Over the past few years we have seen plenty of movement of trams on the West Midlands Metro. Some have had to go for repairs after the body cracking issues were discovered, whilst others have just gone away for storage with reduced depot capacity during upgrade works. One tram which went away to Dudley in May is now firmly back in service as we see in this latest pictorial article.
The tram we are discussing is 18, which was the second of the Urbso3 trams to be delivered to Wednesbury Depot when it arrived on 15th November 2013. Whilst many of the 21 Urbsos3 trams (originally built 2013-5) have gone here, there and everywhere on numerous occasions, for 18 its believed its first (and so far only) move was on 1st May 2025 when it was moved to the Very Light Rail Innovation Centre at Dudley for repair work to take place.
The tram has since returned to service to help boost the available operational trams. With services to Millennium Point due to commence later this year and then the line to Dudley “as soon as possible in 2026” more trams than ever will be needed to operate the service so the additional trams available will be incredibly useful.
18 is seen here departing from Wolverhampton Station on a sunny autumn day. (Photograph by Adrian Butterworth, October 2025)