Article updated 15th December with details of weekend services.
Monday 12th December was a significant day for the West Midlands Metro as a new timetable was introduced which means a more frequent service is now running on the network. From early mornings until mid-evening Monday to Friday trams are now running every 10 minutes instead of the previous 12 minutes.
When things are going according to plan on the Supertram system in Sheffield you may on occasions see two or three trams at the same time but at times of disruption they soon build up and you can see a tram jam! That is what happened on Wednesday 7th December when a tram failed in the city centre leading to a queue of trams and some passengers having to disembark with a tram between stops.
We move to 2011 for this latest Crich photo line-up. This was a small scale line-up to show future workshop projects and was a case of blink and you miss the full thing!
In this edition of “The Number 20” we go to south London for an image of one of Tramlink’s original trams.
In this pictorial article we are on the Manchester Metrolink network in early December to see the full service in operation again after the completion of the trackworks in Piccadilly Gardens allowed trams to fully use the delta junction. With the UK suffering a bit of a cold snap we see some vaguely wintry scenes with heavy frost in evidence as Steve Hyde gets out and about to capture some images on the line out to Manchester Airport.
In an unexpected development another of West Midlands Metro’s Urbos3 trams has left Wednesbury Depot. 27 – which is one of the trams which hasn’t returned to service since the line reopened in June – had been noted outside the depot during the week before it was loaded and left on Friday 9th December.
We ae going “Out and About” again today as we’re back in Edinburgh City Centre.
The latest tram to feature in “15 Years Apart” is Nottingham Express Transit 214 as again we see photos of it in both 2007 and 2022.
The next line-up we take a look at in this series took place in 2010 and showcased some of the trams which had recently or were about to benefit from funding from the Tramcar Sponsorship Organisation.
For our latest edition of “Trams &” we are heading to Birmingham City Centre as, you’ve guessed it!, we see a tram alongside a bus.
Its another tram from one of the UK’s modern systems for “The Number 20” today. That tram is Edinburgh Trams 270.
With the West Midlands Metro continuing to expand (admittedly slightly slower than hoped for) there are now a number of new jobs being advertised to join the team. Enthusiastic individuals are being urged to apply now for a diverse range of jobs ranging from Drivers and Customer Service Officers to engineering roles in the expanding infrastructure and train maintenance departments.
We are off to the Crich Tramway Village for today’s edition of “15 Years Apart” and the tram we feature is Chesterfield 7.
Metrolink services through Manchester City Centre were disrupted on Friday 9th December after a collision between a taxi and a car close to Shudehill tramstop. The collision happened shortly after 1800 and saw no trams able to run via 1CC for around an hour and a half.
Voting is now open for the British Trams Online Tram of the Year 2022! Thanks to everyone who took their time to nominate in the four categories and we are now able to confirm the trams, tramways and events which have been shortlisted in all of the categories. In many ways it has been a very challenging year to decide on the shortlists with many of the things we would have predicted would have been in the running at the start of the year not actually happening or things happening which gave us second thoughts (i.e. ordinarily the opening of an extension would mean that tramway would be almost certain to be nominated but when that tramway is the West Midlands Metro which has had one or two issues in the past year it kind of makes you think maybe not!) but we still have nominations in all categories. To find out more about the shortlists read on…
The second of our “20 Years in 20 Photos” galleries has been uploaded this week – Manchester Metrolink is the location.
The City of Edinburgh Council are to discuss plans which would more than double the length of the tram network in early 2023. Plans are to be considered which could see trams running from Granton to Dalkeith – although its not a scheme which would be ready any time soon, estimates are that the first trams could run in 2032.
The return of Tyne and Wear Metro services between Pelaw and South Shields has been delayed by a further two days with confirmation that the first trains won’t now run until Wednesday 14th December. Services last ran between the two stations in September to allow for Metro Flow works to take place; originally due to be completed by Monday 5th December extra time has been needed to ensure all work is completed and tested satisfactorily.
Today we have one last photo from Dijon as “Around the World in Trams” continues.
For this latest look at photo line-ups on the Crich depot fan we are in 2013 as we take a look at a collection of trams from capital cities around Europe.
