Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours unveil 642’s new look

Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours have unveiled their latest creation – Centenary car 642, which has been in the Rigby Road workshops receiving a makeover for the last few months. The tram last ran in early 2016 when it was temporarily withdrawn with a defect, but rather than simply repair this the opportunity was taken to carry out further work, including a well-needed repaint to replace the shabby all-over yellow paint worn previously, as well as the restoration of some other traditional features.

642 has been repainted in a modified version of the Travelcard advert livery it carried briefly in 1995 between paid-for advert contracts; this features a predominantly yellow body and, unusually, green and cream ends. These have restored the 1990s ‘green skirt’ livery to a Centenary car (or at least the ends of one!) for the first time since 1996, by which time the entire class had succumbed to all-over advertising.

It has been announced that, from next year, the heritage day tickets are to be rebranded as ‘Heritage Travelcards’ and 642‘s new livery is being used to promote them. Colourful vinyls have been applied to the body sides advertising the prices of various ticket options for the heritage tour operation, as well as the old Travelcard logo, as used on the original advert more than two decades ago. In order to suit the livery, the original style head and tail light clusters have been restored, creating a very smart appearance – although due to the limited resources available the car has retained other later modifications, such as the enlarged destination boxes which look a little strange. The extended roof side panels, added a couple of years after the original Travelcard advert disappeared, have been used to further promote the heritage service with additional lettering, and this fits in well with the overall effect. The end result could very easily have been a complete mess – but thankfully the majority verdict is that it looks very nice indeed, and the way that an advert from the past has been adapted to suit a new purpose on a modified tram is most impressive!

It has not yet been announced when 642 will be launched but as final commissioning work is underway, it shouldn’t be much longer before the tram graces the promenade again. This will double the number of operational Centenary cars – and hopefully there will be plenty of opportunities to photograph 642 and sister car 648 together whilst the former is new and shiny!

A first look at the new/old look for Centenary car 642 with its unusual but attractive hybrid advert/fleet livery, seen in the depot shortly after completion of the application of its livery decals. (Photo courtesy of Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours)

 

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