Although a number of trams have gone to and come back from Dudley to allow repairs to take place on the bodyside cracking issue very few of these have yet to return to passenger service with until recently 17 the only one to have done so. The ranks of this category have now increased by two though with 26 returning to action on Monday 1st May and swiftly followed by 29 the next day.
26 was the second of the trams which went to the Very Light Rail Innovation Centre, Dudley (preceded only by 17) with it departing Wednesbury (at a time when it was till possible to load and unload trams at the depot) on 28th October 2022. This was three days after 17 had made the same trip but the work on 26 took longer as it didn’t return until 24th January 2023 (17 had returned in December 2022).
Despite the fact that 26 has been back on the West Midlands Metro network for over three months it hadn’t been seen in service at all– indeed it hasn’t been reported as being seen on test in that time either – with the same trams being used in service for the opening few months of 2023. But now with 53 having entered service last month (for the first time after delivery and commissioning) it has been quickly followed by 26.
26 is no stranger to having been away from the West Midlands Metro as it was out of service for two years between June 2017 and June 2019 after a derailment at the depot which necessitated a trip to Wolverton Works between September 2017 and March 2018.
If it had been a long time between the first two Dudley repaired trams entering service then it was nothing like as along a wait for the third as it was in service just a day later on 2nd May! This was 29 which which was only returned to Wednesbury in March – so a much faster return. This tram is though running with white panels where the replacement panels were added, currently the only tram to be in this hybrid livery.
For the record the following trams have been to Dudley so far (with some back, some still there):
- 17 – departed 25th October 2022, back December 2022: back in service
- 20 – unknown departure, back 11th April 2023
- 24 – departed January 2023, back March 2023
- 25 – departed 25th March 2023, still at Dudley
- 26 – departed 28th October 2022, back 24th January 2023: back in service
- 27 – departed 9th December 2022, back 23rd January 2023
- 29 – departed December 2022, back March 2023: back in service
- 30 – departed 14th April 2023, still at Dudley
26 arrives at The Hawthorns.
Another photo of 26 as it stands at Edgbaston Village. (Both Photographs by Andy Walters, 1st May 2023)