This week has seen a few further tram arrivals and departures in Blackpool, as two long-term stored cars have left the seaside town for a fresh start in Merseyside, whilst another has returned to the Fylde coast after a surprisingly brief time away. The returning tram is Towing car 671, which had been sold to Merseytravel and was moved away to storage at Knowsley on 19th December 2011. This tram has now returned to Blackpool after being acquired by the Lancastrian Transport Trust.
The latest tram moves are probably the most confusing so far and will no doubt be the subject of much gossip, but in the absence of much detail we will stick to what is known for certain. Late last year, the LTT announced a deal with Merseytravel to acquire car 671 for preservation in its 1960 condition with flat ends, but as a single car as it had run for a while without its trailer when newly rebuilt. In return, two trams which the Trust had acquired to use for spare parts, Brush Railcoach 637 and Trailer 687, were given to Merseytravel. Soon after the swap was announced, all details of the deal were removed from the Trust’s websites, so when 671 moved to Knowsley in Merseyside a few weeks later, it was widely assumed that the deal had fallen through and that all three trams would remain with their original buyers.
However, on 6th February 2012, Brush car 637 left Blackpool and travelled to Knowsley. Once the tram was unloaded, the team from Scott’s Heavy Haulage loaded 671 onto the same lorry and transported the tram back to Blackpool. Despite the lorry and its precious cargo being parked overnight on Blundell Street, they then made another short journey to a nearby coach yard where 671 was placed on concrete. Sadly the tram is again stored outside, but at least now it is classed as a preserved tram and will hopefully have a brighter future ahead of it.
That wasn’t the end of the movements though, as the low loader then headed back to Rigby Road to collect trailer 687. Regular followers of the Blackpool tramway will no doubt recall that this tram has been stored in the depot since 2004, and has been heavily stripped since its coupled partner 677 was used in the Western Train restoration project, with its remains eventually being broken up. 687 has been spared this fate, for now at least, and it too has gone to Knowsley for outside storage, leaving Blackpool on Tuesday 7th February and reaching its new home later that same day. This means that Merseytravel now have two trailers and two Brush Railcoaches stored there, with a third Brush car – 626 – also in their hands, but housed undercover at Birkenhead. It is not known what plans exist for 687, but as an unpowered trailer which has been stripped of all of its seating and lost various other parts since it last ran, it will take a considerable amount of
effort and money to turn this shell into a working tram. However, the deal seems to give both 637 and 671 better prospects – although of course Merseytravel will have to wait to find out whether their ambitions to take over the Birkenhead heritage tramway are successful before developing any further plans for their new acquisitions.