At the start of May we reported on the overhaul of Blackpool Coronation 304 which at the time was edging closer to a return with the tantalising prospect that further testing would be taking place to allow it to take its place in the operating fleet once more. The owners of the tram, the Fylde Transport Trust, have recently given an update on this work which has hit a slight delay but only one which should knock things back by around four weeks.
In the early May update it was mentioned that the tram – which remains at Rigby Road Depot and will be loaned to Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours for operation – had recently been visited by volunteers from the East Anglia Transport Museum (who posses the only running VAMBAC fitted tram in the UK) to inspect the rubber suspension pads. Although these were given a positive report at the same time it was discovered that one of the brake blocks was cracked and thus would need to be replaced ahead of the next phase of testing.
The brake blocks on the Coronation Cars are different to the rest of the Blackpool tram fleet which meant that there were no spares available to quickly swap over. As a result one brake block has been removed from 304 and sent to a specialist company for copying. This will, in turn, allow a batch of new brake blocks to be made – enough for both Coronation 304 and also Marton VAMBAC 11 at the East Anglia Transport Museum.
In a statement on Facebook the FTT said: “This unforeseen issue has put a small dent in our dynamic testing phase, but do not be worried, it should only move things back around four weeks or so.”
And when you’ve waited nine years for the tram to run in service what’s another four weeks!