We have another edition of “Old(er) and New” as we continue looking at two photos of the West Midlands Metro showing the original fleet and the new fleet of trams.
This week we are at Jewellery Quarter and start off on 5th June 2008 with an image taken of 03 as it heads north to Wolverhampton St George’s. The tram is in the original fleet livery and like so many of these trams did has above window adverts, these particular ones being for My Birmingham Jobs. The stop at Jewellery Quarter is located immediately alongside the railway station of the same name (in the same arrangement as that seen at The Hawthorns) providing excellent integrated tramsport.03 has now been scrapped after withdrawal in December 2013.
The tram has changed but the location has not as we’re back at Jewellery Quarter on 29th September 2022. The tram is 34 – one of the original Urbos3s trams – which is just pulling into the stop. There is major construction works going on across the tracks by this time. The tram has some plain white panels here as it had undergone some repairs to its bodyside panels after cracking was discovered on the original CAF trams. 34 entered service on 11th December 2015 but at the type of typing is actually in Dudley receiving more repairs. (Both Photographs by Gareth Prior)