We start a new set of “Picture in Time” images today and we’re back in Blackpool for the next few weeks.
The winter period is often associated with engineering works (particularly on the Blackpool Tramway which by its very nature is more seasonal than most other tramways in the UK) so it seems rather appropriate that we feature one of the dedicated engineering trams in this first photo of this latest series.
Taken at Thornton Gate Permanent Way yard on 14th April 1994 we see Works Brush 259 which was being used (with a trailer out of sight) in moving replacement rails along the tramway. 259 – now owned by the Fylde Transport Trust – started off life as Brush Railcoach 287 before being converted into a Works Car in 1971. It went through several numbers as a Works Car and would remain operational until 2002 when it was taken out of use and stored for the then LTT. It can currently be found stored in Rigby Road Depot.
Photograph by Phil Steer, 14th April 1994
Seeing the picture of Brush rail coach 287 in a very dilapidated condition can I ask other enthusiasts how they see the future for the unrestored and restored trams confined to RigbybRd. I think we may have to accept that it is not possible to operate vintage trams alongside modern trams operating a public service to a published timetable. Were the staff employed at Rigby Rd made redundant ? The future of the operation of vintage trams in Blackpool seems very doubtful. A healthy debate would be interesting.
Sadly, the record of a small but vocal minority of commentators here means a rational, healthy debate is very unlikely…
(fully expecting some to immediately jump in and prove me right)
As I recall it, Heritage cars have not operated as part of a published service to a regular timetable’ for some time. Wasn’t the operation in 2024 that of three trips daily, two along the front between Pleasure Beach loop and Bispham loop, with one longer trip to Fleetwood and return.
These were not part of, and did not interfere with, the BTS scheduled services.
On the wider point, I doubt that all the cars currently in Rigby Road can survive, but certainly a number are in good enough condition to operate a heritage service for some years to come, should they be properly maintained.
Which might be difficult, admittedly, given that a report by Fylde Transport Services about a year ago stated that they had been informed by BTS officials that most of the staff who had previously worked on these cars had been, or were in the process of being, either made redundant or ‘redeployed.’
Incidentally, large European networks such as Amsterdam and Prague seem perfectly able to operate Heritage cars on a regular basis, I believe.
It seems that, as the saying goes, ‘Where there is a will, there is a way.’
I hope that this may be considered a ‘healthy, rational’ comment!
Let us sincerely hope that, if heritage trams do see the light of day on the Promenade once more, they will have been cleaned up.
For the past few years, they have looked tired and filthy with no attention paid to paintwork and 717, in particular, has not been cleaned to the point that seeing out of upper deck windows has been worse that contravision and its interior has looked like the unloved state the balloons were in during the late 1960s and early 1970s when they were seasonal people movers.
Over the past few years, the heritage trams have seldom carried appreciable loads so the fact they have been missing has not been a great burden on Blackpool Transport’s finances but I do agree with Frank Gradwell that, especially as we have seen the warmest and sunniest season in recent years, the three boats should have been selected to work up and down the Promenade, possibly running a Heritage Express service non-stop from Tower & North Pier to Pleasure Beach. They would have been “rammed full” as they were in the 1990s. (You could put a boat on the stop at North Pier and people would board it just for the sake of riding on an open tram without worrying about its destination!).
Sadly the foresight to run these trams has been lacking and Heritage had lost its way. Hence the filthy unloved “always the same” trams on the Promenade that looked dirtier by the day to the point where they must have been an embarrassment to people actually working them.
There are a good number of heritage trams that could, and should, be brought back into the limelight and, with proactive management, could be sponsored by companies, as they were in 1985 for the centenary, and live to fight another day on Blackpool Promenade.
It needs careful planning and, dare I say it, a cull of the duplication of types so that the remaining heritage fleet is manageable, loved and cared for, and always turned out in pristine condition.
If you look at heritage tram operation in European cities and even at the National Tramway Museum and Beamish, they do not turn the trams out looking like they need a good bath – they are pristine every time they go out.
A suitable size for the heritage fleet is certainly no more than 20 examples including the three illuminated feature cars. Some others could be permanent static exhibits in Tramtown and, hopefully, this project will get moving after an inspired start made in the former fitting shop.
The heritage fleet will need to have a proper, if shared, ownership and petty arguments between different owners and parties need to be ironed out to that everybody is “singing the same hymn, to the same tune and in the same key!”
Much to do, I’m afraid, but it can be done with a Heritage Tramway Manager who cares and has a bit of forethought about commercial sponsorship. You would even find willing volunteers to fill this role too!
Geoff Hewitt mentions larger European tram systems operating heritage trams successfully. The difference between the larger European systems is that they operate many routes and lightly used routes can be used for heritage trams whereas Blackpool has one basic route and I would therefore think operationally difficult to run modern and a variety of vintage trams. It has to be said that many vintage trams were running up down the promenade with only two or three passengers, sometime none at all.
It is a problem is there an answer ?