Work on installing overhead wires on the Blackpool Tramway extension to Blackpool North Railway Station has now got underway in Talbot Square. As we reported last weekend, early morning and evening services are being affected during the week for up to three weeks to allow this work to take place with the first evening’s work being on Monday 24th May and now due to continue overnight (except at weekends). Presumably this three week period will only see overhead being installed at the Talbot Square end of the line with the remaining sections to follow over the next few months.
Sisk remain as the main contractors for the tramway extension works and they have hired in a couple of cherry pickers from Pod Trak – a company who have featured on these pages before as they came to the rescue of the Heaton Park Tramway to help with the replacement of their overhead wires after they were stolen in September 2019. The equipment arrived in Talbot Square over the previous weekend before it was put into action for the first time on Monday 24th May.
So far, there has been little obvious progress with the first two nights seeing new span wires being installed. The first night saw three new span wires installed across Talbot Square with the following night seeing a further two span wires put in across the southbound Promenade lane. The work was originally due to take place for “up to three weeks” but it has now been announced that after the end of this week there will be no further week until July.
Not quite touching the rails at the moment the two cherry pickers are seen parked in a compound in Talbot Square awaiting their use to install the overhead wires. These two images were captured on 22nd May 2021.
A look along Talbot Road on 25th May showing the tracks sans wires for now. In the next few weeks hopefully this scene will change and there will be overhead wires finally installed.
The Cherry Pickers in their compound at Talbot Square on 25th May with the new span wire now seen installed above them.
Looking from the Promenade to Talbot Square here is another 25th May view with the span wires seen running across the Square.
26th May and we see the two new span wires installed over the Promenade southbound lane. (All Photographs by Tony Armitage)