We feature another photo from October 1979 in Blackpool as we take a look at a “Picture in Time”.
Darkness has fallen and the Illuminations are shining bright as we see Balloon 723 passing Lewis’s on its way back south towards the end of a Tour of the Illuminations. The upper deck unsurprisingly appears to have been more popular with passengers than downstairs. Lewis’s department store, once Blackpool’s major retail draw, is clearly doing its best to add to the illuminations. The store opened in 1964 and closed in 1993.
723 is a tram which remains in Blackpool to this day and is currently to be found in Rigby Road Depot. It managed to avoid the addition of the widened centre entrances when the B fleet was created at the time that the upgraded tramway was being readied and seamlessly moved over to the heritage fleet when that was formed. Its gone through several different liveries since being in the heritage fleet and is now to be found in the 1990s version (appropriate for its modernised 1990s condition). It last ran in 2024 and is one of the few heritage trams which have run to North Station.
Photograph by Donald Brooks, October 1979