For the first weekend of March, an intensive four-tram service was operated on the lengthy tramway circuit at Beamish Museum, using exclusively Blackpool trams. This low-key event was intended primarily to showcase the two visiting tramcars – Pantograph car 167 from the National Tramway Museum, and Railcoach 280 which is on loan from the Heaton Park Tramway. In addition, resident Marton Box 31 and the recent acquisition, Balloon 101 (ex-703) were also in operation on both days to give a real Fylde flavour to the proceedings.
Commendably, enough crews were mustered to allow all four Blackpool trams to run throughout both days. Saturday 1st March saw cars 101 and 167 running clockwise around the museum site, whilst 31 and 280 did the anti-clockwise workings. This gave plenty of excellent photographic opportunities, not just of the two visiting cars, but also of two red liveried Blackpool trams (31 and 101) which were scheduled to meet at Foulbridge and Pockerley throughout the day. The contrasting English Electric streamliners also made an attractive pairing when they passed at the Museum Entrance and Town stops, with the largely unmodified Balloon making an interesting comparison alongside the refurbished 280. The two earlier cars, 31 and 167, also made a very attractive pair and were the subject of many photographers’ attentions.
Sunday 2nd March saw the same four cars used again although they were operated differently, to allow the combinations which did not occur on the previous day to be captured on camera. The weather was surprisingly kind on both days, with some fine sunny spells and just a few showers on the Saturday, whilst Sunday stayed dry until just before closing time when the heavens opened.
Thanks go to all at Beamish Museum who made this event possible, and also to the other enthusiasts who helped to make a visit so enjoyable. This continues a recent trend which started with the scaled-back Autumn Gala at Heaton Park and continued with the Big Shunt at Crich last month, which has seen some superb tram events staged by the operating museums at little or no expense and without a huge amount of effort, reaping considerable rewards.
A full gallery of images from this event will be published on British Trams Online in due course, but for now a small taster of the weekend is provided below.
A close-up view of the two Blackpool trams currently on loan to Beamish Museum, as cars 167 and 280 pass near the tram depot.
Seeing red with Sunderland 101 (alias Blackpool Balloon 703) and Marton 31 as they meet at the same location. (Photos by Andrew Waddington)