LCC 1 withdrawn from service after issues during commissioning

Posted on Saturday 5 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

London County Council 1 – commonly known as Bluebird amongst enthusiasts – has had to be withdrawn from service after issues discovered during its commissioning for the 2025 season at the Crich Tramway. The tram, which only entered service after a 10-year restoration last September, was in the process of being commissioned when unusual electrical readings from the motors were discovered leading to the decision.

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Around the World in Trams: Riga 51211

Posted on Saturday 5 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

The next location in “Around the World in Trams” is reached and during April we will be taking a look at some of the trams which operate in the Latvian capital city of Riga.

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In Pictures: Tarmac going down at Blackpool North Station

Posted on Saturday 5 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

When the Blackpool Tramway extension opened up Talbot Road to North Station there is little doubt that the area surrounding it had a rather unfinished look with undeveloped land. That is now changing and although its not the office development envisaged as part of the original plans it is starting to make it look a lot better than it did. Peter Dockerty provides us with some photos.

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In Pictures: Metrolink works start on High Street

Posted on Saturday 5 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

The current set of engineering works on Manchester Metrolink which have seen significant service changes introduced are taking place on the original city crossing with initial work underway on High Street, as we see in these photos from Reece Hughes.

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National Trust also advertise on Manchester Metrolink

Posted on Friday 4 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

Last year when West Midlands Metro 44 started to advertise the National Trust’s Blossom Watch campaign, Manchester Metrolink 3116 was not far behind it – and now in 2025 something very similar has happened although maybe a slightly longer gap between the vinyls being applied!

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London Trams Engineering Works: 5th to 18th April

Posted on Friday 4 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

School holidays? You all know what that tends to mean – more engineering works on the London Trams network! Starting from Saturday 5th April and continuing until Friday 18th April there will be no service from Sandilands to New Addington as more improvement works take place.

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Picture in Time: Manx Electric Railway 31

Posted on Friday 4 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

For the next few weeks “Picture in Time” will be coming from the Isle of Man and we start this batch off in 2002 with a shot of Crossbench 31 – its last year of passenger use.

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In Pictures: Early season at Crich

Posted on Thursday 3 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

As we have already reported on these pages, Crich Tramway Village – home of the National Tramway Museum – opened for the first time in 2025 on Saturday 16th March 2025. Since that date it has remained opened Saturday to Wednesday each week and more trams have slowly been introduced into service. Of course, the museum has also seen three new arrivals with the former MTPS trams arriving last month. This article takes a look at some of the operational trams as well as some of the static exhibits around the depots. Stuart Cooke paid a visit on 30th March 2025.

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In Pictures: More progress on Black Country line

Posted on Thursday 3 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

With spring now upon us and longer days, progress is truly being made on the construction of the West Midlands Metro extension to Dudley. Now known as the Black Country line, it is due to open as far as Flood Street in Dudley by the end of 2025, but there does still remain plenty of work to be completed before we can be confident that will happen. In this update we see more overhead masts going in and progress on the construction of various tramstops. Andy Walters with the images.

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Prime Minister promises funding for transport in north

Posted on Thursday 3 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

During a visit to a factory in the north of England, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised that funding for improving transport links across the region will be available from his government. Headline projects which they will be supporting will be including the West Yorkshire Mass Transit scheme which its hoped will see trams return to Leeds in a network which will initially go to Bradford.

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In Pictures: Trams running at Beamish again!

Posted on Wednesday 2 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

After what may have felt like a long (almost) three months the good news to report from Beamish is that trams are running around the museum once again! Operations resumed from Wednesday 2nd April 2025 with the track relay on the edge of the 1900s town having been completed and fully tested.

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West Midlands Metro tram fleet continues to change

Posted on Wednesday 2 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

Trams come and trams go – and that’s no more certain than on the West Midlands Metro where we regularly see trams sent away for storage or repair, whilst others are readied for a return to service. The last full week of March was another one of change for the fleet with a swap of trams at Dudley whilst a long-term absentee was seen out on test again.

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Restoration of Whitley Bay Metro station canopy completed

Posted on Wednesday 2 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

A two year project to restore the Grade II listed canopy at Whitley Bay Tyne and Wear Metro station has been completed. Funded through the Metro Asset Renewal Programme, an event took place on 20th March to officially celebrate the completion of the major project at a station which sees 1.2 million journeys a year.

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Another train into service as more go for scrap on the Tyne and Wear Metro

Posted on Tuesday 1 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

It has been another busy week of fleet changes for the Tyne and Wear Metro as once again we have seen one of the new Stadler built units enter service as more of the original Metrocars have left the network for the last time for scrapping.

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In Pictures: Update from Beamish

Posted on Tuesday 1 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

As we’ve reported regularly on these pages, there have been no trams running at Beamish since early January to allow for major trackwork to take place. The bulk of the work has been undertaken by external contractors on the curve leading to and from the 1900s town (at the east end by the 1950s town) and the pleasing news to report now is that this is starting to come towards the end. In this article we also take a look at some of the trams stabled around the depot and depot yard. Trevor Hall provides the photos.

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Autonomous Trackless Trams to be tested at Teesside Airport

Posted on Tuesday 1 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

Plans for the introduction of autonomous trackless trams in the Tees Valley region of England are progressing with a pilot set to take place at Teesside Airport later this year. Tees Valley Combined Authority had previously agreed an autonomous public transport project as part of their £1 billion transport plan in January 2024 and this is hoped to be the first step in achieving this ambition.

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In Pictures: Coventry Very Light Rail vehicle under test

Posted on Monday 31 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

We recently brought the news that construction work is now underway on track in Coventry City Centre for a demonstration line for the Very Light Rail project. Aimed to start running this summer, having the track is one thing but what is going to be operating on it we hear you ask? This article seeks to show that as the demonstrator vehicle has recently been testing at Dudley’s Very Light Rail Innovation Centre.

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New café at Crich Tramway Village to be officially opened

Posted on Monday 31 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

If you happened to visit the Crich Tramway Village – home of the National Tramway Museum – last year you probably can’t have helped but notice the construction work going on to replace the former Tea Rooms with an all new café. The work has now been completed and on Saturday 5th April Mayor of the East Midlands, Claire Ward, will be visiting to officially open the facility.

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Old(er) and New – West Midlands Metro: Priestfield

Posted on Monday 31 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

We continue with “Old(er) and New” with another edition from the West Midlands Metro with one of the original fleet and one of its replacements at the same place.

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Trams &: West Midlands Metro 28 & bus

Posted on Sunday 30 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

Another edition of “Trams &” as we go to Birmingham for a photo of a tram on the West Midlands Metro network and a bus operated by National Express West Midlands.

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