When the announcement was made that Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours were suspending operations immediately it meant that pre-arranged bookings either had to be cancelled or amended. For the Fylde Tramway Society that included their annual Christmas tour but not to be put off they still managed to work alongside both Blackpool Transport and the Fylde Transport Trust to bring together a day of events which would include bus and tram.
The original plan had to be to help celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Balloon Car with hopes that all available members of that class would be used. Obviously, with the suspension of heritage operations that wasn’t possible and so it was a two part day for participants instead.
The morning saw the Fylde Transport Trust provide ex-Lytham St Annes/Fylde Leyland PDR1/2 no. 77. This toured many of the former inland tram routes to show just where the trams of yesteryear operated in and around Blackpool.
Then in the afternoon it was time for tram with Blackpool Transport allocating the newest of all the Flexity2 trams, 018, to operate the tour for the FTS. It left the North Pier & Tower siding at 1550 and then ran to Bispham, back to Cabin, to Thornton Gate, back to Cleveleys, on to Fleetwood Ferry, back to Fisherman’s Walk, then Fleetwood Ferry and back to Starr Gate where the tour ended. On the way it used many of the crossovers on the system, many of which are not traversed when the trams are in normal service.
With the destination display showing “FTS Christmas Tour”, 018 sits in the North Pier & Tower siding ahead of departure as the Tower is shrouded in mist.
012 passes by on the timetabled service on its way to Starr Gate. The tram is currently running with a replacement end panel which is in standard fleet livery purple. (Both Photographs by Michael Morton, 28th December 2024)
This indicates that a good time can be enjoyed riding on the LRV tramcars, although over time the lack of variety may bring to mind the saying ‘familiarity breeds contempt’. Maybe the Society would, however, be able to arrange excursions to other heritage tramways such as Crich in order to maintain a level of interest. They do seem to have made the very best of a difficult situation on this occasion. It’s possible that just as the LTT became the FTT, they could rename the society ‘Fylde Transport Society’ – they could hire heritage buses more often and even include an occasional trip to a steam railway. How about the one at Oswestry, now home to the last surviving Class 503 coach?
Or it could just go because it basically fulfills no purpose whatsoever now.