Blackpool’s Anniversary Weekend is back over the weekend of Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th September and a busy porgramme of events has been announced. Alongside everything you expect to see from similar weekends in Blackpool there will be the chance to see behind the scenes at Starr Gate Depot and there will also be a two hour Mini System Tour taking you to places you don’t usually get to travel on board the heritage trams.
This year the Blackpool Tramway is celebrating 137 years of operation and what better way to celebrate than have a special event! Similar to the Vintage Weekends which have taken place at various points during 2022 the weekend will see the standard pre-bookable Promenade and Coastal Tours running alongside hop-on, hop-off tours. There is also a Real Ale Tour and a Ghost Tram on the Saturday.
The two “new” parts of the programme for this event are Starr Gate Depot Tours and the Mini System Tour. There will just be one tour of Starr Gate Depot on Sunday 25th September at 1200 and this will give you the first chance in many years to see behind the scenes at the modern tram depot to find out just what happens behind those big doors! The Mini System Tour is also on Sunday 25th September and leaves Hopton Road outside Rigby Road Depot at 0930. Taking around two hours the tram will use various crossovers and turning points not usually covered during Heritage Tram Tours.
On top of all that there will also be more tours of Tramtown (Rigby Road Depot) on Saturday 24th September and the evenings will, of course, see Illuminations Tours.
The usual pricing structure is in place. This includes a Two Day Event Pass available at £50 for adults (including a hop-on, hop-off ticket for both days, 1 depot tour – Starr Gate or Rigby Road – 1 Illumination Tour, either the Ghost Tram or Real Ale Tour, the Mini System Tour and the opportunity to get discounted travel on the Fish & Chips Tour on Friday 23rd September)
The full schedule currently planned on each day is as follows…
Saturday 24th September
Real Ale Tour – 1500
Tramtown Tours – 1030, 1245
Ghost Tram – 1915
Promenade Tours – 1310, 1440
Coastal Tours – 1340
Illumination Tours from 1930
Sunday 25th September
Mini System Tour – 0930
Starr Gate Depot Tour – 1200
Promenade Tours – 1310, 1440
Coastal Tour – 1340
Illumination Tours – 2000, 2120
Details of allocated trams are likely to be released closer to the date.
- Details of the planned events can be found on the Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours website at https://blackpoolheritage.com/tours/september-anniversary-weekend/