The Harry Needle storage facility in Worksop, Nottinghamshire has now welcomed its second West Midlands Metro tram after 26 departed Wedndesbury Depot on Thursday 17th August. As with the first departure (17) this tram has been to Dudley for repairs and has run in service since but with space at the depot remaining at a premium its off for temporary storage.
26 originally arrived at Wednesbury Depot on 1st July 2014 and was accepted for service just over three months later on 23rd October 2014. After being fitted with batteries it was back in service on 10th April 2020, and would remain so until the entire fleet was grounded by the cracking issue. It became the second tram (interestingly only preceded by 17, which is the only other tram to go to Worksop so far) to be moved to the Very Light Rail Innovation Centre in Dudley for repairs on 28th October 2022. Retuning to Wednesbury on 24th January 2023 it was then back in service on 1st May 2023.
But now its off to pastures new for what we’d hope will be a brief period and its likely that more of its Urbos3 sisters will follow it soon as well.
Its not been the only West Midlands Metro tram on the move recently either. 32 is now at Dudley for repairs, moving earlier this month. This is a tram which hasn’t run since the line re-opened in June 2022 and is the last of the Urbos3 not to have done so. Whether that means it will be the last to go to Dudley remains to be seen.
There remains slightly restricted access to and from the depot as evidenced in this shot as the skilled Allelys Heavy Haulage team bring 26 out.
26 gets ready to head off to Workshop. (Photographs x2 by Michael Morton, 17th August 2023)
Think it could be the third one to Worksop as there were photos online of another tram in the abnormal bay at Junction 28 on the M1 on Monday night and that is where I saw 17 last Tuesday evening. It wasn’t clear from the photos though which tram it was.
So first they buy trams that crack down the middle, then they find they can’t fit them all in the depot. Who planned that?
They’re not the sharpest tools in the box at West Midlands Metro are they?
They should have planned for an extra depot, if they could use the land next to Winson Green stop, it would have been better as the trams could just be moved up the line and the. Traverse into the secondary depot.