In this edition of “Picture in Time” we stay in Fleetwood for another image of a tram in the snow.
It’s the same tram as we saw last week in this image – OMO 3. This was converted from English Electric Railcoach 610 (the one time 224) and entered service in 1972. It would run with a trolley until April 1979 when it would become the fourth of the class to run with a pantograph. It would run until January 1987 when it was withdrawn and would be scrapped just five months later in Rigby Road Yard.
In this image the tram is pausing at Ash Street before continuing with its journey to Starr Gate. The afternoon clouds start to gather.
Photograph by Donald Brooks, 29th January 1979
This seems to be the OMO tram most often featured and is perhaps in many ways the most interesting. Being the last Series One Railcoach in everyday service it became one of the early conversions being deployed in driver training in the Summer of 1972 ahead of entry into Service that November. An interesting internal feature was the partial retention of the centre exit bulkheads in their original form rather than the modern-looking design which was standard accross the remainder of the class. Possibly this was the result of needing to rush this car into use as a training vehicle. The tram ran on the original English Electric bogies more of its working life than the other OMOs.