Another small but significant piece of history has been made for Blackpool’s Brush Railcoaches, as another member of the class has now operated outside of Blackpool. Although not yet available for passenger service, car 630 has now been commissioned for trial running at Crich Tramway Village, and has been tested both around the depot yard, and more excitingly, on the main line.
630 was taken to Wakebridge on test on Friday 2nd March, in order to ensure that it can negotiate the tramway safely. The main reason for doing this was to check its pantograph on the Crich tramway, as only one car in the operating fleet (Berlin 3006) is fitted with a pantograph, which is of a different design to 630‘s. For similar reasons, the car has also been taken down to Town End and shunted around the depot fan, as some trams fitted with pantographs or bow collectors are unable to access all of the tracks inside the main depots. Of course, the easy option would have been to fit a trolley arm to 630 – but this would not have suited its current modernised appearance and it is therefore very pleasing that the tram’s new owners have refitted a pantograph to maintain a smart 1990s image.
Photos of Blackpool 630 on test at Town End can be found at the official Crich Tramway Village blog – http://www.crichtramwayvillagenews.blogspot.com/ – and these pictures show that the unauthentic fleet numbers have been removed since its arrival from Blackpool. These will hopefully be replaced by some more suitable transfers using an appropriate font. It is not yet known when this tram will be used in passenger service at Crich, as some paperwork and crew training is still required, but all signs look promising and hopefully it won’t be too long before 630 is offering a very different tram riding experience at the Museum.
In other news, the other recent arrival at Crich, Blackpool Jubilee car 762, has also emerged into daylight. On Saturday 3rd March, the car was brought outside so that it could change places with London United Tramways 159, which is now at the front of the workshop. It is hoped that both of these trams will also join the running fleet this year, although it is reported that 159 will probably be in service first. These cars will all provide some welcome variety into the operating pool of trams at the Museum, and should be welcomed both by enthusiasts and the general public alike as they are all completely
different from any other trams that can run there. 2012 is shaping up to be a very interesting year for this museum, and British Trams Online will hopefully be able to provide good coverage of the main events this year as they unfold!