In Pictures: Balloon 715 says goodbye as Blackpool celebrates 137 years of operation

Posted on Tuesday 27 September 2022 by Gareth Prior

The farewell public runs of the Fylde Transport Trust’s Balloon 715 was one of the highlights of the latest special event in Blackpool as 137 years of the tramway was celebrated on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th September. In total 15 heritage trams ran on daytime tours over the weekend – including a few surprises as the days went on!

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway, Event Reviews | 16 Comments

West Midlands Metro services to terminate at Library again from tomorrow

Posted on Tuesday 27 September 2022 by Gareth Prior

Trams on the West Midlands Metro will once again only be running between Wolverhampton St George’s and Library between Wednesday 28th September and Sunday 9th October. The closure of the newest part of the line to Edgbaston Village comes to allow for work to take place on Broad Street as well as coinciding with the Conservative Party Conference.

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Dudley bus and Metro interchange gets full planning permission

Posted on Monday 26 September 2022 by Gareth Prior

A new interchange between bus and Metro services in Dudley will move to the next stage after it was given full planning permission. The interchange will replace the existing bus station (built in 1986) and will provide a state of the art facility which will allow passengers to easily move between the two different transport modes.

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Out and About: Summerlee trams

Posted on Monday 26 September 2022 by Gareth Prior

In this edition of “Out and About” we are again in Scotland but instead of our usual look at modern trams in Edinburgh we head along to Summerlee – the only heritage tramway in the country.

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Still Standing! Lowestoft Tram Depot

Posted on Sunday 25 September 2022 by Gareth Prior

We continue this latest series of “Still Standing!”  with a trip to East Anglia as we take a look at the former Lowestoft tram depot.

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In Pictures: Trams run through PoliNations festival in Birmingham

Posted on Sunday 25 September 2022 by Gareth Prior

When Birmingham was awarded the 2022 Commonwealth Games part of the wider offering to the city would be an arts festival to create even more reason for visitors to head to the second city. One of the strands for this festival was PoliNations which was described as “a supernatural celebration of colour, beauty and natural diversity that ends with a spectacular party”. Whilst all that sounds exciting we’re more concerned about the fact that the West Midlands Metro ran through the site giving some new photo opps! As Andy Walters discovered for us!

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In Pictures: West Midlands Metro 36 at the end of the rainbow

Posted on Saturday 24 September 2022 by Gareth Prior

Birmingham Pride – which takes place in the city on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th September – is being celebrated and support by the West Midlands Metro again with Urbos3 36 receiving a special livery complete with rainbows. This is just the latest Pride based livery to be carried by a tram in the West Midlands with previous trams also having carried similar temporary vinyls.

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Around the World in Trams: Geneva 895

Posted on Saturday 24 September 2022 by Gareth Prior

For the next few weeks our location for “Around the World in Trams” will be Geneva in Switzerland.

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Piccadilly Gardens works confirmed for October

Posted on Saturday 24 September 2022 by Gareth Prior

It looks like the Manchester Metrolink network will have one day with a full service on the entire network before the next set of works get underway. There is currently a major line closure of the Eccles line which started in July and will go on until Friday 21st October and now its been confirmed that there will be more rail replacement works which get underway on Sunday 23rd October in Piccadilly Gardens.

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In Pictures: Back to fleet livery for Metrolink 3087

Posted on Friday 23 September 2022 by Gareth Prior

After two short-term adverts in a row, Manchester Metrolink 3087 has returned to fleet livery again. With the advertising vinyls for the Co-op removed at the depot it is now once again running the Silver and Yellow livery although as with many of the trams on Metrolink this is now starting to look a little tired (not helped with the vinyls it has carried recently no doubt!)

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Picture in Time: Seaton Tramway 19

Posted on Friday 23 September 2022 by Gareth Prior

Its time to go back to the Seaton Tramway again for this instalment of “Picture in Time” with another shot from 1995.

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In Preview: Blackpool Anniversary Weekend – 24th & 25th September

Posted on Thursday 22 September 2022 by Gareth Prior

Having now firmly established itself in the annual special event calendar the Blackpool Anniversary Weekend returns on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th September. The weekend will see another hop-on, hop-off timetable in operation with seven trams running on each day whilst there are also depot tours, a mini system tour plus the usual pre-bookable themed, Coastal and Promenade Tours.

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In Pictures: Work remains to be completed on Wolverhampton extension

Posted on Thursday 22 September 2022 by Gareth Prior

We recently reported that an unnamed spokesperson from the Midland Metro Alliance was suggesting that trams could be running to Wolverhampton Railway Station this autumn (which by the time you read this article will have started). After this news our intrepid contributor Andy Walters took a trip into Wolverhampton City Centre expecting to see the work being completed and getting ready for testing to start. As you’ll see the results of this trip didn’t exactly show that…

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Posted in West Midlands Metro | 1 Comment

Man dies after being hit by tram in Dublin

Posted on Thursday 22 September 2022 by Gareth Prior

A pedestrian has died after he was hit by a tram in Dublin City Centre in the early hours of Sunday 18th September 2022. The man, reported locally to be in his 50s, was struck by a tram at approximately 0100 at Broombridge and tragically died of his injuries. A post-mortem will take place with the Gardai appealing for witnesses with video footage to assist in their investigation.

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Is it the end for the Midland Metro T69s?

Posted on Wednesday 21 September 2022 by Gareth Prior

Although nothing official has been released reports have reached us that all of the remaining Midland Metro T69s have now been removed from Long Marston and sent to Sims Metals in Newport for scrapping. Whilst we have no confirmation of their departure and movement this news has come from several different sources which, if true, would mean that in addition to the movement of 11 reported earlier this year means that 07, 10 and 16 have also gone to meet their maker.

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Branch Line Society to tour Manchester Metrolink

Posted on Wednesday 21 September 2022 by Gareth Prior

Members of the Branch Line Society are set for a treat on Sunday 25th September when they get to tour parts of Manchester Metrolink not normally covered by service trams. “The Busy Bee” is a members only trip with only 60 places available – proceeds will be split equally between Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity and Manchester Youth Zone.

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In Pictures: Tram Day ay the Crich Tramway Village

Posted on Tuesday 20 September 2022 by Gareth Prior

It may have gone under a number of different names over the years but Tram Day, which took place at the Crich Tramway Village on Saturday 17th September, is still undoubtedly the main enthusiasts type event to be held at the home of the National Tramway Museum. With its usual mix of an intensive tram service (this year seeing 15 passenger trams and three work vehicles out on the mainline) plus special photo line-ups on the depot fan this was once again an event which showcased the best the national collection has to offer.

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Posted in Event Reviews, National Tramway Museum | 2 Comments

RAIB Safety Digest released into Metrolink door trap incident

Posted on Tuesday 20 September 2022 by Gareth Prior

The RAIB have released a Safety Digest into a recent door trap incident on Manchester Metrolink at Shudehill tramstop which saw a passenger dragged for approximately 13 metres after their bag got trapped in the tram doors. Not requiring a full report, the incident has led the RAIB to reiterate their previous message of the importance of tram and train drivers to undertake final checks before departing from stops.

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In Pictures: Another day at Beamish

Posted on Monday 19 September 2022 by Gareth Prior

During the school summer holidays, the tram fleet at Beamish was pushed to its limits with Blackpool 31 and Oporto 196 joining Sheffield 264 on the absentee list and leaving just Sunderland 16 and Newcastle 114 available for use. The situation has now improved with just 264 (which has been out of use since May) out of service leaving four trams to operate the service. With the buses adding extra capacity this is sufficient for the quieter period now being experienced with the schools back. The photos in this article come from Trevor Hall from Wednesday 15th September 2022.

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Out and About: Edinburgh Trams 257

Posted on Monday 19 September 2022 by Gareth Prior

Today we go “Out and About” in Edinburgh to see one of the most recent adverts applied to a tram.

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