Around the World in Trams: Berlin 1587

Posted on Saturday 28 November 2020 by Gareth Prior

This article carries on our look at the trams of the world’s third largest tram network in Berlin.

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Remainder of Blackpool Illuminations Tours for 2020 cancelled

Posted on Saturday 28 November 2020 by Gareth Prior

There will be no further Illumination Tours in Blackpool this year it has been announced. It had originally been hoped that once England came out of lockdown it would be possible to resume tours until the end of the illuminations at the start of 2021 but after Blackpool was placed in tier 3 it has been decided to cancel all remaining tours for the year.

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Bridge demolished ahead of schedule as roads reopen in Sandwell

Posted on Saturday 28 November 2020 by Gareth Prior

A bridge on Coneygree Road in Sandwell has been demolished ahead of schedule as work continues on preparatory works for the extension of the West Midlands Metro between Wednesbury and Brierley Hill.

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Ride the Lights at the East Anglia Transport Museum

Posted on Friday 27 November 2020 by Gareth Prior

The latest UK heritage tramway to announce plans to run in the lead up to Christmas is the East Anglia Transport Museum who will be operating a special service on the three December Saturdays in the lead up to Christmas.

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Edinburgh Trams win at Scottish Transport Awards

Posted on Friday 27 November 2020 by Gareth Prior

Edinburgh Trams are celebrating after they were announced as the winners of the “Excellence in Travel Information & Marketing” at the Scottish Transport Awards – the second year in a row they have won this category. The award was given for their unique partnership with the Scottish Rugby Union – including the advert carried on 275 since July 2019.

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Picture in Time: Granada Studio Tours Trams

Posted on Friday 27 November 2020 by Gareth Prior

After we looked at some of the Granada Studios “trams” last week in 1985 we move forward 11 months to May 1986 where they seem to have multiplied somewhat!

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Seaton Tramway to run special Winter Service

Posted on Thursday 26 November 2020 by Gareth Prior

With the English national lockdown coming to an end at the start of December, the Seaton Tramway have announced that they will be running a special Winter service on weekends during December as well as daily in the week leading up to Christmas Eve.

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In Pictures: Work starts on Blackpool tram stops

Posted on Thursday 26 November 2020 by Gareth Prior

With the upgraded Blackpool Tramway now having been running for over eight years – and much of the infrastructure having been in place before then – there are certain aspects which have been starting to look tired, especially as a result of the harsh coastal environment. One of the oft criticised parts which has required attention is the various tramstops but it could be that this is now underway with a new seat having recently been installed on the southbound platform at Manchester Square.

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Stop by Stop Nottingham Express Transit: Clifton South line – Wilford Lane

Posted on Thursday 26 November 2020 by Gareth Prior

Onward we go towards Clifton South as we take another look at one of the stops on that line of Nottingham Express Transit.

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The wait goes on for a report from the Edinburgh Trams Inquiry as costs confirmed as being over £11 million

Posted on Wednesday 25 November 2020 by Gareth Prior

When the Edinburgh Trams Inquiry was set-up by then First Minister, Alex Salmond, in 2014 it was hoped that it would be a quick and comprehensive report into just what went wrong during the construction of what is now the first phase of the tramway. But now six years later, and despite the last public evidence sessions being two years ago, there has been no report and local media reports in Edinburgh have now revealed that it has cost £11.3 million – with presumably extra costs still to be added, depending on how long it takes for the report to be produced.

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Overhead line problems cause problems on Metrolink

Posted on Wednesday 25 November 2020 by Gareth Prior

An overhead line fault at Chorlton as caused disruption for Metrolink services on Wednesday 25th November with replacement buses having to be used to ferry passengers around the affected area. The fault was first reported around 0900 with engineers sent to the scene to inspect and repair the damage but the severity of the damage meant that there was severe disruption for both the East Didsbury and Airport lines.

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Still Standing! Liverpool Corporation Tramways track

Posted on Wednesday 25 November 2020 by Gareth Prior

Its more a case of “Still Stood but don’t anymore” this week as the feature of this article was in place a couple of months ago but has since been removed! Here we see some track from Liverpool Corporation Tramways which was still there and wasn’t even hidden by the road surface!

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In Pictures: Blackpool Wilko’s demolition update

Posted on Tuesday 24 November 2020 by Gareth Prior

In this the latest of our weekly updates on the demolition of Wilko’s in Blackpool (you know the one which was in the way of the completion of the Blackpool North Railway Station tramway extension) we again take a look to see what progress has been made in the past week. As with last week progress continues to slow with only a limited amount of the remaining structure having been removed during the past seven days or so. Work is due to b completed on the demolition by the end of the year before attention can be turned to the creation side of the project. Tony Armitage provides the below photos.

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Tram-Train pilot comes to an end as other local authorities seek to create their own

Posted on Tuesday 24 November 2020 by Gareth Prior

When the Tram-Train pilot between Sheffield and Rotherham was conceived it was always due to be a two year pilot but with that period now up (it having launched in October 2018) it has been confirmed – as if confirmation was needed as the amount of investment involved in the scheme was unlikely to see it abandoned after a couple of years – that the service will continue to operate. Various local and national transport officials have also come out to say how much a success it has been and that it is planned to be a blueprint for other areas with over ten local authorities said to be interested as South Yorkshire also looks for further lines.

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Whatever Happened To? Midland Metro 02

Posted on Tuesday 24 November 2020 by Gareth Prior

It’s the second instalment of this series looking at what happened to the Midland Metro T69s.

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Revised Final Business Case approved as Trams to Newhaven project continues

Posted on Monday 23 November 2020 by Gareth Prior

Over the past few weeks we have seen the first tracks being laid on the Trams to Newhaven project ahead of the first trams running in 2023 and it has now been confirmed that the revised Final Business Case (which takes into account the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic) has been approved by Councillors which means its full steam ahead for the project! To mark the joint occasion Council leaders recently visited the site for an excellent PR opportunity to show how the project is progressing despite some delays caused by the pandemic.

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More old tram tracks found – Stoke this time!

Posted on Monday 23 November 2020 by Gareth Prior

We’ve seen old tram tracks rediscovered in places such as Leeds, Liverpool and Southend during 2020 and you can now add Stoke-on-Trent to that list! Reported extensively in the local press last month the tracks have been found under the road in the Tunstall area of the city during some resurfacing work.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Boat 602

Posted on Monday 23 November 2020 by Gareth Prior

As we continue our look at archive Blackpool tram images as part of “Picture in Time” we now move on to 1993.

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Trams in Video: Trams in Valencia

Posted on Sunday 22 November 2020 by Gareth Prior

We head across to Spain for this latest look at “Trams in Video” with footage from the trams in Valencia. Included are trams on routes 4, 5 and 6 with Bombardier Flexity Outlook trams running on all lines plus Duewag designed, CAF built single ended trams on route 4. This footage is taken from the DVD “The Trams and Light Railways of Alicante and Valencia”.

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Metro fares review delayed

Posted on Sunday 22 November 2020 by Gareth Prior

The annual fares review for travel on the Tyne and Wear Metro has been delayed with new fares now being introduced from the start of April 2021 instead of the usual January. The delay has been agreed to allow Nexus to develop and agree a Recovery Plan with the Department for Transport which is set to include an agreed approach to future fare changes.

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