The Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust have recently given their official website a welcome refresh, with updated profiles on all of the trams in their collection, including their most recent acquisition – Blackpool Centenary car 643. This includes the news that Brush Railcoach 290 (ex-627) is set to be repainted yet again in the near future, with its graffiti art set to disappear under a fresh coat of green and cream paint.
290 has been on static display near the Pleasure Beach turning circle since August 2012, initially painted in a white and gold livery to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Last year it was (badly) repainted in gold with graffiti-style artwork applied on one side only as part of an urban art festival in Blackpool, but unfortunately this has not stood up well to the coastal climate and begun to weather badly just a few weeks after being completed. Concerns have also been expressed over the tram’s structural condition, which has visibly deteriorated since it has been put in such an exposed position.
However, a return to a more dignified appearance has now been mooted for 290, which is set to regain its traditional green and cream fleet colours. It had previously been suggested that the tram would be removed from its special display siding and replaced by Balloon car 726, which is set to be transformed into a new illuminated display tram; however the Trust now state that the work on 726 is not expected to be undertaken until 2015. Although not yet confirmed, it is believed that 290 may therefore be repainted yet again in the interim, giving the Trust a continued presence at Pleasure Beach as part of the annual autumn illuminations. Hopefully if this goes ahead then the car will undergo proper preparatory body work before being repainted, although it remains to be seen what will be done with the saloon windows which were painted over last year. A more tasteful repaint would certainly be fitting for 290 as it was of course the last tram to the former North Station terminus, and its renovation would be a very welcome nod to the past in the wake of the announcement that trams should once again run to North Station within the next four years.
So instead of building a proper, undercover storage shed for their collection, they’re just going to carry on displaying 290 at Pleasure Beach for a few years until it disintegrates, and them simply replace it with another one! Madness! Let’s hope they see sense and gift 761 to BTS…
No 290 will be put in a museum in Fleetwood by 2014 – It’s destination blind says so, so it must be true!
Having met some members of the Fleetwood Leisure Trust (or whatever they’ve decided to call themselves these days) at Fleetwood festival a couple of years ago, I can’t say their plans have ever inspired me with great confidence. It’s really unfortunate they have so many historically significan vehicles in their care (if you can call it that).
They should strike a deal with BTS so all the trams can go back to Rigby Road and be looked after by the new trust, in the same way the LTT cars are doing.
If they must build a replica of the old ‘Bandwagon’, then it should be a totally new build (like the engineering car was a few years back) and be a modified design that could easily carry fare paying passengers. They could even make it wide enough to meet the new platforms and low floor, so it’s not subject to the heritage restrictions regarding loading and unloading points.
Are you prepared to pay the haulage costs then to move the collection,like ltt did last year.
It’s time the FHLT had some plans to protect these priceless exhibits from the elements. Leaving them to rot in the salt air as they have done with 290 will only serve to either substantially increase restoration costs in the long run or the bring forward the visit to the scrapman. Surely they knew that metal has a tendency to rust when they took these responsibilities on?
There was a representative of the FHLT an attendance at Pleasure Beach yeasterday (Not the usual ‘spokesman’ but one of the other leading members). Interestingly he apparently knew nothing of this planned repaint for 290/627, so is this a case of lack of communication within the group, or is that repaint infact one persons aspiration and not ‘official policy’ of the group??
I would suggest that you go back and read the article by Andrew and what is actually written.it does state that it may,repeat,may be painted green and cream.it also states that it has to be confirmed.I am informed myself that nothing has been decided.