As we return to Blackpool again for “Picture in Time” we are featuring a photo which was captured in the October of 1981.
As with last week’s image this photo is taken outside of Lewis’s – once a very familiar landmark on the Prom – and shows two trams standing at the stop as they go in their respective directions. Its two one person operated trams which feature in this image and if you look inside the cab of the Jubilee on the right it does seem that he is taking fares so the tram would seem to be under his sole operation rather than having a conductor on board.
The two trams we see here are the first of their types, OMO 1 and Jubilee 761. 1 entered service in this condition in October 1972 (although was not the first to enter service that being 2) and would remain in service until June 1989 when it ran for the final time before scrapping came in November 1993. 761 had only been running like this since 1979 when it was revealed in its new condition after conversion from withdrawn Balloon 725. It would undergo a refurbishment during its operating career before running for the last time in November 2011. Now preserved the tram is owned by the Fylde Transport Trust.
Photograph by Norman Daley