Although nothing official has been released reports have reached us that all of the remaining Midland Metro T69s have now been removed from Long Marston and sent to Sims Metals in Newport for scrapping. Whilst we have no confirmation of their departure and movement this news has come from several different sources which, if true, would mean that in addition to the movement of 11 reported earlier this year means that 07, 10 and 16 have also gone to meet their maker.
The three T69s have been stored at Long Marston since 2014 (07), 2016 (10) and 2019 (16). None were sold for scrap as part of the e-auction which saw the majority of the fleet head to Rotherham with 07 and 10 thought to have been donated to UK Tram for testing purposes whilst 16 had originally been retained at Wednesbury Depot for potential reuse as an engineering vehicle before it too made the journey to Warwickshire for storage.
They had been accompanied by 11 for some time but this was confirmed to have been sent to Sims Metals, Newport in July 2022 after its preserved status was relinquished as no suitable location for its display could be found. At the time we wondered what this mean for the other three and these latest reports suggest that they have gone the same way.
Although it was thought they had been donated to UK Tram it now appears that they remained owned by Midland Metro and with the continued costs of their storage at Long Marston and the need for the space by the owners of the site the decision has been taken to remove them for scrapping.
As recently as June 2022, 10 had been treated to a repaint into a Purple and White British Transport Police livery for the Rail Live event when used for a demonstration whereas the other trams had been neglected with no work undertaken since their departure from Wednesbury Depot.
If these reports are indeed true it means that the T69s become the first UK second generation tramway class to be completely eradicated with all 16 now scrapped bringing an end to this small part of tramway history.
I was led to understand that the ownership of 16 was different to the other 15 and I’m fairly sure it was owned by Nat Ex, although whether it was transferred to TfWM when MML took over the operating contract I’m not sure.
I think this is a very sad end to the T69 story. I know that they could be temperamental but they were smart looking vehicles and it is a great pity that not one made it into preservation.