Another blow for Sutton Tramlink extension plan

Posted on Friday 9 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

At the end of 2015 it looked as if the plans to extend Tramlink to Sutton had actually taken a step forward with the then Mayor of London, Boris Johnson committing £100 million towards the project (which would still have been a small fraction of that required). However 12 months later and this so called guaranteed funding exclusively for the project doesn’t seem quite so guaranteed after all with new incumbent Sadiq Khan removing the funding from the latest TfL Business Plan. Although this isn’t the end of the project the Sutton line would have to jostle for funding through the TfL Growth Fund.

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Posted in Docklands Light Railway, London Trams | 1 Comment

Ice on the wires causes problems for NET

Posted on Friday 9 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

It is the same story as every year when temperatures fall, on Monday 5th December Nottingham Express Transit services were disrupted after a tram broke down at Moor Bridge with ice on the wires blamed. The tram was reported as broken down at around 0600 and services were unable to resume between Moor Bridge and Hucknall until 1015 once the disgraced tram had been moved out of the way. During the disruption both East Midlands Trains and Trent Barton buses accepted NET tickets.

Posted in Nottingham Express Transit | 3 Comments

Blackpool Brush car 621 returns home

Posted on Thursday 8 December 2016 by Andrew Waddington

In an unexpected development, Blackpool Brush Railcoach 621 has been gifted to the Blackpool Heritage Trust, and returned ‘home’ to Rigby Road after a five year absence on Thursday 8th December. The tram had previously been in the care of Beamish Museum, and prior to that it was owned by the Fleetwood Heritage Leisure Trust.

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway | 1 Comment

In Pictures: Unusual moves in Blackpool

Posted on Thursday 8 December 2016 by Andrew Waddington

Winter in Blackpool traditionally means work on the infrastructure, and this has been true so far of winter 2016/17. Some track repair works on Monday 5th December meant that, for a few hours, single-line working was enforced between North Pier and Cabin. Although only the modern LRT trams were in service that day this still presented some novel riding and photographic opportunities.

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway | 9 Comments

A cunning plan for Glasgow 488

Posted on Thursday 8 December 2016 by Andrew Waddington

It has been a while since we mentioned progress on the restoration of Glasgow Standard 488, which is being renovated in Wales before joining the collection of the East Anglia Transport Museum near Lowestoft. In truth, this hasn’t been much visible progress to report on of late – but plenty of thinking has been going on with regard to plans for the car’s truck.

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Posted in East Anglia Transport Museum | 5 Comments

Picture in Time: Blackpool Brush 295

Posted on Thursday 8 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

Picture in Time today is back in Blackpool with our time machine stopping in 1967 for an image of Blackpool Brush 295.

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When is a horse bus, not a horse bus?

Posted on Tuesday 6 December 2016 by Andrew Waddington

Followers of the Heaton Park Tramway may well be aware that, a few years ago, the Manchester Transport Museum Society acquired a partially restored horse-drawn bus from Beamish Museum, where it had been declared surplus to requirements. The idea was that this vehicle, believed to originate from Manchester, could help to tell the story of the city’s transport history pre-tram. It was therefore moved to Heaton Park and placed in secure storage in a barn away from the tramway itself.

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Posted in Heaton Park Tramway | 2 Comments

In Pictures: Llandudno 7 celebrates Christmas

Posted on Tuesday 6 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

Saturday 3rd December saw another outing for the replica Llandudno and Colwyn Bay Electric Railway tram no. 7 with the tram visiting both Colwyn Bay and Llandudno including a run along the former tramway route which linked the two North Wales town.

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Picture in Time: Southport Pier Railway

Posted on Tuesday 6 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

Today’s edition of Picture in Time is of a tramway/railway very rarely illustrated on these pages as we head to a resort on the northwest coast but instead of Blackpool we are a bit further down the coast at Southport for a view of the Pier Tramway/Railway in black and white.

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Posted in Picture in Time | 4 Comments

British Trams Online Tram of the Year 2016 – voting open!

Posted on Sunday 4 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

Voting is now open for the British Trams Online Tram of the Year 2016 in all four categories: Tram of the Year (traditional), Tram of the Year (modern), Tramway of the Year and Event of the Year.

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In Pictures: Metrolink goes Christmassy

Posted on Sunday 4 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

As the build-up to Christmas continues Manchester Metrolink have put up their Christmas decorations with a number of trams being seen with window vinyls in place. Mainly consisting of snowflakes the trams which have been decorated also have Santa and Rudolph on the side trying to persuade you that a Metrolink Travelcard is the way to travel this festive season!

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Posted in Manchester Metrolink | 1 Comment

Picture in Time: Midland Metro 04

Posted on Saturday 3 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

We take a trip to Wolverhampton for our latest archive image as part of Picture in Time as we feature an image of one of the T69s in action in the year 2000.

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Posted in West Midlands Metro | 3 Comments

Ballooning in Winter

Posted on Friday 2 December 2016 by Andrew Waddington

The final ‘gold’ operating weekend for Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours took place on Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th November, and as usual each day featured a regular service operated by six trams. Understandably for the time of year, the weather was bitterly cold but despite that there was some sunshine and an interesting selection of cars in use, with the Balloons out in force!

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Douglas Horse Tramway to be relaid – but only partly

Posted on Friday 2 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

It may be a new government on the Isle of Man but it really seems to be the same old decision making as the latest plans for the reconstruction of Douglas Promenade will see the Horse Tramway only relaid between Derby Castle and Broadway. Following the elections on the Isle of Man the previous plans for the Prom were thrown out with the promise that they would be revisited but the new recommendation goes back to a very similar proposal with the main change being that it will be a double track tramway in the centre of the road for the short section of line which will be retained.

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Posted in Douglas Bay Horse Tramway | 9 Comments

October breaks records on Metrolink

Posted on Friday 2 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

October seems to be a popular month for travelling on Manchester Metrolink with a new record set over the 31 days in 2016 breaking the previous record set in October 2015. 3.3 million passengers were carried on Metrolink in October 2016 (beating the 3.1 million in 2015).

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Award winning partnership awarded Trafford Park Metrolink line

Posted on Friday 2 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

Transport for Greater Manchester are to continue their collaboration with MPact Thales (MPT) and WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff on the Trafford Park extension of Manchester Metrolink it has been announced. This same partnership has already successfully delivered extensions to MediaCityUK, Manchester Airport, Ashton-under-Lyne, East Didsbury, Oldham and Rochdale and has also been involved in the Second City Crossing due to open in early 2017.

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Posted in Manchester Metrolink | 1 Comment

Testing starts on Second City Crossing

Posted on Thursday 1 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

The early hours of Thursday 1st December saw the first gauging run on Manchester Metrolink’s Second City Crossing with M5000 pair 3004 and 3021 in use to officially become the first trams to run on the section of the 2CC from St Peter’s Square.

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MER prepares for 2017

Posted on Thursday 1 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

No sooner had the 2016 season on the Manx Electric Railway finished then attention was turned to preparing both the fleet and infrastructure for 2017. It is planned that this winter will see a number of repaints with some trams having new looks whilst two trailers stored for a number of years will be prepared to return to service whilst track relaying is also underway along with the long expected demolition of Ramsey Car Shed and Good Shed.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Centenary 646

Posted on Thursday 1 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

Our archive photo series is back with another helping from Blackpool. This time around we are taking a look at Centenary 646 in the early 1990s.

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British Trams Online Advent Calendars 2016

Posted on Wednesday 30 November 2016 by Gareth Prior

Yes, its that time of the year once again as we bring you our Advent Calendars. No chocolate for you behind each window but we do have 48 more photos of tram waiting for you in the lead up to Christmas. As in the past few years we have two Advent Calendars for you – Traditional Trams and Modern Trams and you can find the link to both by going to http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/advent.html. We will tend to upload the next image the night before so please so sneaky peeks before the day!

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