decided to spend the weekend in Blackpool. My notes for the day are not complete as I didn’t arrive until around 1230 after a good journey up by train, but what was seen were lots of trams on specials, seemingly coping with demand. Included in those trams on specials were Boats 602, 604 and 605 (evening only), Coronation 660 and Open Top Balloon 706 “Princess Alice”. 660 made at least one journey north of North Pier with it being seen returning south bound for Pleasure Beach at 1247 at Cocker Street. Boats 604 and 605 both made late night appearances with 605 seen at St Stephens Avenue heading back to depot at 2255 and 604 heading that way at 2330. Another late runner was 706 which took charge of the third Illumination Tour of the night – seen at 2230 heading back south. The tram service was coping admirably until 2100 when a Honda Bike Rally caused trams to be suspended. Dozens of bikes had to escorted across the tramway at the Metropole Hotel and this involved stopping all trams for a 5-10 minute period in the vicinity, causing slight delays to service trams for the remainder of the evening.

Fleetwood Service: 1 – 707, 2 – 709, 3 – 718, 4 – 711, 5 – 719, 6 – 723, 7 – 700

Cleveleys Service: 8 – 722, 9 – 710, 10 – 726, 11 – 701, 12 – 715

Trams on specials (20): 66, 602, 604, 605, 622, 631, 641, 643, 644, 646, 660, 675+685, 680, 702, 703, 706, 712, 720, 721, 761

Illumination Tours:

1. Frigate 736

2. Trawler 633

3. Open Top Balloon 706

4. Frigate 736

Sunday 4 September 2005

Weather: Warm and sunny. (rain very late evening c2300)

What a day! Incredibly warm weather and crowds of people remaining in Blackpool still due to the switch on weekend meant it was mainly a good day on the tramway. Boats 602, 604 and 605 (evening only again) were again out on specials and were today joined by Standard 147 and Open Top Balloon 706 on the Promenade specials. I have to admit it was nice to have a ride on a Boat in the sunshine rather than the pouring rain! (The last time I was on a Boat was at last years 70th Anniversary Celebrations when I got caught in a major rain shower). There were plenty of specials out during the day and on the main part of the Prom there were no obvious large queues of people being left behind by full trams. The Boats were particularly popular with very few journeys not being full.

The success of the day, however, was not matched by a good evening. Everything was going well until 2000 when there was a believed incident at Manchester Square. Balloon 709 was involved and caused major disruption. Observation at Bispham during the evening saw Balloon 723 (route 2) arrive at 1952 bound for Fleetwood, practically on time but after that the next tram to head for Fleetwood was Centenary 647 (on specials) at 2119 – nearly one and a half hours later. The next timetabled Fleetwood tram to depart was 761 (on route 1) which was noted at 2150 – actually on time but 5 Fleetwood journeys had been cancelled in the meantime. Some journeys as far as Cleveleys and Thornton Gate were run in this period, including 718 (route 3) and 700 (route 6) to Thornton Gate and 719 (route 7) to Ash Street. Blackpool Transport did attempt to run a replacement bus service but with the Illumination traffic being busy this was next to useless with buses having to turn off the Prom and thus missing many of the stops. Eventually, something approaching normality resumed with 707 being taken from depot to replace 709 on route 4.

Fleetwood Service: 1 – 761, 2 – 723, 3 – 718, 4 – 709 (707), 5 – 711, 6 – 700, 7 – 719

Cleveleys Service: 8 – 701, 9 – 715, 10 – 722, 11 – 721, 12 – 710

Trams on specials (13): 147, 602, 604, 605, 622, 643, 644, 647, 702, 703, 706, 712, 720

Test Run: 646

Illumination Tours:

1. Frigate 736

2. Trawler 633

3. Frigate 736

Monday 5 September 2005

Weather: Cloudy with some sun – late evening misty

For the first time in the week two Twin sets were on Fleetwood service with 672+682 on route 6 and 685+675 (trailer first all day – except for one journey to Ash Street) on route 5. Balloon 702 started off the day on route 3 but by lunchtime this had been replaced by high intensity headlight example 700. 723 (route 7) operated at least one journey top deck closed around lunchtime from Fleetwood, this was despite the fact there were two conductors – luckily there were not huge amounts of people wanting to travel back into Blackpool at this time. There must have been some late running during the day as 701 (on route 10) was noted at 1904 on the centre track at Cabin waiting to form its return journey to Starr Gate. There were very few specials out during the day but it was probably adequate for the amount of people wishing to travel by tram. In the evening, rather oddly the third Illumination Tour was run by Centenary 642.

Fleetwood Service: 1 – 707, 2 – 711, 3 – 702 (700), 4 – 719, 5 – 685+675, 6 – 672+682, 7 – 723

Cleveleys Service: 8 – 720, 9 – 715, 10 – 701, 11 – 721, 12 – 703

Trams on specials (10): 622, 630, 631, 633, 642, 643, 644, 646, 647, 680

Illumination Tours:

1. Frigate 736

2. Trawler 633

3. Centenary 642

Tuesday 6 September 2005

Weather: Warm and sunny after initial cloud

This was a day that Twin set 672+682 would rather forget, having caused the service to be in chaos twice, once in the morning and once in the height of the Illuminations. The morning incident was at Cleveleys when the tram was on route 4 and may also have involved a Cleveleys car as the fifth tram in the afternoon to Cleveleys was normally a special. Services to Fleetwood weren’t actually that badly affected with only one 25 minute gap between trams being noted. 681+671 were eventually taken from depot just after 2pm to resume route 4, although at this stage it was 50 minutes behind the schedule. The tram got further behind schedule in the afternoon being seen 70 minutes late and running short to Pleasure Beach at Gynn Square and then later it ran only as far as Bispham. It was eventually back on time with the 1703 from Bispham – some five hours after it had come from depot.

The engineers at the depot worked wonders to ensure that 672+682 was repaired so that it could be used on specials in the late afternoon/early evening – they probably wish they hadn’t bothered! The service had reformed following the problems but disaster struck at 2100 when 672+682 failed at Cliffs Hotel. Despite all efforts of the driver he could not get the tram to move and chaos ensued. Immediately behind the tram was Railcoach 680 and after around half an hour it was decided to push the twin set to the centre track at Cabin and this was done slowly, with passengers still on board both trams. Once at Cabin, passengers alighted from 672+682 to board other trams and one by one the trams which had been stuck behind it started to move northwards. The following list shows the northbound trams as they passed at Cabin:

2134 – 680 to Bispham

2137 – 685+675 to Thornton Gate

2139 – 722 to Cleveleys

2139 – 672+682 empty to Little Bispham

2140 – 642 to Bispham

2141 – 700 to Fleetwood

2142 – 683+673 to Little Bispham

2144 – 701 to Cleveleys

2145 – 641 to Little Bispham

2147 – 723 to Fleetwood

2148 – 633 northbound Illumination Tour

2149 – 644 to Bispham

2151 – 715 to Cleveleys

2152 – 736 northbound Illumination Tour

2153 – 709 to Fleetwood

2154 – 647 to Bispham

This shows that of the seven trams on Fleetwood service four were stuck in this queue and three of the five Cleveleys cars were also severely delayed. In total there were 13 trams caught up in the mess and the service did not recover by the end of service. By the time Blackpool Transport had scrambled a replacement bus service the trams were moving again and the bus was sent back to depot! The crew of 672+682 returned on this bus to take 710 out instead.

Fleetwood Service: 1 – 709, 2 – 761, 3 – 718, 4 – 682+672 (681+671), 5 – 675+685, 6 – 700, 7 – 723

Cleveleys Service: 8 – 701, 9 – 715, 10 – 721, 11 – 720? (?), 12 – 722

Trams on specials (17): 605, 622, 630, 631, 641, 642, 643, 644, 646, 647, 672+682 (710), 673+683, 680, 702, 703, 711

Illumination Tours:

1. Trawler 633

2. Frigate 736

3. Trawler 633

4. Frigate 736

Wednesday 7 September 2005

Weather: Blustery, cloudy but dry.

A day which was mainly spent in Manchester, and away from the Blackpool Tramway. From notes which were taken there didn’t appear to be any problems with the service with the same trams being on the 12 routes in the evening as there was in the morning before I left. The evening was quiet with an England football international and blustery conditions and this meant there were only two Illumination Tours needed. Following the tours, Frigate 736 ran a special to Little Bispham and then back to Pleasure Beach.

Fleetwood Service: 1 – 761, 2 – 711, 3 – 719, 4 – 685+675, 5 – 723, 6 – 700, 7 – 709

Cleveleys Service: 8 – 722, 9 – 721, 10 – 701, 11 – 715, 12 – 710

Trams on specials (11): 622, 626, 630, 641, 642, 646, 647, 672+682, 680, 703, 736

Illumination Tours:

1. Frigate 736

2. Trawler 633

Thursday 8 September 2005

Weather: Cloudy with sunny spells. Rain late evening.

Jubilee 761 caused trouble around lunchtime when it failed on the northern section of the tramway – it had been operating specials. It was seen returning to depot out of service and driven by a fitter at Cabin at 1227. Just before that three Fleetwood service cars were seen heading southbound within four minutes of each other – it took a while for things to approach normality again. The crew of 761 took 671+681 out on specials instead. For the second evening in a row 736 ran a couple of specials following tour duty and was tonight joined by Trawler 633, which also ran a special late evening.

Fleetwood Service: 1 – 723, 2 – 700, 3 – 719, 4 – 673+683, 5 – 684+674, 6 – 709, 7 – 711

Cleveleys Service: 8 – 715, 9 – 721, 10 – 722, 11 – 726, 12 – 701

Trams on specials (15): 622, 630, 631, 633, 641, 642, 646, 647, 680, 702, 703, 710, 736, 761 (671+681)

Illumination Tours:

1. Frigate 736

2. Trawler 633

Friday 9 September 2005

Weather: wet with some dry spells. Still warm though.

Brush 623 made an appearance on Driver Training in the morning (seen heading north at Tower at 0950. In addition Jubilee 762 (not previously seen during the week) was noted as being on a test run (again seen at Tower at 1037 northbound). There were a couple of changeovers on service trams during the day, 710 replaced 726 on the Cleveleys service during the morning and 685+675 were called upon to replace 683+673 on the Fleetwood run in the early evening. The wet weather in the morning had meant there were not many people in the town wanting to travel by tram and as such capacity was certainly there.

Fleetwood Service: 1 – 711, 2 – 718, 3 – 684+674, 4 – 683+673 (685+675), 5 – 709, 6 – 719, 7 – 700

Cleveleys Service: 8 – 715, 9 – 701, 10 – 726 (710), 11 – 702, 12 – 721

Trams on specials (12): 622, 630, 633, 641, 644, 646, 647, 671+681, 672+682, 675+685, 703, 761

Driver Training Tram: 623

Tram on Test: 762

Illumination Tours:

1. Frigate 736

2. Trawler 633

3. Frigate 736

Saturday 10 September 2005

Weather: Cloudy but dry

Only half a days notes today, as I had a train to catch to get home again. Balloon 707 was noted on an early morning test run, north through St Stephens Avenue at 0816. It had been receiving attention in the Fitting Shop earlier in the week. The tram was later seen running to Cleveleys – although whether as a special or on service is not known. The Promenade specials were in the hands of Bolton 66, Standard 147 and Coronation 660. The other specials were totally in the hands of 3 crew trams with no single deckers out in the morning. Jubilee 762 made its first appearance of the week on service following its obviously successful test run of yesterday.

Fleetwood Service: 1 – 761, 2 – 719, 3 – 700, 4 – 762, 5 – 718, 6 – 711, 7 – 709

Cleveleys Service: 8 – 710, 9 – 702, 10 – 701, 11 – 703, 12 – 715

Trams on specials (9): 66, 147, 660, 671+681, 672+682, 707 (may have taken over from something on Cleveleys service), 720, 721, 722, 723

Tram on Test: 707

Conclusion

The fourth successive “Week in Blackpool” was helped this year but nice warm weather at the start and this helped tram output. With the sun out the Boats were out in force (only 600 of the four serviceable members didn’t appear) and this encouraged people to take a ride on the trams, with very few Boat journeys not being pretty much full. There were of course the usual breakdowns and delays with the Tuesday evening 672+682 incident being the worst of the lot, with 13 trams being stuck behind it once it had been cleared. Of the serviceable fleet 600, 678, 724 and Blackpool and Fleetwood Box 40 were the only ones not to make an appearance in service, although 40 is currently out of service with a fault.

All in all, there were plenty of trams out at most times in Blackpool during the week with the sight of long queues of people being left behind not very common. However, it has to be said that I was already in Fleetwood on the Tuesday when queues may have been forming on North Shore in Blackpool.

This entry was posted in Blackpool Tramway, Feature Articles. Bookmark the permalink.