In the dead of the night as all is calm and most people are resting for the next day ahead there are often key movements taking place on the West Midlands Metro with lorries coming to bring and remove trams whilst other trams go about testing ahead of their entry into service. The night of Friday 24th and Saturday 25th March was one such night when Allely’s were back in town to take another tram to Dudley for bodyside repairs whilst one of the latest Urbos100 trams was out on test.
The tram which departed this time was 25 and it has now joined 24 at the Very Light Rail Innovation Centre in Dudley where it will undergo bodyside repairs to sort out the cracks which have been discovered on these trams (and, of course, saw the service completely suspended on a couple of occasions in 2021/2022).
With access to the depot at Wednesbury still limited because of construction works the loading of 25 took place on Bilston Road again. The Allely’s low loader arrived after the final service tram of the day had passed (and thus removing the need for the service to be curtailed earlier than normal) and 25 was towed north by 36 to allow this loading to take place in the early hours of Saturday 25th March. The tram has now been transferred to Dudley and work is underway on its repairs to allow it to return to service.
Whilst on one hand repairs are taking place to the Urbos3 trams, on the other the latest generation of CAF trams, the Urbos100s, are continuing to be tested in preparation for them to enter service. We’ve previously mentioned that two Urbos100s crept in without being noticed and these are now confirmed as being both 51 and 53 and came on the same evening. 53 has already undergone extensive overnight testing and now 51 has been noted out of the depot undergoing this initial test runs.
This video capture shows 25 being towed north to Bilston Road by 36. Allely’s were waiting on Bilston Road to take the tram to Dudley.
53 was also out on the same night as its testing continues. This is Wednesbury Parkway with the depot complex seen in the background. (Photographs x2 by Michael Morton, 25th March 2023)
51 is seen here from a passing tram as it sits inside the depot having started its testing. (Photograph by Andy Walters, 28th March 2023)