What’s New on British Trams Online? 14th January 2024

Posted on Sunday 14 January 2024 by Gareth Prior

We head to Blackpool back in September 2023 for photos of the modern tramway in action:

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In Pictures: Work on tramstops on West Midlands Metro Dudley extension

Posted on Saturday 13 January 2024 by Gareth Prior

The official word from the Midland Metro Alliance remains that the next West Midlands Metro extension between Wednesbury and Dudley will see its first passengers in 2024 (this is phase one of the Brierley Hill line). With this in mind a lot of work remains to be completed in the next 10-11 months or so, not just limited to significant tracklaying but also the construction of the nine new stops due in this phase. In this pictorial article we head out to see the current state of things at a couple of planned stops on the line.

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Posted in West Midlands Metro | 5 Comments

Around the World in Trams: Nuremberg 1012

Posted on Saturday 13 January 2024 by Gareth Prior

“Around the World in Trams” continues with a picture of another tram running in Nuremburg.

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Record 4.3 million trips made on Metro with Pop Pay As You Go

Posted on Saturday 13 January 2024 by Gareth Prior

There were a record 4.3 million trips made on the Tyne and Wear Metro using Pop Pay As You Go in 2023 according to new figures released by Nexus. Not only are these passengers saving money when compared to buying paper tickets but its also saving time by not having to queue up and use ticket machines.

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Blackpool Tramway services affected after car and tram collide

Posted on Saturday 13 January 2024 by Gareth Prior

We’re used to reporting on collisions between various road vehicles and trams across the British Isles but in most cases it comes when the two are sharing the same road space. You would have expected that the majority of the Blackpool Tramway would be safe for collisions of this type but that was not the case on Thursday 11th January 2024 when there was an incident on New South Promenade at around 1500.

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In Pictures: Short-running at West End

Posted on Friday 12 January 2024 by Gareth Prior

Earlier this week we featured photos from Edinburgh as the split service to allow Hogmanay celebrations to take place along Princes Street was in operation. That article featured photos around Picardy Place as trams from Newhaven used the stop to terminate and then pulled forward to use the crossover at York Place to reverse. Now we return to Hogmanay and we’re at the other end of the split service, West End, for some more photos.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Balloon 720

Posted on Friday 12 January 2024 by Gareth Prior

Another edition of “Picture in Time” comes from the Blackpool Tramway.

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Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours to run from Starr Gate throughout 2024

Posted on Thursday 11 January 2024 by Gareth Prior

Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours 2023 season finally came to an end on Saturday 6th January 2024 with some extra Illumination Tours (thanks to the lights being extended by a further week) having taken place in the first week of the year after which the trams which had been running since the end of September (Balloon Cars 700 and 717 and illuminated featured cars the Western Train and Frigate) started a break which is due to continue into Easter. With the uncertainty surrounding Rigby Road Depot (aka Tramtown) causing further debate an official statement has been released as an update for what plans are.

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LRSSB on track to provide more support for light rail sector in 2024

Posted on Thursday 11 January 2024 by Gareth Prior

The Light Rail Safety and Standards Board are to build on their successes of the past 12 months and aim to continue to grow and evolve in 2024 according to a new year’s message from their Chief Executive, Carl Williams. The organisation is already established as the driving force behind improvements to tramway safety and is now well set to lead a new era of risk reduction on networks across the UK.

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In Pictures: 3075 gets a new advert

Posted on Wednesday 10 January 2024 by Gareth Prior

There has been another change of vinyl wrap for Manchester Metrolink 3075 with it now advertising Procore. This replaces its previous ad which was advertising Caudalie Skincare and now means the tram has had seven different adverts for five different sponsors.

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Seaton Tramway purchase of Seaton Jurassic confirmed

Posted on Wednesday 10 January 2024 by Gareth Prior

The former Seaton Jurassic building is set to reopen this spring as “Jurassic Discovery” after its purchase by Seaton Tramway was confirmed at the start of 2024. Building on the success of the Tramway’s dinosaur inspired events which have been popular with families the new attraction will initially open with a soft play area and café before expanding in the summer with an immersive dinosaur exhibition.

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SYSTRA Isle of Man Railway report recommendations released

Posted on Tuesday 9 January 2024 by Gareth Prior

Its been long awaited and finally the report into the future of Isle of Man Railways (including the Steam Railway, Manx Electric Railway, Snaefell Mountain Railway and Douglas Bay Horse Tramway), which was originally expected in September 2023 is nearly here. Although we still don’t have a full report we do now have a summary report which includes a number of recommendations and fortunately it doesn’t appear to have anything too drastic in it with some of the more controversial suggestions made at the time the report was commissioned being rejected.

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Posted in Douglas Bay Horse Tramway, Manx Electric Railway, Snaefell Mountain Railway | 5 Comments

Tram update from Edinburgh Trams

Posted on Tuesday 9 January 2024 by Gareth Prior

A previous version of this article was published on 9 January 2024 with incorrect information. This has now been updated (11 January 2024) to remove the wrong information which was published in good faith.

With a fleet of 27 trams, one thing the Edinburgh Trams network does not have is a tram shortage and although the number needed has increased since the Newhaven extension opened there are still occasions when certain trams spend more time off the road for regular maintenance. That does mean that sometimes changes to the appearance of trams doesn’t always get reported so we have a bit of a round-up here of recent changes.

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In Pictures: Around Wednesbury Depot

Posted on Monday 8 January 2024 by Gareth Prior

Its not often that we see behind the scenes at working modern tram depots but in this pictorial article we see behind the closed doors of the West Midlands Metro depot at Wednesbury with views of trams being moved into the workshops as well as a glimpse at a tram which currently stored. Photos courtesy of William Snook.

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They Ran in 2023!

Posted on Monday 8 January 2024 by Gareth Prior

We round-up things of which heritage trams ran in service on tramways in the British Isles during 2023 with a final “They Ran in 2023!”. In truth since we last ran this article at the start of November 2023 there has been no change whatsoever but here it is as a general round-up of the tram which did run in service – in total 118 across 13 different tramways. As always this information is correct to the best of our knowledge but if you know of any errors please let us know!

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Posted in Beamish Tramway, Birkenhead Heritage Tramway, Black Country Living Museum, Blackpool Tramway, Burton & Ashby 14, Douglas Bay Horse Tramway, East Anglia Transport Museum, Great Orme Tramway, Heaton Park Tramway, Manx Electric Railway, National Tramway Museum, Seaton Tramway, Snaefell Mountain Railway, Summerlee Museum Tramway, They Ran in 2023, Volk's Electric Railway | 1 Comment

Out and About: Driver training on Stagecoach Supertram – October 2023

Posted on Monday 8 January 2024 by Gareth Prior

We take a look at some driver training on the Stagecoach Supertram system in this “Out and About”.

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Trams &: Sunderland 16 & bus

Posted on Sunday 7 January 2024 by Gareth Prior

We return with another series of “Trams &” and we head to a common location for this series – Beamish which just keeps on giving opportunities!

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2024 to be a pivotal year for light rail in the UK?

Posted on Sunday 7 January 2024 by Gareth Prior

The Managing Director of UKTram – the industry body who represent the interests of trams and light rail in the UK – thinks that 2024 could be a pivotal year for light rail. James Hammett has told members that it is now more important than ever to press the case for tramways and similar transit systems.

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Posted in UKTram | 1 Comment

And the winners are! Isle of Man and Edinburgh victorious in Tram of the Year 2023

Posted on Sunday 7 January 2024 by Gareth Prior

Five categories and two winners, that is the story of the British Trams Online Tram of the Year 2023. After four weeks of voting the Manx Electric Railway can celebrate wins in three categories whilst the other two categories see Edinburgh Trams walk away with the accolade, in what was a positive year for both.

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What’s New on British Trams Online? 7th January 2024

Posted on Sunday 7 January 2024 by Gareth Prior

Its our usual quiet start to the year with the photos from the 2023 Advent Calendars moved into the Gallery section:

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