British Trams Online writer unveils first tram book

British Tram Online‘s regular news writer Andrew Waddington has just released his first ever tram book. Entitled ‘Blackpool Trams – Where are they now?’ the book aims to provide a concise illustrated guide to every Blackpool tram that survives today outside of Blackpool Transport’s ownership. In this blatant plug, Andrew explains a bit more about his latest project.

Plenty of books have been written about Blackpool’s rich tramway history over the years, but by comparison, little has been published in regard of the many former Blackpool trams that have entered preservation. Whilst doing some research for this website, I came up with the idea of putting together a book that would tell the stories of each individual tram that has left Blackpool and gone on to find salvation away from its original operator. This not only includes the many superbly restored museum exhibits at places such as Crich, Beamish, East Anglia and Heaton Park, but also those that have found themselves at caravan parks and industrial estates. Also included are the likes of OMO 5 and Dreadnought 59 which are not currently visible to the public, and the various Standard and Boat cars which have been exported to the USA.

Probably the biggest challenge of all was getting hold of decent colour photographs of all these trams, but thanks to a lot of very generous people and organisations, I have done just that and as a result my book features images of more than sixty different trams, many of which haven’t been published before. Each tram also has a single page containing historical information and details of its present status. There are also brief sections on those vehicles that escaped from Blackpool only to be broken up later on, and the lucky ones which have returned home, including those from the Lancastrian Transport Trust collection. The foreword was written by Blackpool Transport’s own Bryan Lindop, who provides a fascinating insight into his role in ensuring that the vehicles made redundant by the tramway’s recent upgrade found good new homes, and I am extremely grateful to him for having so much faith in my work.

‘Blackpool Trams – Where are they now?’ is a 72 page, A5 publication, and can be purchased by mail order directly from the Author priced at £6 plus an additional charge of £1 for postage. At present I am only accepting payment by cheque, as using other websites such as Amazon or eBay would result in those companies taking a cut of the profits – and I am hoping to contribute some of my revenue towards supporting historic Blackpool trams. However, the book should be available from the Heaton Park Tramway gift shop shortly, and will hopefully be stocked elsewhere as well.

If you would like to purchase a copy, please send an email to AndrewVulpes@aol.com requesting an order form and I will contact you. Please use the same email address if you have any other comments or questions regarding the book.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who supplied photographs for this book, as without your help it would have been impossible to create such a good final product. I have enjoyed putting it together very much indeed, and I hope that some people will enjoy reading it too!

A preview of the front and back cover artwork for the new book, featuring Marton VAMBAC 11 as the cover star with a classic line-up at Crich depicted on the rear. (Photo by Andrew Waddington)