We have another pictorial article here as we feature photos taken on the West Midlands Metro. The images were captured on several visits to the system by John Binch between August and October 2026.
As we have seen and mentioned countless times, adverts on modern tram systems can sometimes be a blink and you miss it kind of thing, with it fairly easy to remove the vinyls when contracts come to an end. West Midlands Metro is no different in that respect and indeed this first photo features an advert which has now been stripped. 47 was adorned in bright red vinyls promoting Monzo Bank between August and October 2026 and on the afternoon of Saturday 15th August 2026 we see the tram as it departs from West Bromwich Central with a Wolverhampton St. George’s to Edgbaston Village (via Millennium Point) service.
One of the things about tramways is that even the same system can pass many different types of areas. Obviously urban areas are some of the most common but no two cities are ever the same. One thing which several do have though is statues looking on and that is what we see in this image taken on Wednesday 14th October 2026 as West Midlands Metro CAF ‘Urbos 3’ tram 21 passes the statue of James Watt at Ratcliff Passage in Birmingham City Centre as it arrives at the Town Hall stop with a morning Edgbaston Village to Wolverhampton St. George’s service. The statue, carved in marble and Portland stone, was sculptured by Alexander Munro (26/10/1825-1/1/1871) in 1866 and returned to the city centre in July 2026, having spent 11 years in storage. Previously, it was located outside the former Central Library between 1974 and 2013.
We saw 47 at the start of this article with an advert and now we catch up with the tram again – this time in plain blue fleet livery. This is West Bromwich Central on Saturday 17th October 2026 with an afternoon Wolverhampton Station to Edgbaston Village service. (All Photographs by John Binch)