Following on from lots of speculation at the end of last year, Blackpool Transport’s old tram depot at Rigby Road was invaded by a rubber-tyred army on Friday 23rd March, when a number of City Sightseeing buses moved in to the tram shed. With an ever decreasing number of trams residing there, the time was perfect for buses to make their move and the trams were clearly too few in number to defend their territory, ultimately having to surrender the lower numbered tracks in the depot to the City Sightseeing bus fleet.
It is believed that, as the open-top buses are considered to be more of a tourist attraction aimed primarily at holidaymakers and day trippers rather than local residents, they will come under the control of Bryan Lindop of Blackpool Transport, as per the heritage trams. Humour aside, it therefore makes good sense for the tourist service vehicles to be housed in the same building.
Although seeing buses inside the Rigby Road depot will probably be a major culture shock to some, this is not actually a first as various buses have often been inherited by the Permanent Way department following withdrawal from passenger service, and these have often been housed in the tram depot. As far as this writer knows, this is the first time that passenger buses will have been kept there on a regular basis although if any reader knows differently, please let us know!
Ahead of the bus invasion, a major shunting operation took place at the depot on Tuesday 20th March when the lower-numbered tracks were cleared of trams. The worn pointwork leading to these tracks was highlighted when a tram, thought to be Balloon 723, derailed but thankfully the other trams were moved across the depot fan to the other side of the building without incident. Three of the Lancastrian Transport Trust’s tram collection were moved on this day; OMO 8, Coronation 304 and the illuminated Rocket 732, along with the yellow pairing of Centenary car 642 and Balloon 701, and the Manchester Transport Museum Society’s Ex-Towing car 680. None of these trams are expected to run in Blackpool within the forseeable future, if ever, although the Rocket may well emerge again soon as it is expected to move off-site shortly for a cosmetic restoration ready for display during the 2012 illuminations season. Most of the others are likely to endure a further period of storage as they await their turn to be moved to new homes.