Back to Blackpool, well Fleetwood, as we have another edition of “Picture in Time” for you.
This is the latest photo from the June/July period in 1978 with Donald Brooks taking a walk from Lord Street in Fleetwood to Broadwater taking photos of the trams as he went. He has now reached Lingfield Road, a stop which no longer exists on the modern Blackpool Tramway. It was one of many removed for the upgrade with the two closest stops now being Lindel Road to the north and Heathfield Road to the south.
Balloon 719 is just pulling into the stop with a service to Starr Gate. This tram is in the 1970s fleet livery and we can also see that it is carrying between deck ads for CIS Insurance – an advert which was seen on many Blackpool trams at the time. 719 does still survive in Blackpool and is one of the Balloon Cars converted to become a “B fleet” car which should enable them to be used at the LRT platforms. Of course, it did also have a period in the 1990s as the Walls Ice Cream which, for a time, saw ice creams sold on board! The last report of the tram was that it was in the Paint Shop being prepared for a repaint which has been significantly delayed by the closure of many of the workshop facilities at Rigby Road.
And as an aside look at the price of the petrol!
Photograph by Donald Brooks, June/July 1978