Boat 600 – back where it belongs!

Posted on Saturday 19 May 2018 by Andrew Waddington

For the first time this year, a Boat car was employed on the Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours service on Saturday 19th May. With 227 still undergoing extensive restoration work and 230 stored awaiting workshop attention, 600 has been flying the flag as the sole operational Boat car for over a year, but it was also sidelined during the spring with electrical faults.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Ex-Towing Railcoach 679

Posted on Saturday 19 May 2018 by Gareth Prior

An early 1990s photo features in this edition of Picture in Time as we see Ex-Towing Railcoach 679 in an all over advert.

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Nurse of the Year announced

Posted on Saturday 19 May 2018 by Gareth Prior

Nottingham Express Transit Citadis 220 now knows whose name will be applied to it for the next 12 months after the Nottingham Nurse and Midwife of the Year was announced at a ceremony in the city. Luisa Avanzado, a staff nurse on the Berman 2 Ward at City Hospital, won the award following an online poll. 220 – which currently carries the name Christina O’Loughlin after the 2017 winner of the accolade – will be renamed in due course.

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More funding for Crich for new permanent exhibition

Posted on Friday 18 May 2018 by Gareth Prior

Michael Holroyd Smith is to be recognised at the Crich Tramway Village with a new permanent exhibition set to open following the awarding of a £74,500 grant from the AIM Biffa Award.

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In Pictures: Cambridge Street Tramways 7 making excellent progress

Posted on Friday 18 May 2018 by Gareth Prior

When we last took a look at the cosmetic restoration of Cambridge Street Tramways 7 at the Ipswich Transport Museum just before Christmas a start had been made on painting the tram and now as we head back to East Anglia for this latest update the almost finished paint job is a sight to behold! Ken Jones with the images.

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Tramlink look for new automatic braking system

Posted on Thursday 17 May 2018 by Gareth Prior

Transport for London (TfL) have started the process of tendering for the installation of a new safety system on London Tramink which would automatically apply the brakes should the speed limit be exceeded at high risk locations. Work has been in progress of studying the feasibility of the introduction of a similar system ever since the tragic events at Sandilands in November 2016 when a tram left the rails with seven people dying as a result.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Pantograph 167

Posted on Thursday 17 May 2018 by Gareth Prior

A familiar sight for some time at Crich has been Blackpool Pantograph 167 which is still part of the operational fleet today. But in today’s Picture in Time shot we see it running back in 1989.

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Lottery support for Crich to explore the historic landscape of the site

Posted on Wednesday 16 May 2018 by Gareth Prior

A new project known as “Exploring the Historic Landscape of Crich Tramway Village” has been awarded a £84,000 National Lottery grant as the museum continues to find new ways of bringing visitors through the doors which can only be a good thing for the future survival of the national collection. The project will be focusing on both the industrial and natural heritage of the site as well as exploring woodland and local folklore.

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And overhead problems on Isle of Man too!

Posted on Wednesday 16 May 2018 by Gareth Prior

They say bad things come in threes and that definitely seems to be the case with overhead wires! Over the past few days we have reported on overhead problems in Edinburgh and on Manchester Metrolink but just before both of these happened there were issues on the Manx Electric Railway as well!

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Overhead woes on Metrolink

Posted on Tuesday 15 May 2018 by Gareth Prior

The benefit of having the Second City Crossing on Manchester Metrolink was plain to see on Saturday 12th May when a fault with the overhead close to Victoria meant that the original city crossing (1CC) was closed to city bound trams for over 12 hours. Before the construction of 2CC that would have meant major disruption with no trams able to run across the city but now a diversionary route meant that delays were kept to a minimum.

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Picture in Time: Nottingham Express Transit 212

Posted on Tuesday 15 May 2018 by Gareth Prior

Today Picture in Time has a fairly recent image from Nottingham Express Transit, showing one of the Incentro trams shortly after it had the revised fleet livery applied.

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Gauging trials starts on Tram-Train project

Posted on Monday 14 May 2018 by Gareth Prior

It’s a day many thought would never happen – a Tram-Train has run onto the UK national rail network as part of the gauging trials ahead of full blown commissioning and testing later in the summer. 399 202 once again had the honour of being the “first” (having also been the first to run with passengers) with its first movements over the Tinsley Chord – which links Supertram with Network Rail metals – taking place in the early hours of Thursday 10th May.

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In Pictures: Overhead down in Edinburgh City Centre

Posted on Monday 14 May 2018 by Gareth Prior

There was major disruption to Edinburgh Trams services on Thursday 10th May after a construction vehicle collided with an overhead support pole close to the stop at York Place causing the overhead wires to come down. An immediate suspension of the full service was put in place before a limited service was able to run from the Airport to Murrayfield Stadium and then extended to West End Princes Street.

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In Pictures: Birmingham 107

Posted on Sunday 13 May 2018 by Gareth Prior

The chances are that if you think of preserved first generation Birmingham trams your first thought will be of 585 located at the Thinktank Museum in the city centre. However, there is another tram from the city in the Greater Birmingham area with the surviving parts of 107 being found at the Aston Manor Road Transport Museum. A recent open day afforded Ken Jones the chance to capture the following images of the tram.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Balloon 717

Posted on Saturday 12 May 2018 by Gareth Prior

Another trip to Blackpool for Picture in Time today as we take a look at Balloon Car 717.

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In Pictures: Another look at Edinburgh 276’s Royal Highland Show advert

Posted on Saturday 12 May 2018 by Gareth Prior

Last week we brought you the news that Edinburgh Trams 276 has received a new advert for the Royal Highland Show and in this story we bring you some more images of the tram’s new look including a close up of the award winning Emily. The Royal Highland Show takes place at the Royal Highland Centre between 21st and 24th June.

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In Pictures: Car on tracks again causes Metrolink delays

Posted on Friday 11 May 2018 by Gareth Prior

On Saturday 5th May Manchester Metrolink services on the Airport route were disrupted after a car managed to drive along the tracks just to the city side of Sale Water Park on the bridge which crosses the River Mersey. The car had managed to drive quite some distance on the tram only section before it had become stuck causing an obstruction.

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In Pictures: Llandudno & Colwyn Bay 7 at the Victorian Extravaganza

Posted on Thursday 10 May 2018 by Gareth Prior

The Llandudno & Colwyn Bay Electric Railway Society’s replica tramcar no. 7 was once again out in public over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend with it both on display at the Victoria Extravaganza and also taking part in the daily parade of vintage vehicles. These photos of 7 were taken on Saturday 5th May when the tram was unable to take part in the Parade because of issues with the Matador lorry used to transport the tram around the local area. All photos from Kevin James.

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Picture in Time: Seaton Tramway 8

Posted on Thursday 10 May 2018 by Gareth Prior

Heading back over 40 years ago to the formative years of the Seaton Tramway as we continue our archive photo series, Picture in Time.

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In Pictures: Stockport 5 returns home for a day!

Posted on Wednesday 9 May 2018 by Gareth Prior

Saturday 5th May saw Stockport 5 head back to its home town for display during the Stockport Community Rail Festival. Departing and arriving back at Heaton Park on the same day the move was in the reliable hands of Allely’s with 5 remaining on the low loader throughout the day situated outside Stockport Railway Station.

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