For the next few weeks “Picture in Time” is returning to the Fylde Coast as we feature another set of images taken by Donald Brooks on the Blackpool Tramway. We are heading back to July 1977 again for these shots and we start off this set in Fleetwood.
The exact date of this image isn’t recorded but it was in July 1977 when we see the last built of the Balloon Cars, 726, on Lord Street in Fleetwood having just passed St Peter’s Church – a familiar building to tram enthusiasts of many generations and often seen in the background of photos of trams in operation. None of the businesses pictured here remain trading today, with the “Ragtown” store on the left now an One Stop convenience store.
726 was carrying the 1970s version of the green and cream fleet livery at this time and as we can see still has a trolley pole and has a side advert for Empire Pools. The tram had received its single destination display three years previous but it wouldn’t be until 1991 that it lost its trolley. It looks as if it was a warm day with the drivers windscreen as wide open as it can be and the centre entrance doors also open. Having last run in 2010, 726 was in the news last year with it donated to the East Anglia Transport Museum where it now resides waiting for attention to return it to operational condition.
Photograph by Donald Brooks, July 1977
Driver sporting long locks as was the fashion at the time though I guess he may be thinner on top now all these year later lol