We return to 1979 for another set of photos in “Picture in Time” and its Blackpool that we find ourselves in once again. This time the subject of the next few weeks is all one tour which involved a couple of trams in what could be described as slightly inclement weather! Donald Brooks is our photographer for our look at this tour.
1979 was a momentous year for the Light Railway Transport League (LRTL). After decades of campaigning for the retention and expansion of tramways and light railways in the UK the only result had been the closure of all systems apart from Blackpool. But now the tide was finally beginning to turn. 1980 was to see the opening of the first stages of the Tyne and Wear Metro, though this was a network that had a lot more in common with Merseyrail or a German S-Bahn than with a typical British tramway. It was to be well over a decade before the first second-generation British tramway opened in Manchester.
Still, things were changing – among them the name of the League, which became the Light Rail Transit Association (LRTA) in November 1979, the name it retains today. The AGM at which the new name and constitution were adopted was held in Blackpool, which was itself taking tentative steps towards modernisation, with the construction of rebodied Jubilee Cars 761 and 762. On Sunday 25th November the LRTA held a celebratory tour of the Blackpool system, using car 761 as a symbol of the future and Dreadnought 59 as a reminder of the past.
It would have been difficult to have selected a day with worse weather for an open-top tram tour and only the keenest enthusiasts selected seats on the upper deck of 59 for their ride, with the warmth and dryness of 761 proving compelling attractions for most.
As rain soaks the Promenade, the two cars wait in the shadow of the Tower to set off north on the tour, while an unidentified – and probably very lightly patronised – OMO maintains the public service in the background.
Words by Donald Brooks
Photograph by Donald Brooks, 25th November 2026