Taking place from Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th July, the Tramlines Festival has seen large crowds of people wanting to get and from the event – and what better way than to transport them by tram? With the festival taking place in Hillsborough Park both the Blue and Yellow routes on Stagecoach Supertram were handy for festival goers and they came in their thousands to get there with hordes disembarking from the trams in what was probably one of the busiest days on the network since the pandemic.
The overhead problems which had seen Blue route services curtailed between Birley Lane and Halfway had been repaired by 22nd July so there was no major disruption for anyone across the Supertram network to get to the festival, although special arrangements were put in place for those leaving the festival site each day:
- Anyone wishing to catch a tram back towards the city would have to make their way to Leppings Lane which would only be accessible from Hillsborough Park.
- Stops at Middlewood, Hillsborough Park, Hillsborough, Bamforth Street, Langsett Primrose View and Infirmary Road would be closed with trams not stopping
- Extra trams were due to run
There were no special arrangements to get to the festival with anyone attending advised to either use Hllsborough (for food and drink and other shops) or Hillsborough Park (directly opposite the festival entrance)
A busy scene at Hillsborough Park with 108 having just stopped at the stop to let large numbers off the tram to head to the Tramlines Festival.
Hillsborough Park again and 118 has now stopped to let more off to get to the Festival.
Moving back to Hillsborough and it’s a similar scene. Note the staff on duty to keep an eye on the points.
And still they come! 106 has still not departed for Malin Bridge as people still pour off the tram. (All Photographs by Stuart Cooke, 23rd July 2022)