TRAM: British and Australian (American usually streetcar also trolley) noun [C] An electric vehicle that transports people, usually in cities, and goes along metal tracks in the road. (Taken from the Cambridge English Dictionary)
News...September 2007...News...September 2007...News...September 2007...News
This Page was last updated Tuesday 11th September 2007
All the news carried on these pages is done so in good faith and the source is always quoted, normally with hyperlinks. If you have a correction to give us on a news story or have any additional news that can be added do not hestiate to email us . We are grateful for those people who have given us permission to use their images and news on this page.
To return to the current News Index click here (If you have accessed this page by using the News Archive please use the back button on your browser).
ROCKET TO RETURN TO THE TRACKS?
Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramway – Tuesday 11th September 2007
Blackpool Council’s Illuminations Department are in negotiations with the Lancastrian Transport Trust and Blackpool Transport to get the Illuminated Rocket 732 back onto the rails as a mobile illuminated tableaux.
The Rocket ran in passenger service every Illuminations season from 1961 until 1999, when it was withdrawn from service due to safety concerns. It then passed into preservation with the Lancastrian Transport Trust – although has remained stored in the Rigby Road depot of Blackpool Transport.
The Illuminations Department want to get funding to enable the Rocket to return to the rails as a mobile illuminated tableau and negotiations to this affect will be continuing throughout September. It is expected that the Rocket will return to the ownership of Blackpool Transport but the heritage value of the tram would be protected as part of the agreement, especially considering any future change of ownership.
If the deal goes ahead the Lancastrian Transport Trust would do an exchange with a member of the mothballed tram fleet.
Could the Illuminated Rocket 732 be about to return to the rails? If negotiations between the Council and the LTT are successful than yes the tram may be back on Blackpool Prom. The tram is seen here deep in the Rigby Road depot on 12th September 2004.
Photo: Gareth Prior
