We return to Blackpool for the next few weeks in “Picture in Time”. Once again Donald Brooks is the photographer to start things off on the northern section of the tramway.
It looks like it’s a warm and sunny day in the early summer period as we see Balloon 700 approaching Broadwater with a southbound service to Starr Gate. The driver’s windscreen is open wide to get some air into the cab and it seems that the tram could do with some attention to its paintwork. The flowers are also out in this lovely summer’s day at the seaside.
700 is probably a tram which needs very little introduction to Blackpool tram enthusiasts and remains very popular to this day. The original Luxury Dreadnought it was, of course, originally an open topper but was fully enclosed during World War II and has remained in that condition ever since. It may now have received modifications to allow it to run to the modern LRT platforms but its main use continues to be on heritage tours.
Photograph by Donald Brooks, June/July 1978