We go to the West Midlands Metro one more time for this edition of “Old(er) and New”.
In this edition we are at Handsworth Booth Street with this first image depicting T69 14 on 11th March 2009 as it operates a service going to Birmingham Snow Hill. Delivered on 11th November 1998 to Wednesbury Depot (one of two to turn up on that day), 14 would remain in service until June 2014 when it was withdrawn. It wasn’t stored at the depot for long as it was that same month that it moved on to Long Marston for storage. Like so many other T69s it was later sold on for scrap. Handsworth Booth Street is located on the original Midland Metro line, just to the south of The Hawthorns.
Its only nine years later when we go back to Handsworth Booth Street and see Urbos3 29 arriving at the stop – also on its way to Birmingham. The date is 6th July 2018 and the tram was still in the original CAF fleet livery (also seen a few examples of the T69s and styled as the Network West Midlands livery when first applied). (Both Photographs by Gareth Prior)