Over the past few weeks the Fylde Transport Trust’s Blackpool Balloon 715 has been undergoing some paintwork attention to amend its 1990s livery to the 1970s version and it will debut with its new look on Friday 24th May when it used for that evenings Ghost Tour.
It was announced over the winter that it was the intention to give 715 a bit of a touch up and with the similarity between the 1990s and 1970s versions of the Blackpool Green and Cream is was an easy choice for the tram to head back 20 years or so in its history. Not only is the tram now holding a fresh livery it has also lost its modern Fleetwood Tram Sunday side adverts and these have been replaced by period adverts, including one for Blackpool Zoo following an online Facebook poll by the tram’s owner, the Fylde Transport Trust.
It has been decided that the first public run of 715 in this guise will be on Friday 24th May’s Ghost Tour which is scheduled to depart from the North Pier/Tower heritage stop at 1930. Tickets for this trip must be pre-booked and this can be done by either going online to shop.visitblackpool.com or visiting the Tourist Information Centre at Festival House.
Friday 24th May is the start of a long weekend of heritage tour action with a four tram service due to run on that day ahead of not only the Ghost Tour but also The Great British Night Out Fish and Chip special. Then on each of the next three days (Saturday 25th to Monday 27th May) it will be the six tram Gold timetable and don’t forget Saturday 25th also sees the very first The Transport Tour using Standard 147 and a bus between North Pier/Tower and Fleetod.
* Subject to when tram allocations are released we will bring you a full preview of the weekend on this site.