A Christmas afternoon treat for you as we have another outing for “15 Years Apart” and it features a tram which has changed livery and location.
We start off with an image taken on 9th November 2009, and its an image which really marks the start of Blackpool Brush Railcoach 634’s road to entering service in preservation. This was the day after the “Farewell to Fleetwood” weekend which saw what was billed as the last traditional trams running along the streets of the town and saw 634 leaving for a new home. It had been purchased by Andy Ashton and would initially move to Rushden where significant work would be undertaken on its restoration. This photo shows 634 – still carrying an all over advert for Cala Gran Holiday Park in Fleetwood – as its being readied for loading onto the back of a lorry and the long journey to Northamptonshire.
29th March 2024 and we have now followed 634 to the far east – Suffolk that is and the East Anglia Transport Museum. After a 15 year journey and lots of mileage on lorries around the country, 634 was now part of the Fylde Transport Trust collection and had moved to the EATM on a five year loan the previous December where the final stages of the work to bring it back into service had been completed. Now in a Terror Tram livery, this was the first public use of the tram and its seen here having come out of the woods and heading by the trolleybus depot to Chapel Road. Note the special destination blind thanking former owner Andy Ashton and his daughters for their hard work in restoring the tram. (Both Photographs by Gareth Prior)