Voting is over, votes have been checked with multiple votes removed and we have our winners of the British Trams Online Tram of the Year 2022 contest! In truth it hasn’t been a close contest with winners in all four categories getting roughly 50% of the total vote but at the end of voting we can congratulate Manx Electric Railway 2, Manchester Metrolink 1023, the Crich Tramway Village and the Winter Manx Heritage Transport Festival on winning the accolades for this year!
The original and main award, “Tram (Traditional) of the Year” saw a total of 320 votes for the three nominated trams and Manx Electric Railway 2 received over 56% of the total vote to be crowned for 2021. 2 had returned to service on the Manx Electric Railway during the summer after a stunning repaint into a coat of its original 1893 Douglas & Laxey Coast Electric Railway maroon and ivory livery and this new look was enough to persuade you that it deserved to become the third MER vehicle to walk away with the award in the past four years! 2 beat off competition from Blackpool Balloon 723 and Amsterdam 474 to win this category.
The ”Tram (Modern) of the Year” was a vehicle which hasn’t turned a wheel in service for many years but Manchester Metrolink T68 1023 received almost 53% of the total votes to become the fifth (and a half!) tram from Metrolink to win this category. Although it was moved across to the Crewe Heritage Centre during 2020, because of the pandemic it didn’t actually go on public display until 2021 and with volunteers from the Manchester Transport Museum Society giving it some much needed TLC its starting to look its best again. In winning this award, 1023 has shown the new kids on the block on Metrolink that older is better for those of you who vote as it beat 3121 into third place whilst Stagecoach Supertram 112 was just in second (only one vote separated second and third).
With no modern tram system being shortlisted for “Tramway of the Year” it was a battle between heritage tramways this year and in the end the Crich Tramway Village came out on top defeating reigning champion the Seaton Tramway into second and the East Anglia Transport Museum in third. Although 2021 was still not a normal year for Crich, the flexibility shown during the year of commissioning additional trams for service to meet the ever evolving demands plus the good progress being seen in the Workshop on projects for the immediate and longer term future was enough to allow it to win the award for the first since 2014.
Lastly, and by no means least!, was the “Event of the Year” category with a new event taking the honours. The Winter Manx Heritage Transport Festival took place during the autumn over five days in October and gave all the usual events including parallel runs, behind the scenes tours and intensive services. Whilst not exclusively a tram event, the Manx Electric Railway featured heavily during the five days and there were enough of you who felt it was deserving of the accolade with just below 51% of the vote. Blackpool Tramway’s Anniversary Weekend was second and Crich’s Tram Day came in third.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to vote and congratulations to both the winners and those who were shortlisted in each category. Tram of the Year will be back at the end of this year – and who knows there may be a bit more to consider next time around!
- To find out more details about the Tram of the Year visit the dedicated page at http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/tramofyear.html
Results
Tram (Traditional) of the Year
Manx Electric Railway 2 – 180 votes (56.25%)
Blackpool Balloon 723 – 96 votes (30.00%)
Amsterdam 474 – 44 votes (13.75%)
37 votes rejected due to multiple votes (caused no change to ranking)
Tram (Modern) of the Year
Manchester Metrolink 1023 – 144 votes (52.75%)
Stagecoach Supertram 112 – 65 votes (23.81%)
Manchester Metrolink 3121 – 64 votes (23.44%)
28 votes rejected due to multiple votes (caused no change to ranking)
Tramway of the Year
Crich Tramway Village – 142 votes (48.97%)
Seaton Tramway – 95 votes (32.76%)
East Anglia Transport Museum – 53 votes (18.28%)
29 votes rejected due to multiple votes (caused no change to ranking)
Event of the Year
Isle of Man: Winter Manx Heritage Transport Festival – 156 votes (50.81%)
Blackpool Tramway: Anniversary Weekend – 92 votes (29.97%)
Crich Tramway Village: Tram Day – 60 votes (19.22%)
36 votes rejected due to multiple votes (caused no change to ranking)
Votes received from the same IP address are considered a multiple vote. In these cases the first set of votes are accepted with all subsequent votes removed from the final rankings.
Tram (Traditional) of the Year is Manx Electric Railway 2 after its repaint into the original Douglas & Laxey Coast Electric Tramway livery. We see the tram here at Laxey during the Winter Manx Heritage Transport Festival which also happened to win Event of the Year! (Photograph courtesy of Manx Electric Railway Online)
Manchester Metrolink 1023 won the Tram (Modern) of the Year after going on public display at the Crewe Heritage Centre and enjoying some attention from volunteers from the Manchester Transport Museum Society. This photo shows 1023 at Crewe in September 2021. (Photograph by Adam McKendrick)
The Tramway of the Year award went to the Crich Tramway Village and when you get scenes like this is it any wonder why?! London Transport 1622 and Oporto 273 at Wakebridge on 18th September 2021. (Photograph by Gareth Prior)