Decision delayed for Blackpool North tramway extension

Posted on Friday 27 May 2016 by Gareth Prior

Blackpool Council’s executive committee have delayed their approval for the North Station tramway extension so they can examine the proposals in more detail. It had been expected that the committee would be recommending to the full council that a formal application is submitted to the Department for Transport but at their most recent meeting they instead decided to give themselves some more thinking time.

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway | 9 Comments

Latest Luas strikes cancelled

Posted on Friday 27 May 2016 by Gareth Prior

Two four hour strikes due to take place on Dublin’s Luas network on Thursday 26th and Friday 27th May have been cancelled to allow talks to take place in an attempt to find an end to the pay dispute which has been engulfing the system for several months. Transdev – operators of Luas – and SIPTU – the Union whose members voted to go on strike back in February – were invited to discussions at the Labour Court. Strikes due on 8th, 9th and 10th June are still due to take place at the time of writing.

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Tramlink to be added to Tube map

Posted on Friday 27 May 2016 by Gareth Prior

The next edition of the iconic Tube map is to include London Tramlink routes for the first time when it is released next month. The Docklands Light Railway, London Overground and even the Emirates Air Line have featured on the map for some time but this will be first time that a tram service have been featured on the map, available for free at most Underground stations.

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Book Review: ‘Regional Tramways – Scotland’ by Peter Waller

Posted on Friday 27 May 2016 by Andrew Waddington

‘Regional Tramways’ is a new series of books by Peter Waller which aims to cover the history of tramway operations on all systems which existed across the British Isles, or at least as many as possible. The first two volumes have already appeared so far this year, with the first of these detailing the various Scottish tramway systems.

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Posted in Reviews | 2 Comments

Very important pictures preserved in Blackpool

Posted on Thursday 26 May 2016 by Andrew Waddington

As well as preserving a large number of historic Blackpool tramcars, the Blackpool Heritage Trust is also keen to ensure that other items of relevance to the town’s rich tramway history survive for future generations. A recent and noteworthy addition to their collection of artifacts has been the entire collection of drawings of Blackpool trams by Ian Stewart, which he has very generously donated to the Trust.

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway | 1 Comment

London trams get stripped

Posted on Thursday 26 May 2016 by Andrew Waddington

Despite the temporary departure of London County Council 1 from Crich Tramway Village to receive specialist repairs to its body frame by a specialist firm, the sight of a heavily stripped London tramcar in the museum’s workshop remains with the recently acquired North Metropolitan horse car now being dismantled. Having only arrived at Crich on Saturday 21st May no time was wasted in its deconstruction and within a few days it was barely recognisable!

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Posted in National Tramway Museum | 7 Comments

Midland Metro Grand Central extension will open Monday 30th May

Posted on Wednesday 25 May 2016 by Gareth Prior

It has now been confirmed that the Midland Metro extension to Grand Central via Corporation Street will open on Monday 30th May once the seven day period of driver training is successfully completed. As you will no doubt be aware the short extension further into Birmingham City Centre was originally due to open at the end of 2015 but delays in construction led to a new dates of 22nd May being announced which was subsequently delayed further for further works to take place.

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Posted in West Midlands Metro | 3 Comments

399 202 arrives in Sheffield

Posted on Wednesday 25 May 2016 by Gareth Prior

Sheffield is now the proud home of two tram-trains following the arrival of 399 202 on Tuesday 24th May. The vehicle was delivered one piece (unlike the recent arrivals for Midland Metro) and has now been unloaded and moved into the workshops at Nunnery Square where its long road to entering service will now progress.

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Posted in South Yorkshire Supertram | 9 Comments

Drivers vote for strike action on London Tramlink

Posted on Wednesday 25 May 2016 by Gareth Prior

It is disappointing to have to report that more drivers on a tram network have voted for strike action in a dispute over their pay with ASLEF members on London Tramlink in favour following a recent vote. Tram drivers are reported to earn approximately £36,000 which ASLEF claim is less than those doing “similar jobs in other parts of the industry”.

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Passenger satisfaction on the rise across the UK

Posted on Tuesday 24 May 2016 by Gareth Prior

Tram passenger satisfaction across the UK has increased once again with the latest figures showing that there is an overall satisfaction of 92% on the UK’s tram networks (excluding London Tramlink). The latest findings have been released by Transport Focus following their annual survey which took place in autumn 2015. Although the picture is mainly positive with the majority of systems where passengers were questioned either improving or staying at the same level there has been a significant decrease on Midland Metro.

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Posted in Blackpool Tramway, Edinburgh Trams, Manchester Metrolink, Nottingham Express Transit, South Yorkshire Supertram, West Midlands Metro | 2 Comments

Driver training starts to Grand Central

Posted on Monday 23 May 2016 by Gareth Prior

There is a chink of light at the end of what seems to have been a very long tunnel with the opening of the Midland Metro extension to Grand Central now seemingly only a week away after the start of driver training. The first driver training runs took place on Monday 23rd May with seven days required for this before a start of passenger operations.

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Posted in West Midlands Metro | 7 Comments

Another horse tram joins the Crich fleet

Posted on Sunday 22 May 2016 by Andrew Waddington

As well as being the first horse tram operating day of 2016, Saturday 21st April also witnessed the arrival of the National Tramway Museum’s latest acquisition – another horse tram, this time one hailing from London. The unrestored car was transported from Newton to Crich on this day where it will be subjected to a full condition survey to assess its potential future role in the collection.

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Posted in National Tramway Museum | 2 Comments

This week on British Trams Online

Posted on Sunday 22 May 2016 by Gareth Prior

This week we bring you another three Photo Galleries plus add a few more photos to an existing collection:

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Posted in Edinburgh Trams, Manchester Metrolink, National Tramway Museum, West Midlands Metro | 2 Comments

Picture in Time: Manchester Metrolink 1002

Posted on Sunday 22 May 2016 by Gareth Prior

We are off to Manchester Metrolink pre-opening for the latest images in our Picture in Time series. It is February 1992 and the tram we are featuring for the second time is 1002.

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In Pictures: Joseph returns to Crich for first horse tram day of 2016

Posted on Saturday 21 May 2016 by Gareth Prior

Saturday 21st May saw the first Horse Tram Day of 2016 with Joseph returning to the Crich Tramway Village where he was reacquainted with operational horse tram Sheffield 15. This was the first of six planned Horse Tram Days this year.

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Posted in National Tramway Museum | 2 Comments

In Pictures: Dublin Luas update

Posted on Saturday 21 May 2016 by Gareth Prior

Work to extend the Luas system through Dublin City Centre has been continuing in recent weeks as show in this latest pictorial update as provided by John Hampton.

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Posted in Dublin Luas | 6 Comments

More disruption on the way for Metrolink

Posted on Friday 20 May 2016 by Gareth Prior

There will be more service changes on Manchester Metrolink this summer with the final stage of works at St Peter’s Square coupled with rail replacement on the Eccles line set to cause disruption for regular travellers. The work will start from Sunday 26th June with a full service across the network not returning until the end of August.

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Posted in Manchester Metrolink | 9 Comments

Call for action to help save Douglas Horse Tramway

Posted on Friday 20 May 2016 by Gareth Prior

At the end of March we were all rejoicing when it was confirmed that the Douglas Horse Tramway would run in 2016 after all with the government stepping in to operate the tramway. However this good news was tinged with the potential bad news that this was for one season only and that there would still need to be discussions over its long time viability. That all seemed fair as it gave time to ensure that the tramway was viable but then in April things moved on with the damaging news that a planning application was being submitted which allowed no provision for tram tracks between the Sea Terminal and Villa Marina.

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Posted in Douglas Bay Horse Tramway | 2 Comments

Metrolink sees double with second Crunchie advert

Posted on Friday 20 May 2016 by Gareth Prior

Following on from the news earlier this week that Manchester Metrolink M5000 3007 had received an all over advert for Cadbury’s Crunchie comes the news that 3001 has now received an identical advert. Once again featuring extensive contravision on the windows 3001 has become the third member of the M5000 fleet to be carrying a vinyl wrap livery concurrently (another first for Metrolink). There can be little doubt that all over adverts are now part of Manchester Metrolink, at least for the time being anyway.

Posted in Manchester Metrolink | 2 Comments

Now that’s how you travel from wedding!

Posted on Friday 20 May 2016 by Gareth Prior

With the opening of the Wedding Chapel in Blackpool it hasn’t been an unusual sight of seeing people travelling to or from their wedding by tram but now Blackpool isn’t the only place where people have travelled from their wedding by tram with a tram hired by a couple in Sheffield to get from the ceremony to reception.

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