Balloon cars on Blundell Street

Further details of the ‘English Electric at Easter’ event which is due to take place on the Blackpool tramway over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend have now emerged, with a series of four-car lineups on Blundell Street set to add to what should be a highly enjoyable weekend. Sticking with the event’s core theme, which is a celebration of the 80th anniversary of the English Electric streamlined fleet, various different Balloon cars will be posed for photographs on the three days on which the heritage service operates.

These static displays will provide a rare opportunity to see the modified ‘B Fleet’ Balloon cars outside; as only car 700 is expected to run over Easter, this may be your only chance to see some of these trams in 2014. Whilst this is a far cry from the original intention that these cars would be regularly used to supplement the core service, at least enthusiasts will be given a chance to see them out of the depot for this event! On Good Friday 18th April, the first lineup will feature all four of the ‘Millennium’ rebuilds: 707, 709, 718 and 724 together on Blundell Street. The following day, Saturday 19th April, will showcase the rest of the ‘B Fleet’, with purple liveried 700 and 719 due to be posed along with cars 713 and 720, which retain their expired advert liveries for the Hounds Hill shopping centre and Walls Ice Cream respectively. The appearance of 720 will be particularly noteworthy as it has not operated since the last day of the 2011 season; indeed the car only ran for about four months since being rebuilt into its current condition, and even then its use was rather erratic due to reliability issues. Currently stored unserviceable, 720 is pretty much at the bottom of the pile in the tram fleet right now and so the chance to see it outside will be something to savour.

Finally, on Easter Sunday 20th April, the limelight will switch to the more traditional Balloons which remain on home territory. With car 717 expected to be in service on this date, the Blundell Street photo opportunity will feature cars 701, 706, 715 and 723. This will probably be the last chance to see 701 in all-over yellow before it is repainted in red & white livery, whilst it will be 715‘s first public appearance since the tram rejoined the heritage fleet and was rescued from open air storage at the end of last year. These line-ups should add another dimension to the heritage tram service, and will build on the static displays arranged last August which were highly acclaimed by those who saw them.

As expected, it has also been confirmed that two tours to Fleetwood by heritage tram will operate on the three days over Easter that these trams run. The first journey of the day will depart from North Pier at 10:36 and is due to arrive at the northern terminus for 11:17, with the other Fleetwood run departing from the Pleasure Beach at 17:25 and terminating at North Pier on the return leg at approximately 19:01. Anyone wishing to ride on these tours is advised to arrive early so as to avoid disapointment as demand is likely to be high, although it is planned to run two trams per tour at Easter to boost capacity. At all other times, the heritage cars will run as ‘specials’ as they used to, with no set pattern to journey times or destinations. The list of trams to run has not been announced, but hopefully the weather will allow plenty of Boat car journeys to take place, tying in with the weekend’s English Electric theme.

Balloon 713 seen on its last day of passenger service in 2013, showing off its expired all-over advert for the Hounds Hill shopping centre. This will be one of the star attractions of the planned photo opportunity on Saturday 19th April. (Photo by Andrew Waddington)