And the trams still keep on entering service at the Crich Tramway Village! The latest tram to run for the first time this year is Blackpool Toastrack 166. Whereas most of the others we have been reporting on as entering service ran last year its been longer since this particular tramcar operated with it not having carried passengers since 2019.
166 has been on the verge of being used in service on a couple of occasions over the past four years but various issues have prevented this from happening but over the winter there has been a concerted effort to make sure that the tram was ready for a return. After the completion of this work and commissioning it was cleared for service and was duly allocated to service on Saturday 8th April.
With fine spring sunshine on that day it was an all open top output with 166 joined by one of its Blackpool replacements in the shape of Boat 236 as well as London United Tramways 159.
166 is now the twelfth different passenger tram to have run in 2023 and means that there have now been four Blackpool cars which have run (Pantograph 167, Boat 236 and Brush 630 being the others).