We return to Blackpool for the next set of archive images in “Picture in Time” as we start off with a selection of images taken during 1979 from the camera of Donald Brooks.
Always a tram in sight is how the Blackpool Tramway used to be described and that is certainly true in this photo in a scene which is of the Blackpool that many tram enthusiasts like to remember it – not a cloud in the sky and the Promenade packed with visitors on both sides of the carriageway. The picture wouldn’t be complete without a procession of equally packed trams though here, just south of the Tower, prototype one-man double-decker conversion 761 looks to be completely empty as it heads a line-up that includes two Boat Cars.
The reason for 761 being empty can probably partly be put down to the fact that its only got a short distance to go with it heading to Manchester Square and then into depot. The tram had only just been converted from Balloon 725 and July was in fact its very first month in service. The route card in the window says that it is running “Car 761 Route Card No. 1”, which may have been a test run even if the destination blind implies that it is in service.
The two Boat Cars, however, look as there is very limited capacity on board with this fine and sunny July day lending itself very much to Boating on the Prom.
Photograph by Donald Brooks, July 1979