Around the World in 18 Trams: Dresden 224 205

Posted on Friday 8 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

Back to Europe for this image from around the world. This time we are in Dresden, Germany.

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British Trams Online at 15 – Events: Edinburgh Trams opens…finally!

Posted on Friday 8 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

It was the event which seemed for a long time as it may never happen but on 31st May 2014 Edinburgh Trams finally opened to the public to bring an end to the project which saw the return of trams to the streets of Scotland for the first time since 1962 when Glasgow Corporation Tramways had closed.

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RAIB report released into Sandilands derailment

Posted on Thursday 7 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch have released their full report into the tragic derailment at Sandilands on 9th November 2016. Although it has not been possible to prove for definite why it happened the main cause of the incident has been given as the driver losing awareness and it is thought that this was because of fatigue. The report concludes by giving 15 recommendations in improving safety on tramways in the UK.

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British Trams Online at 15 – Tram Loans: Blackpool Balloon 711

Posted on Thursday 7 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

Its another Blackpool tram which has spent some time away from its home tramway in recent years which features in our loan tram series today. The tram is Blackpool Balloon 711 – the only Balloon Car to have been fitted with the widened entrances to have ever left the north west coast.

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Around the World in 18 Trams: Boston 3680

Posted on Thursday 7 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

From Europe to the United States of America for our tour of world trams. The system we are looking at today is that in Boston.

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In Pictures: Nottingham Express Transit in November

Posted on Wednesday 6 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

A small pictorial from Nottingham Express Transit in late November with well patronised trams in service. Nottingham’s Winter Wonderland is now in full swing with a Christmas Market and ice skating amongst the activities you can enjoy in the city centre and of course the best way to get there is to hop on a tram! Peter Narramore with the photos.

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British Trams Online at 15 – Tram Loans: Manchester L53

Posted on Wednesday 6 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

It is a tram which is currently on static display in Bury but head back a few years and it made not one, but two visits to Beamish – it is Manchester Eades Reversible Horse Tram L53.

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British Trams Online at 15 – Events: Douglas Bay Horse Tramway 140th Anniversary

Posted on Wednesday 6 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

The next entry into our special series of events which have taken place over the past 15 years is another once which has happened fairly recently – the 140th Anniversary of the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway.

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In Pictures: Cambridge Horse Tram 7

Posted on Tuesday 5 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

The restoration of Cambridge Horse Tram 7 is continuing to make progress at the Ipswich Transport Museum as these latest photos from Stephen Cobb show.

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British Trams Online at 15 – Tram Loans: Blackpool Open Top Balloon 706

Posted on Tuesday 5 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

Probably one of the most unexpected but successful loans to have happened in the last 15 years, in November 2010 Blackpool Open Top Balloon 706, more commonly known as Princess Alice, visited the Heaton Park Tramway for their Blackpool Event.

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Around the World in 18 Trams: Basel BVB 485

Posted on Tuesday 5 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

Still in Europe today we are heading into Switzerland for an image from Basel of the city operator Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe (BVB), who mainly work the urban routes.

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British Trams Online at 15 – Tram Loans: Glasgow 1068

Posted on Monday 4 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

2013 was a significant year for the tramway at Beamish, as it was the 40th anniversary of the first trams running. To mark the occasion a couple of trams were loaned to the museum one of which was Glasgow 1068 from Crich, a tram which had only been returned to service temporarily the previous year for the Glasgow commemorations in Derbyshire.

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British Trams Online at 15 – Events: Withdrawal of Metrolink’s T68s and T68As

Posted on Monday 4 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

Not all major events over the past 15 years have been special events as such but nonetheless events of this kind have still been a significant aspect of what has happened since we started off in 2002. One of the most key events was the withdrawal of the Manchester Metrolink T68 and T68As as upon their withdrawal they became the first of the UK second generation tram classes for this to have happened to.

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British Trams Online at 15 – Tram Loans: Oporto 273

Posted on Sunday 3 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

The second in this series is probably the least successful tram loan of the past 15 years – that of Oporto 273.

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In Pictures: Testing underway on Bilston Road

Posted on Sunday 3 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

As previously publicised Bilston Road was reopened to traffic from Saturday 2nd December following the completion of the major track relay project between Priestfield and The Royal. Although the road is reopened this doesn’t mean that trams are running back to Wolverhampton St George’s just yet as the next week will see commissioning and driver training along this section, which hasn’t been in use since June. The first major testing along the line started on Sunday 3rd December.

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Around the World in 18 Trams: Gent 39

Posted on Sunday 3 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

We are back in Europe for today’s instalment of Around the World in 18 Trams as we visit Gent in Belgium.

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This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Sunday 3 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

We have two different types of Photo Gallery for you this week, as we head overseas and also look back to our launch year in 2002:

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Tram of the Year – voting now open!

Posted on Sunday 3 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

Voting is now open for the British Trams Online Tram of the Year 2017 contest with 15 nominees across the four categories. Thank you to everyone who submitted nominations, we have now looked at all of these and come up with the final shortlists and you can now put your final vote in to see what walks away with the accolade in January.

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In Pictures: Flexity 017 makes its journey to Blackpool!

Posted on Saturday 2 December 2017 by Andrew Waddington

On the evening of Friday 1st December, Blackpool welcomed its newest tram – Flexity 017. This is of course one of the two new trams which have been ordered from Bombardier to supplement the existing fleet in anticipation of the new extension to North Station, for which more trams will be needed to provide the core timetabled service. We will cover 017‘s arrival in more detail at a later time, but for now we focus on its journey from Hull following arrival in the UK.

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British Trams Online at 15 – Tram Loans: Blackpool Marton 31

Posted on Saturday 2 December 2017 by Gareth Prior

Just how many trams have gone on loan over the past 15 years? Actually its quite a surprising number! In this new series we will be looking at all the trams which have gone on operating loans during this period (we say all, we think we’ve covered everything!). As it is operating loans we don’t include those trams which have gone on display (a la Grimsby & Immingham 14 to Immingham Docks etc.) and even if things didn’t quite go according to plan during the loan it is included. We have also taken an on loan to mean something which is not at what we would consider its permanent home tramway at the time so sorry Bolton 66 and Stockport 5 your loans in Blackpool aren’t included! The first in the series is probably the tram which has travelled the most distance for its loan with two trips to Blackpool and one visit to Heaton Park included – Blackpool Marton 31.

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