We are going north of the border for this edition of “Trams &” as we’re in Edinburgh.
The extension of the Edinburgh Trams system to Newhaven has increased the number of photo opportunities – not only for trams alone but alongside other modes of transport as well, including those which float! This image was taken on 2nd July 2023 and shows CAF tram 253 alongside the MV Fingal, a floating hotel.
253 is one of 27 trams built by CAF for Edinburgh Trams with this number needed for what should have been a more extensive network than that which we ended up seeing because of what is best described as “project mismanagement”.
The tram is approaching Port of Leith tramstop on Ocean Drive in this photo and in doing so it passes the MV Fingal. Built in 1963 by the Blythswood Shipbuilding Company in Glasgow for the Northern Lighthouse Board and was used for 30 years in Oban and six years in Stromness as a maintenance and supply vessel for lighthouses. It retired from this use in 2000 and it was then sold and moored in the River Fal, Corwall under the new name of Windsor Castle. The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust purchased it in 2014 and five years later it was reopened as a luxury floating hotel in Albert Dock Basin. By this time it was back as the Fingal.
Photograph by Gareth Prior, 2nd July 2023