A highly enjoyable Easter weekend on the Blackpool tramway came to an end on Bank Holiday Monday, 1st April with another varied selection of heritage trams joining the service cars on the promenade. Over the four-day holiday period eight different historic trams were used, showcasing the variety that still exists within the fleet.
Following on from our coverage of the first two days, two further trams made their year debuts over the remainder of the holiday period: on Easter Day itself, Boat 600 was used for the first time in 2013 alongside sister car 230, although both trams were swapped for enclosed cars after a few hours due to the cold. Finally, on Easter Monday, Twin set 272+T2 was used for the first time since its famous system tour last December. This included a morning run to Fleetwood; however, this was somewhat upstaged when Boat car 230 also did a single trip to Fleetwood Ferry during the early afternoon! This was the first time that a Boat car had ventured to the northern terminus in the light rail era making it an extremely historic occasion, and one that saw a great many enthusiasts on board. The last Boat journey to Fleetwood pre-upgrade is not recorded, but as none of the class ran on the last weekend of the 2009 season it probably occured at some point during that year’s illuminations.
The star performer of the weekend was Balloon 717, which ran faultlessly on all four days, and travelled to Fleetwood at least three times. A full list of which trams were used on each day is provided below:
Good Friday: 40, 66, 706 & 717
Easter Saturday: 40, 66, 147, 230 (late PM only) & 706
Easter Sunday: 40 (PM), 66, 230 (AM), 600 (AM), 706 & 717 (PM)
Easter Monday: 40 (PM), 147, 230 (PM), 272+T2, 706 (AM) & 717
Although the financial performance of the heritage tours over Easter is not yet fully known, the trams seemed to attract a very good number of customers, particularly in light of the poor weather forecast – indeed the town seemed noticeably less busy than usual for a Bank Holiday weekend, although as usual the Flexity2 trams were well filled most of the time. Quite a few people who normally stick to photographing the trams finally seem to have grasped the ‘use it or lose it’ concept which has been emphasised more than ever, as these trams have to pay their way if their operation is to continue well into the future. Hopefully Easter 2013 will be seen as a positive turning point for Blackpool’s heritage tram fleet and has set the tone for equally successful heritage running days, over the rest of the year and beyond.
Don’t forget that heritage tours will operate again on both of the May Bank Holiday weekends, when they will be supplemented by the use of rebuilt Balloon cars. These dates should also see the welcome return of Brush car 631 and Centenary car 648 in heritage green and cream liveries, plus Balloon 701 in service for the first time since 2010.
Two of the stars of the Easter holidays, Standard 147 and Boat 230, meet at North Pier on Saturday 30th March. 230 had just arrived from the depot ahead of its first passenger journey of 2013. (Photo by Tony Waddington)