September Review – Isle of Man: No. 4 – Manx Electric Railway Cavalcade starts

Posted on Tuesday 4 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

For many the highlight of the events week was the MER Cavalcade which saw 14 motors, 12 passenger trailers, 2 vans, 2 wagons and 1 tower wagon parade through Laxey Station on Friday 7th September – the exact anniversary of the opening of the MER. In this first of three looks at the Cavalcade we see the early stages of the parade.

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In Pictures: Bradley Lane Park and Ride under construction

Posted on Monday 3 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

A new Park and Ride site is currently being constructed on the West Midlands Metro adjacent to the stop at Bradley Lane and in this pictorial update we show the current progress on the work which is due to be completed by summer 2019. Work started back in October and phase one is seeing attention to the historic mines and shafts that are situated underneath the new car park (which is being built on a former playing field). Once this is completed full construction will start on a 196 space car park plus cycle shelters, CCTV, lighting and help points. Andy Walters with the images.

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September Review – Crich: No. 2 – Works Cars

Posted on Monday 3 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

One of the normal highlights of enthusiasts events at Crich is the operation of works cars and 2018 was no different. As well as demonstration runs there was the rare sight of the Manchester Horse Drawn Tower Wagon in the open for photos. In this article we see three of the works vehicles in the collection.

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September Review – Isle of Man: No. 3 – Groudle Shuttles

Posted on Monday 3 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

When the Manx Electric Railway opened in 1893 it only ran between Derby Castle and Groudle and to commemorate this on Wednesday 5th September 2018 special Groudle shuttles ran between the two utilising the two remaining original motors – 1 and 2 (with a few appearances of long-lost no. 3!)

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Approval given for temporary Metro depot

Posted on Sunday 2 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

A new – and temporary – depot is to be built for the Tyne and Wear Metro whilst the current depot at South Gosforth is rebuilt. The new depot will be at Howdon and will be used for overnight maintenance of up to the trains as well as playing a key role in the phased delivery of the new Metro fleet, which are scheduled to start arriving at the end of 2021.

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September Review – Blackpool: No. 1 – Balloon 715

Posted on Sunday 2 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

The Blackpool September/Anniversary Spectacular took place over the weekend of 22nd and 23rd September with the event again featuring a regular heritage tram service – including specials – trams on display down at Rigby Road Depot, behind the scenes tours and free bus tours around the local area. In the first of our retrospective on the weekend we feature Balloon Car 715.

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Punctuality down in latest Metrolink performance stats

Posted on Sunday 2 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

The upward trend of Manchester Metrolink punctuality over the past few periods has been reversed with a full percentage point decrease in the latest stats released for the period between 16th September and 13th October. A still creditable 90.4% of all trams departed less than two minutes late in this period – down from 91.4% in the August-September period. Reliability remained at the same level for the second period in a row.

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September Review – Isle of Man: No. 2 – The Flying Horse Tram!

Posted on Sunday 2 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

With Douglas Bay Horse Tramway 1 being used at Laxey Station for the MER 125th Anniversary party on 2nd September it had to be transported by lorry to and from the event. In the below photos we see it being returned to Strathallan Depot on 5th September when it became a flying tram!

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Tram of the Year 2018 – let voting commence!

Posted on Sunday 2 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

Its been a difficult selection process this year but we now have four shortlists and voting for the British Trams Online Tram of the Year 2018 is now open! There are 12 nominations across the four categories for you to select in voting. Huge thanks to everyone who made nominations and it is now time to make your final selection!

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This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Sunday 2 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

We head north of the border for this week’s photographic offering:

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Edinburgh Trams Ltd set to take on full maintenance of network

Posted on Saturday 1 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

The City of Edinburgh Council are set to agree a change in maintenance arrangements for the Edinburgh Trams network which will see Edinburgh Trams Ltd take on all maintenance of the trams and infrastructure – a long planned change. Currently this is the responsibility of the Council with Edinburgh Trams Ltd only responsible for operating the service but, if agreed by the Transport and Environment Committee, this arrangement will change going forward.

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September Review – Crich: No. 1 – Prague 180

Posted on Saturday 1 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

On Saturday 1st September it was Simply Trams at Crich, the newly rebranded enthusiast event at the home of the National Tramway Museum. The theme for 2018 was Birthdays and Anniversaries and that included the outside display of Prague 180.

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In Pictures: Christmas comes to M5000 3092

Posted on Saturday 1 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

With Christmas now under a month away the Christmas decorations are starting to go up all over and that includes the trams of Manchester Metrolink! We have previously featured 3050 with its decs and another of the M5000s which has received the special vinyls is 3092 which is included below. Photos from Kian Lewis.

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September Review – Isle of Man: No. 1 – Crossbench Evening

Posted on Saturday 1 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

Throughout December we will be going back in time, well just about anyway, as we review the three big tram events of 2018 on the Isle of Man and at Crich and Blackpool (basically its an excuse to try and use more of the countless photos I took!) There will be two editions of this series a day throughout December with a trip to the Isle of Man each day and Crich and Blackpool on alternate days. It is very much a photographic series so there won’t be too much waffling from yours truly as the pictures will hopefully tell the story much better! In this first instalment we are off to the Isle of Man and feature the Crossbench evening on Tuesday 4th September.

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Advent Calendars available now!

Posted on Saturday 1 December 2018 by Gareth Prior

With today being 1st December its time for our annual Advent Calendars to launch. As with previous years we have two Advent Calendars which should suit most tastes of those who read these pages. There is the Traditional Trams Advent Calendar and the Modern Trams Advent Calendar. We’re sure you know the idea behind an Advent Calendar – each day in the lead up to Christmas there is a window for you to “open” except in our case its a photo of a tram rather than a sweet! The next day’s image will be loaded the night before so don’t forget not to peek too soon! The Advent Calendars can be found here.

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Lancashire County Council respond to Trams to Lytham petition

Posted on Friday 30 November 2018 by Gareth Prior

A petition urging support for a plan to extend the Blackpool Tramway into the South Fylde (including Lytham and St Annes) has recently closed with more than 3,8000 signatories backing the plans. The petition was launched by Trams to Lytham who want to see the extension to provide an integrated, modern transport system across the Fylde Coast. With the petition now closed it has been presented to both Lancashire County Council and Fylde Council asking for support although the initial reaction from the county council is circumspect to say the least.

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Another collision between Tram-Train and road vehicle in Sheffield

Posted on Friday 30 November 2018 by Gareth Prior

Stagecoach Supertram services to Meadowhall and on the Tram-Train service to Rotherham Parkgate have been suspended after a second major collision between a Tram-Train and road vehicle – this comes just five weeks after the first. The collision happened at approximately 1630 on Friday 30th November and involved a car and 399 202 at Woodbourn Road.

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Demolition work starts on Strathallan Depot

Posted on Friday 30 November 2018 by Gareth Prior

No sooner had Tynwald approved the plans (and funding) for the reconstruction of the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway’s depot at Strathallan than the bulldozers had moved in to start demolishing the current life expired building. Work started on Monday 26th November and will see the current building demolished ahead of construction work on a new structure starting in 2019.

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20 heads home to Birkenhead

Posted on Thursday 29 November 2018 by Gareth Prior

It ran just five times with passengers but the loan of Birkenhead 20 to Blackpool is now officially over with the tram returning to its home town and the Birkenhead Heritage Tramway. 20 made the trip back to Merseyside on Wednesday 28th November – just over 16 months since it travelled the other way for the start of its loan period.

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Picture in Time: South Yorkshire Supertram Nunnery Depot

Posted on Thursday 29 November 2018 by Gareth Prior

The final edition of Picture in Time for 2018 sees us heading to South Yorkshire once more for an image taken in the formative days of the system of Nunnery Depot.

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