West Midlands Metro support International Women’s Day

Posted on Friday 7 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

International Women’s Day is an annual celebration of the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women, and this year West Midlands Metro will mark their support of the day with a special event to honour the contributions of female colleagues.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool OMO 3

Posted on Friday 7 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

Another edition of “Picture in Time” as we again feature the Blackpool Tramway on a snowy January 1979 day.

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In Pictures: More tram moves on the West Midlands Metro

Posted on Thursday 6 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

We’re pretty sure that if you wanted to illustrate trams being moved by lorry you would use something of the West Midlands Metro – mainly because there have been so many of them to choose from! And we now have another couple of entries as there has been a swap of trams at the Black Country Very Light Rail Innovation Centre in Dudley.

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Metrolink 3091 & 3102 loses Starling Bank adverts

Posted on Thursday 6 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

Manchester Metrolink 3091 and 3102 has become the latest trams on the Manchester Metrolink network to say goodbye to their advertising vinyls with one being returned to fleet livery and another going pink!

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In Pictures: Beamish trackworks continue

Posted on Wednesday 5 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

With the tramway at Beamish have been closed since the start of January this has allowed a concerted effort to be made on various maintenance jobs to take place. This has included some major rail replacement works at the east end of the 1900s town to be undertaken, which is the main feature of this article thanks to photos from Gordon Bulmer.

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Edinburgh Trams announce first fare increase since 2023

Posted on Wednesday 5 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

The cost of travelling on the Edinburgh Trams system is set to increase from Sunday 6th April to help the firm meet the increased operational costs faced by the operator, and is in line with similar changes being made by sister company Lothian Buses.

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In Pictures: Overhead support masts continue to go up on WMM extension

Posted on Tuesday 4 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

We are going off to the West Midlands Metro’s Black Country line extension again this evening as we take another look at some of the recent progress on construction. This time we concentrate on the installation of the overhead support masts which has been one of the focuses of attention in recent months. Chris Allsop-Buckler took a walk along part of the route to capture these images.

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Trams back running at Seaton

Posted on Tuesday 4 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

The very short closed season at the Seaton Tramway has already reached its end as trams were running once again in time for the February half-term (there are only around six weeks between the end of the 2024 season’s Christmas/New Year running and the start of operation for 2025). It also marked the end of a short period where no heritage trams were running in service anywhere in the British Isles with the normal all year-round operation at Beamish suspended for work at the start of 2025. And with the Seaton Tramway back running and the release of another newsletter details of which trams ran during February have also been given.

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A trip to… Edinburgh Trams

Posted on Monday 3 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

We’re going back to Edinburgh for this pictorial article as we take a look at some images of the trams in service on Saturday 1st March 2025. Steven Hughes captured these images.

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Old and New – Blackpool: North Albert Street

Posted on Monday 3 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

The last in the current series of “Old and New – Blackpool” comes to us as we again see two photos of the old and new tramway and this time we go north to Fleetwood.

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Stop by Stop Edinburgh Trams: Through the City Centre and beyond – Balgreen

Posted on Sunday 2 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

We have another edition of “Stop by Stop” as our journey on Edinburgh Trams continues. We now come to Balgreen.

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Out and About: The last days of Supertram 115’s JD Sports advert

Posted on Sunday 2 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

Although so far in 2025 it has been relatively quiet for advertising changes on UK tram systems one tram which has swapped one set of vinyls for another is South Yorkshire Supertram 115. In this “Out and About” we take a look at it in the last days of its carrying vinyls for JD Sports.

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Aberdeen 11 hits the rails on test

Posted on Sunday 2 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

Work on returning Aberdeen Suburban Tramways Company 11 to service – albeit as hauled stock – on the Alford Valley Community Railway in Aberdeenshire is continuing to move forward with it having escaped from the workshops for an initial test run.

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What’s New on British Trams Online? 2nd March 2025

Posted on Sunday 2 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

We are off to Edinburgh for this week’s photos:

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555 005 makes its four Stadler trains in service on the Tyne and Wear Metro

Posted on Saturday 1 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

There are now four possible new trains which you could see out in service on the Tyne and Wear Metro after 555 005 became the latest to be used in revenue service. The Stadler built train carried its first passengers on Tuesday 25th February – the second of the trains to have entered service within four days.

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Around the World in Trams: Nice 008

Posted on Saturday 1 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

The next location for “Around the World in Trams” (as it will be throughout March) will be the French city of Nice.

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Tramtown to reopen from Easter

Posted on Saturday 1 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

There will be another chance to see behind the scenes at the historic Rigby Road Depot in Blackpool from Easter with the launch of “whole new tour experience”. This year the established Tramtown tours will be different as there will be a lot more freedom for visitors to walk what is being described as an exhibition hall experience instead of the full guided tours which have previously been offered.

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Light Rail Engineers highlight grey areas as Asset Management

Posted on Saturday 1 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

UK Tram’s Light Rail Engineering Group recently met in Birmingham for their first meeting of 2025 alongside a best practice day where they discussed the challenge posed by “grey assets”. These are assets may not be subject to clear ownership which present difficulties for tramway operators and their engineers when it comes to funding and scheduling essential maintenance.

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In Pictures: Another progress update on the Black Country line

Posted on Friday 28 February 2025 by Gareth Prior

Construction work is continuing on the West Midlands Metro Black Country line extension as we see in this latest pictorial update. The line will be the next extension to open on the West Midlands Metro with the current plans being that it will see its first services by the end of this year. It will run from Wednesbury to Dudley and this is just the first phase of what was once to be called the Brierley Hill line with phase two now funded which will enable it to reach Merry Hill. Andy Walters with these photos.

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In Pictures: Metrolink T68 1003 at the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service Training and Safety Centre

Posted on Friday 28 February 2025 by Gareth Prior

When Manchester Metrolink’s T68 and T68A trams were withdrawn from service the majority of them were sold for scrap and made the journey across to Rotherham where they met their end. But there were a few which would have a different next chapter – some of them entered preservation, some were sold for test purposes to UKTram whilst one had a much more unique future in store for it.

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