For the next few weeks we will head back to Blackpool as “Picture in Time” continues.
It’s a black and white image for you this week and there has been a fairly significant snowfall on the ground (a relatively rare occurrence for the coastal area of Blackpool) but that doesn’t stop the tram service from running to still allow people to get about with their daily lives.
We’re at Starr Gate here when there was no thought that it would be the location of a depot or even that the tramway would receive a multi million pound upgrade with modern trams built in continental Europe.
The tram we see here is a rebuild courtesy of Blackpool Corporation Transport’s own Rigby Road workshops – OMO 11. This was the one-time English Electric Railcoach 268 (renumbered 615 in 1968) which was converted to become an OMO car and entered service in this guise in 1975. The tram would be the last OMO in normal passenger service before it was withdrawn on 18th March 1993. It was subsequently used for testing but was scrapped in 2000.
Photograph by Tony Stevenson, 14th January 1976
A very atmospheric shot – thank you