This coming weekend (Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th September) will see the annual enthusiast event at the Crich Tramway Village. Extended from one day to two, Tram Day naturally becomes Tram Weekend and the usual mix of trams in service and displays of trams – both operational and non-operational – for photos will be on offer.
This year seems to have a bit of a Blackpool theme with both days seeing a Blackpool & Fleetwood 125 line-up on the Depot Fan. Marking the 125th anniversary of the opening of the Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramroad the line-up will include Rack 2 (which also reaches the 125th anniversary milestone this year) on both days along with other trams from and associated with the Tramroad. On the Saturday the line-up takes place from 1500-1600 and should also include Pantograph 167 and Brush 630 whilst on the second day it will be at 1100-1130 and should include recent arrival Centenary 645.
Blackpool will also feature in the curtain raiser photo opportunity at 1000 on the Saturday with “The Blackpool Circular Tour” theme featuring Toastrack 166 and Boat 236 at Town End. The Sunday also sees a curtain raiser with this being “Trams of Steel” and including Sheffield cars 74 and 510.
Other themes of line-ups over the weekend will include “Oporto 150!” (Oporto 9 celebrates its 150th birthday and will be displayed alongside Oporto 273 on Saturday at 1100-1200), “Coming Soon!” (London County Council 1, Newcastle 102 and London Transport 1622 on Sunday at 1500-1600) and other stored trams will be displayed at times during shunting moves – with Leeds 602 in particular called out as making appearances on both days.
Away from the displays for photos there will also be a regular tram service with all current operational trams in the passenger fleet being used at some point during the weekend. The service will see multiple trams departing every 10 minutes from Town End. The pool of trams which will be running are scheduled to be drawn from the following nine trams: Glasgow 22, Sheffield 74, Blackpool 166, Leeds 180, Blackpool 236, Metropolitan Electric Tramways 331, Leeds 399, Sheffield 510 and Blackpool 630.
And of course Works Cars will be in operation on the main line and there may be some trams which will be operating on test or for demonstration purposes only.
As always the usual caveats apply as we are talking about heritage vehicles and the weather (with the forecast currently being a little mixed) may also play a part. But the below is the timetable of what is planned to happen – for up-to-date information (including a downloadable programme of events) visit the Crich Tramway Village website at https://www.tramway.co.uk/whatson/tram-weekend/.
Saturday 16th September
1000 – Curtain Raiser: The Blackpool Circular Tour – Toastrack 166 and Boat 236 at Town End for photos before the service begins
1030-1200 – Intensive tram service in operation
Works Cars in operation
1030-1230 – Shunting on the Depot Fan
Some stored trams will be made available for display including Leeds 602
1030-1600 – Last chance to buy book sale in Exhibition Hall plus a Workshop Tool sale
1030-1600 – Mystery Objects from the collection in the Exhibition Hall
1100-1200 – Oporto 150! Oporto 9 celebrates its 150th birthday in 2023 and will be displayed with fellow Oporto tram 273 on the depot fan
1200-1400 – Some trams return to depot for lunch with photo opportunities on the depot fan
1300-1500 – Holymoorside Brass Band at the Bandstand
1400-1700 – Intensive tram service in operation
Works Cars in operation
1500-1600 – Blackpool & Fleetwood 125. To mark the 125th anniversary of the opening of the Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramroad, Rack 2 (itself 125 years old) will be joined by other trams from and associated with the Tramroad including Pantograph 167 and Brush 630 on the depot fan
1630 – Shunting on the depot fan as the trams are out back into the depots
Sunday 17th September
1000 – Curtain Raiser: Trams of Steel – Sheffield 74 and Sheffield 510 at Town End for photos before the service begins
1030-1200 – Intensive tram service in operation
Works Cars in operation
1030-1230 – Shunting on the Depot Fan
Some stored trams will be made available for display including Leeds 602
1030-1600 – Last chance to buy book sale in Exhibition Hall plus a Workshop Tool sale
1030-1600 – Mystery Objects from the collection in the Exhibition Hall
1100-1130 – Blackpool & Fleetwood 125. To mark the 125th anniversary of the opening of the Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramroad, Rack 2 (itself 125 years old) will be joined by other trams from and associated with the Tramroad including recent arrival Centenary 645
1200-1400 – Some trams return to depot for lunch with photo opportunities on the depot fan
1300-1500 – Belper Wind Band at the Bandstand
1400-1700 – Intensive tram service in operation
Works Cars in operation
1500-1600 – Coming Soon! A display on the depot fan of trams which will join the operational fleet soon (or in 2024) including London County Council 1, Newcastle 102 and London Transport 1622
1630 – Shunting on the depot fan as the trams are out back into the depots
- All being well British Trams Online should have “live” coverage of the event on Facebook
Has Liverpool 869 had an issue?
Seems like it, it was displayed on the depot fan with its trolley tied down on Saturday. Unfortunately Crich seem to have had a lot of bad luck recently with several trams being taken out of service due to defects, but it looks like they put on a good event despite the challenges they faced.