Some unforseen delays to the construction of the Heaton Park Tramway’s new Lakeside depot, have led to changes having to be made to the forthcoming ‘Spring Gala’ event, to be held at the Manchester tramway on Sunday 24th March. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to accomodate Blackpool Ex-Towing car 680 at the park, and therefore its planned launch has been postponed for the time being. It was always going to be a tall order to get the new depot sufficiently completed for it to be used to store trams by late March, and the aforementioned delays have meant that this target will not be met.
Since being purchased by the Manchester Transport Museum Society, 680 has remained in secure storage at Blackpool’s Rigby Road depot, and has even been repainted in a plain cream livery in readiness for delivery to its new home. Bearing this in mind, it would really not be in the car’s best interests to subject it to outside storage at Heaton Park, even for a short period.
As a consolation, it has been revealed that plans are afoot to return Leeds 6 to Manchester in time for a starring role at the March event. 6 has been on loan to Beamish Museum for nearly three years, and has spent much of its time standing outside, hence it was felt that moving it to open storage at the park would be less of an issue than would be the case for 680. It has been suggested that the tram may run in an engineering capacity in the short term, as it is not really ideal for passenger service at the park due to its small seating capacity and its tired condition. This event may therefore provide the only chance to ride on Leeds 6 at Heaton Park this year, which will hopefully provide a welcome boost to the event. 6 will hopefully join resident trams Blackpool 623 and Manchester 765 in service, plus Blackpool 31 which will be visiting from Beamish and should arrive in time for the Spring Gala. This will hopefully allow a four-car service to operate, and with some unusual photo opportunities and tram driving experience trips also planned, the MTMS are clearly going to great lengths to ensure that the first major event of 2013 will be an enjoyable one.
Whilst the lack of 680 is obviously very disapointing, it is hoped that enthusiasts will still support the Heaton Park Spring Gala, as the success of events like this is vital to raise funds, and ensure that more trams can be brought to the park for us all to enjoy in the fairly near future.
Leeds 6 has become a familiar sight at Beamish over the past three years, but its time in the North East will soon be over. Here the tram is seen operating in the snow earlier this month. (Photo by Dave Hewitt/Beamish Transport & Industry Blog)
What an excellent picture of a tram in a semi-rural environment. well done!