After four weeks of hard fought voting the results are in of the British Trams Online Tram of the Year 2025 – and the winners can now be revealed! The winners this year come from the Isle of Man, Manchester, Blackpool and Carlton Colville as the public have once again spoken!
The original award for “Tram (Heritage) of the Year” saw it return to the Isle of Man again with Manx Electric Railway trailer 50 receiving the most votes. The trailer returned to service during 2025, for the first time since 1978 after a restoration completed as part of a project between volunteers and paid staff from Isle of Man Railways. This is the fifth time that a tram from the Manx Electric Railway has won this award, although it will have some way to catch-up Blackpool!
The excellent restoration of the Telford Steam Tram which returned to action during 2025 came into second place, with a pair of trams at Crich making up the shortlist in the form of London County Council 1 and Blackpool & Fleetwood 40.
“Tram (Modern) of the Year” was a relatively close contest but in the end it was a tram as opposed to a light rail/Metro which came away as the winner. That was Manchester Metrolink 3027 which had made it onto the shortlist after returning to service after almost six years out of use. The Docklands Light Railway proved to be more popular than the Tyne and Wear Metro as well with 209 coming into second and 555 021 in third, both having been shortlisted for being first of their class into service.
“Tramway/Museum of the Year” saw a retention for the first time ever as you decided that the East Anglia Transport Museum deserved the accolade. The EATM has now won this category for three out of the past four years! It was just over 55% of the vote that they won, with Crich Tramway Village the other shortlisted location coming into second.
The winner of “Tramway (Modern) of the Year” is likely to be controversial amongst some as the Blackpool Tramway won the most votes, but only by 10! It won 38% of the vote after there were significant improvements on the core tram service during 2025. Manchester Metrolink was just pipped to the post and then Edinburgh Trams came in third.
And “Event of the Year” is the second award of the year to head across to the Isle of Man with the Manx Heritage Transport Festival winning, but in the closest of all the categories it was by just four votes! It beat the Seaside Event at the East Anglia Transport Museum, whilst Crich’s Tram Weekend was third and the 55th Anniversary Gala Weekend at Seaton Tramway was fourth.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to submit a vote this year, and congratulations to all of the winners! As always any duplicate votes have been removed from the final count, although this made no difference to any positions – the results are provided below.
That was 2025, and now with 2026 underway we can start to think of what may end up shortlisted when the contest probably returns at the end of November 2026!
Tram (Heritage) of the Year
Manx Electric Railway 50 – 149 votes (39.21%)
Telford Steam Tram – 103 votes (27.11%)
London County Council 1 – 78 votes (20.53%)
Blackpool & Fleetwood 40 – 50 votes (13.16%)
20 votes removed due to multiple votes (caused no change to ranking)
Tram (Modern) of the Year
Manchester Metrolink 3027 – 116 votes (39.73%)
Docklands Light Railway 209 – 90 votes (30.82%)
Tyne and Wear Metro 555 021 – 86 votes (29.45%)
15 votes removed due to multiple votes (caused no change to ranking)
Tramway/Museum of the Year
East Anglia Transport Museum – 216 votes (55.96%)
Crich Tramway Village – 170 votes (44.04%)
19 votes removed due to multiple votes (caused no change to ranking)
Tramway of the Year (Modern)
Blackpool Tramway – 114 votes (38.38%)
Manchester Metrolink – 104 votes (35.02%)
Edinburgh Trams – 79 votes (26.60%)
15 votes removed due to multiple votes (caused no change to ranking)
Event of the Year
Manx Heritage Transport Festival 154 votes (37.29%)
East Anglia Transport Museum Seaside Event – 150 votes (36.32%)
Crich Tramway Village Tram Weekend – 68 votes (16.46%)
Seaton Tramway 55th Anniversary Gala Weekend – 41 votes (9.93%)
20 votes removed due to multiple votes (caused no change to ranking)
Votes received from the same IP address are considered a multiple vote. In these cases the first set of votes are accepted with all subsequent votes removed from the final rankings.