Blackpool gets ready for Easter

Posted on Friday 25 March 2016 by Gareth Prior

This Easter weekend sees the return of the Gold timetable for Blackpool’s Heritage Tram Tours between Saturday 26th and Monday 28th March and there is also a bonus heritage service on Friday 25th March – including evening runs to Fleetwood.

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First volume of new Regional Tramways book series released

Posted on Friday 25 March 2016 by Gareth Prior

The first volume of a new book series that will cover the history of tramway operations in the British Isles has just been released. This first book concentrates on Yorkshire and North East England and is written by established author Peter Waller with the publishers being Pen & Sword Books.

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Metrolink 2CC continues to progress

Posted on Friday 25 March 2016 by Gareth Prior

Work on bringing the vital Second City Crossing (2CC) on Manchester Metrolink to life is continuing ahead of its opening in 2017 with tram tracks now in place along Cross Street between King Street and the junction with Princess Street and John Dalton Street allowing the road to reopen to traffic.

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Metrolink delays after train derailment

Posted on Friday 25 March 2016 by Gareth Prior

Manchester Metrolink services to Bury were suspended for a day after the derailment of a Network Rail weed killing train on the connection between the Metrolink network and the East Lancashire Railway. The derailment happened at approximately 1030 on Tuesday 22nd March and caused the cancellation of all services between Whitefield and Bury for the remainder of the day.

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No Tramlink services in central Croydon for a week

Posted on Friday 25 March 2016 by Gareth Prior

London Tramlink services are again suspended around the central Croydon loop over Easter with trackworks due to take place in the Church Street area. Trams from Wimbledon will be terminating at Reeves Corner with services from New Addington, Elmers End and Beckenham Junction ending at East Croydon from Friday 25th March until Saturday 2nd April. The same arrangements as normal for the stabling of trams on the eastern half of the network are in place with some being stabled on the Elmers End branch with others in Sandilands tunnel.

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Fare increases on the way for Supertram

Posted on Friday 25 March 2016 by Gareth Prior

Some fares on Stagecoach Supertram are to increase from Sunday 3rd April due to “increased costs”. The only fares to be affected will be Adult long distance single, Tram only weekly megarider and the Tram and Bus monthly scratch card.

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Douglas Horse Tramway WILL run in 2016

Posted on Thursday 24 March 2016 by Gareth Prior

The Douglas Horse Tramway will run after all in 2016 but the future of the line beyond this season is still to be decided. The Department of Infrastructure have announced that they will take on the operation of the line for this year with a service set to operate between 30th April and the end of October – a later end to the season than has become the norm in recent years.

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Posted in Douglas Bay Horse Tramway | 9 Comments

And then there was one!

Posted on Thursday 24 March 2016 by Gareth Prior

It has been another busy couple of days on Midland Metro with not one, not two but three of the remaining T69s taking their leave from Wednesbury Depot. The three to depart are 04 and 12 on Wednesday 23rd March and then 10 on Thursday 24th March leaving just 16 all alone at the depot where it looks set to stay for now with no plans for Allelys to return for it.

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Posted in West Midlands Metro | 2 Comments

Video in Time: Crich in the 1960s

Posted on Wednesday 23 March 2016 by Gareth Prior

It’s Picture in Time with a twist today as we actually looking at some moving pictures for our very first Video in Time. This footage dates from the 1960s and shows the early years at what we now know as the Crich Tramway Village.

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Posted in National Tramway Museum, Picture in Time | 2 Comments

New blow for Douglas Horse Tramway

Posted on Tuesday 22 March 2016 by Gareth Prior

Just when you thought things couldn’t get much worse for the future of the Douglas Horse Tramway a new plan is put forward by the Department of Infrastructure which will see the tracks ripped up between the Sea Terminal and Villa Marina permanently – regardless of any positive decision on the future of the historic tramway. The latest plan was announced by the Department following the rejection of the preferred option to redevelop Douglas Promenade which would have seen the horse trams consigned to a single track line on the Prom walkway.

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This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Sunday 20 March 2016 by Gareth Prior

We have more Photo Galleries for you this week as part of our latest main site update:

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Picture in Time: Stagecoach Supertram 103

Posted on Sunday 20 March 2016 by Gareth Prior

Back to the archives with Picture in Time this time settling in South Yorkshire for an image of Stagecoach Supertram 103 in 2003.

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Tramways return for 2016

Posted on Saturday 19 March 2016 by Gareth Prior

As Easter is just around the corner it is time for several more heritage tramways to resume operations for another year with this weekend seeing the Manx Electric Railway and Crich Tramway Village welcome their first passengers of 2016.

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Carlton Colville make final preparations for 2016

Posted on Saturday 19 March 2016 by Gareth Prior

Many of the UK’s transport museums enjoy some much needed downtime between the end of October Half Term and Easter – except for a few Santa Specials – but this doesn’t actually mean that nothing happens, far from it! In the case of the East Anglia Transport Museum the period since the last of their Santa Specials in December has seen further track replacement work which has now reached a conclusion to enable test trams to operate.

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Manx Electric Railway gets ready for Rush Hour on the Railways

Posted on Saturday 19 March 2016 by Gareth Prior

The first special event of 2016 on the Isle of Man will see the Manx Electric Railway heavily involved in the Rush Hour on the Railways which will also see intensive services on the Isle of Man Steam Railway.

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In Pictures: Bluebird in the Workshop

Posted on Saturday 19 March 2016 by Gareth Prior

As we have previously reported London County Council 1, or Bluebird if you prefer, saw its roof removed in a special operation by the main museum entrance at Crich on Friday 11th March. Of note during this the shunting was undertaken by the Croydon Tramlink KLV vehicle 058 making it a real capital operation.

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In Pictures: Manchester Metrolink 3111 in service

Posted on Saturday 19 March 2016 by Gareth Prior

Again we reported on this story last week but we can now show some photos of the first tram to run on Metrolink not to feature a 0 in the fleet number. It is of course 3111 which entered service on Friday 11th March and was caught on camera the following day at Piccadilly Gardens. Photo courtesy of Paul Gilbert.

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Blind Ambition

Posted on Saturday 19 March 2016 by Gareth Prior

When you think of Blackpool’s Heritage Tram Tours you tend to think of the ever increasing number of trams available for service but possibly one of the more interesting developments has been the creation of new destination blinds for the trams. All the new blinds have been created by Peter Watts based on original destination blinds which are now considered historic artefacts in themselves are to avoid damage are being replaced by these replicas. Last year Peter made an appeal through British Trams Online for anyone who had a Blackpool blind to contact him so he could make copies and after several contacts were made we can update the story…

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway, National Tramway Museum | 8 Comments

TfL commit £100m towards Sutton Tramlink extension

Posted on Saturday 19 March 2016 by Gareth Prior

This week has seen the release of Transport for London’s 2016/17 budget and business plan and against the usual headlines of Crossrail, Underground and Overground developments there is a commitment to provide £100 million towards the planned extension of Tramlink to Sutton. However there is a bit of a catch as the extension is currently expected to cost £240 million and with local Councils pledging to fund the line to the tune of £50 million there is still a large shortfall.

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Posted in London Trams | 3 Comments

Luas strikes suspended

Posted on Saturday 19 March 2016 by Gareth Prior

After several disruptive strikes on Dublin’s Luas tram system the action has been suspended – just ahead of the planned strike on St Patrick’s Day. It has been reported that staff from three out of four grades have accepted pay offers reached following lengthy talks.

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