In Pictures: A brief sojourn on Nottingham Express Transit

Posted on Monday 27 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

Its back to Nottingham again in this brief pictorial article for a selection of photos taken on 23rd August 2019 on the Toton Lane line showing both the original Bombardier Incentro trams and the newer Alstom Citadis vehicles. David Mee is the photographer.

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In Pictures: Trams at Sandtoft

Posted on Monday 27 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

Sandtoft is most known for its Trolleybus museum – it has the UK’s largest collection of trolleybuses – with 60+ trolleybuses on site, many of them operational, but in addition it is also home to a couple of trams. More specifically they are unrestored tram bodies which are serving a new purpose to provide information and a home for some smaller exhibits in the museum collection.

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Picture in Time: Snaefell Mountain Railway 5

Posted on Sunday 26 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

We are again on the Isle of Man in the 1970s for this week’s traditional tram archive image with the Snaefell Mountain Railway again featuring.

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In Pictures: Fleet livery returns to 257 in Edinburgh

Posted on Sunday 26 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

After the best part of two years with adverts for Johnnie Walker’s #Jointhepact campaign, Edinburgh Trams 257 has been spied operating in standard fleet livery once again. It had received its advert back in the March of 2018 and was the first of the trams in Edinburgh to receive sponsorship for this firm but was not the last! There currently remain three others trams with adverts for Johnnie Walker, two of which have only recently been applied but to a different design.

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In Pictures: Ingrow Shelter

Posted on Sunday 26 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

When we usually think about transport preservation we usually think about the actual vehicles – that is after all what normally attracts us to this hobby – but there are also many other artefacts that are saved for posterity which are as vital as any vehicle in telling the history of transport in this country. One such item is an old waiting room which can now be found at the Keighley Bus Museum in Yorkshire.

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What’s New on British Trams Online?

Posted on Sunday 26 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

Photos coming from last September are the main feature this week:

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Building work begins on depot for Cardiff tram-trains

Posted on Saturday 25 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

The UK’s second fleet of tram-trains will soon have a home to call their own with work having now commenced on building a depot at Taff’s Well in Cardiff. 36 Citylink tram-trains are on order from Stadler for use on the South Wales Metro with delivery set to begin in 2022.

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Around the World in Trams: Potsdam 406

Posted on Saturday 25 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

We are again in Potsdam for this week’s photo from around the world and its another Siemens Combino that features.

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Trams To Newhaven update

Posted on Saturday 25 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

As we’ve mentioned before public relations was always going to be a crucial part of the Trams to Newhaven project and the project team are certainly taking notice of that judging by the detailed and regular updates on what is going on over the next few weeks to those who have subscribed to the email list.

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Mayor pledges to take Metrolink to Stockport

Posted on Friday 24 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has called on the government to help fast track plans to extend the Manchester Metrolink network to Stockport with a hope that work could start as soon as 2025 with trams running within 10 years. The announcement was made as part of wider bid to boost regeneration plans for Stockport Town Centre which has seen a new Chair of the Stockport Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC).

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In Pictures: Bradley Lane Park and Ride site almost ready

Posted on Friday 24 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

Its well behind schedule but it looks as if the new Park and Ride site adjacent to Bradley Lane stop on the West Midlands Metro is almost ready for opening if the latest pictures are anything to go by. Construction started way back in October 2018 with a view to opening in the summer of 2019 but there have been various delays to the project which now seem to have been overcome. The original plans were for a 196 space car park although there remains a large amount of spare land which has not received the hard standing which may mean there aren’t going to quite as many spaces when it opens to the public.

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In Pictures: Failed Flexity rescued at Fleetwood

Posted on Thursday 23 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

Blackpool’s Flexity2 trams are usually some of the most reliable trams in the UK with reports of complete failures pretty unusual. However, on 3rd January 2020, 013 was declared a failure at Fleetwood Ferry which not only required fitters attention but also the use of 001 to tow it back to depot.

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More tram v road vehicle incidents on Metrolink

Posted on Thursday 23 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

The past few days have seen further collisions between road vehicles and trams on Manchester Metrolink – both affecting the Ashton-under-Lyne line. The first incident happened on Saturday 18th January shortly before Manchester City kicked off their match against Crystal Palace with the second collision three days later on Tuesday 21st January.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Railcoach 678

Posted on Thursday 23 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

We move into the 1990s for this week’s Blackpool archive image as we take a look a look at one of three ex-Towing cars which was never permanently coupled to its trailer.

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Birmingham Eastside extension gets go-ahead

Posted on Wednesday 22 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

It’s all been about the Westside in Birmingham up until now but in the future we will also be looking to the Eastside following the approval of the Transport and Works Act Order for this short 1.7km extension of the West Midlands Metro to High Street Deritend. It is hoped that enabling works will now commence this year with an opening of the line due in 2023 (although exact timescales have not yet been announced).

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Punctuality rises again on Metrolink

Posted on Wednesday 22 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

Its that time again when we take a look at the latest performance statistics for Manchester Metrolink. The latest period being reviewed is period 10 which took place between 9th December 2019 and 4th January 2020 and shows an increase in punctuality but a small fall in reliability.

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In Pictures: 399 204 returns to service

Posted on Tuesday 21 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

After 15 months out of service a Citylink tram-train with the number 399 204 is back in service on Stagecoach Supertram after the completion of accident repairs. 204 returned to action – very briefly – on Sunday 19th January before it was used more extensively the next day.

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Metro punctuality rises again

Posted on Tuesday 21 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

The latest four week performance statistics – 8th December 2019 to 4th January 2020 – for the Tyne and Wear Metro have now been released and there is some good (and some not so good) news included! The percentage of trains arriving on time has increased by 8% but after the low of the previous period this does mean it is still only at 73%.

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Still standing! Birmingham’s 1st Generation Tram Tracks

Posted on Tuesday 21 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

Whilst our attention recently in the West Midlands has very much been concerned with the laying of new tram tracks for extensions of the West Midlands Metro there are also still some survivors of the original first generation system around the area as we see in this latest edition of “Still Standing”.

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In Pictures: First Winter Gold of 2020

Posted on Monday 20 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

It may only be mere weeks since Christmas but the past weekend has seen the first “Gold weekend” of 2020 in Blackpool with six trams scheduled to run on each day with the new timetable seeing regular services running from Starr Gate to Fleetwood and Cleveleys as well as on the Promenade. The first day – Saturday 18th January – saw a few issues with trams having to return to depot which did mean, in the end, that nine different trams ran, including the Shop Tram at Tower and North Pier.

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