Government confirm support for light rail

Posted on Friday 24 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

One of the themes which has been emerging in recent weeks during the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic has been the financial strain it has been putting on various light rail systems with the Tyne and Wear Metro the first to express their concern at the start of the month. Now, the Department for Transport have confirmed that they are in discussions with local authorities to provide support although at this stage that is as far as the announcement has gone.

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Trams &: Gateshead 5 & Barnsley bus 5

Posted on Friday 24 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

In this edition of “Trams &” we feature a tram and a bus at Crich, both of which are now part of the collection but we actually see them together before this happened as we head back to 2007.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool 166

Posted on Friday 24 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

Another dip into the archives of trams at Crich this week and its another Blackpool tram featuring – Toastrack 166.

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More timetable adjustments on West Midlands Metro

Posted on Thursday 23 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

As the changes in travelling habits of the public continue as a result of the Coronavirus and the restrictions put in place by government, the West Midlands Metro have announced that they will be making further adjustments to the service operated from Monday 27th April.

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So Nearly, Not Quite! Blackpool Balloon 703

Posted on Thursday 23 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

Today we take another look at a photo which despite our best efforts didn’t quite turn out as we had hoped! The intended subject this time is Blackpool Balloon 703.

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Still Standing! Darwen tram shelters

Posted on Thursday 23 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

We have already seen the steam tram turning triangle in Darwen in this series but that is not the only tramway survivor in the town as there are also some old tramway shelters which are still standing.

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Hythe Pier Railway suspended

Posted on Wednesday 22 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

Whilst we were reporting at the height of service amendments and closures both of modern operating tramways and heritage lines one line which wasn’t mentioned was the Hythe Pier Railway – the world’s oldest continuously operating electric pier train. The reason for that it was still running at the time but following the suspension of the Ferry it connects with it has now ceased operation for the foreseeable future.

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Whatever Happened To? Blackpool Standard 147

Posted on Wednesday 22 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

Over the final weekend of the traditional Blackpool Tramway on 5th and 6th November 2011 29 different trams (or 32 if you take the trailers of the Twin Cars and Western Train to be separate trams) operated in service, either public or special enthusiast tours. In this series we will be taking a look at “Whatever Happened To” each of these trams, and although the answer to most is that they stayed in Blackpool and are still in service there is actually a variety of different paths the trams have followed in the over eight years that have followed. For the record 16 are currently operational in Blackpool, one is operational elsewhere, one has been scrapped and they can be found in five different locations. We will take a look at each tram in numerical order starting off with Standard 147.

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Picture in Time: South Yorkshire Supertram 06

Posted on Wednesday 22 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

Our next batch of modern tram archive images will be coming from Sheffield and we start off back in 1994 with an image of one of the trams in action.

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Mayor issues warning over Metrolink without government bail-out

Posted on Tuesday 21 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, has issued a stark warning that without immediate government support Manchester Metrolink will have to be completely suspended. Mr Burnham made the warning during a joint online briefing with his counterpart in Liverpool, Steve Rotherham, and called upon the government to provide a similar bail-out to that offered to rail and bus operators in the country.

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Lockdown Walks: Edinburgh Trams 270

Posted on Tuesday 21 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

As part of the restrictions imposed in the UK as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic you can go out for a solitary walk each day and whilst for many of us that doesn’t take us near any trams for a lucky few they do still see trams and in this new pictorial series (which will hopefully be a short-lived one!) we take a look at some of the trams they have come across during their Lockdown Walk. We start off in Edinburgh.

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Around the World in Trams: Vienna 21

Posted on Tuesday 21 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

We head back to Vienna for our latest foray into looking at trams from outside the British Isles.

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More rail replacement work coming up on Supertram

Posted on Monday 20 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

The final phase of the three year Stagecoach Supertram rail replacement project will get underway in May with the first stage of 2020 works being concentrated at Hackenthorpe and Donetsk Way (Area 1). This work will get underway from Monday 4th May and continue for approximately a month necessitating the suspension of all trams beyond Birley Moor Road.

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Trams &: Wolverhampton & District 34 & Bournemouth trolleybus 297

Posted on Monday 20 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

In this new photographic series we will be featuring trams alongside other vehicles. Whether that be a bus, train, steam road vehicle, car or in this case a trolleybus anything goes during this series! As long as there are at least two different forms of transport we will be featuring it as part of our continued Coronavirus output. In this first edition we are heading to the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley where we see Wolverhampton & District 34 and a Bournemouth trolleybus.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool OMO 1

Posted on Monday 20 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

For this next batch of archive Blackpool tram images we are heading back to 1975 for a series of images taken on a sunny July day. With early advertising liveries starting to make their presence felt plus the OMO cars with their non-standard liveries it was a colourful period for the Blackpool Tramway and we start off with the first of the 13-strong OMO cars.

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Trams in Video: London Tramlink

Posted on Sunday 19 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

We are off to London – or more specifically Croydon – for this weeks video as we head to London Tramlink. The video below was filmed on several visits, mainly between 2005 and 2013 but we do also see some trams from 2000-1.

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In Pictures: Bradford 104 at Bradford Industrial Museum

Posted on Sunday 19 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

In the latest instalment of trams on display which rarely feature on these pages we head to West Yorkshire and the Bradford Industrial Museum where surviving Bradford Corporation Tramways tramcar no. 104 can be found on display.

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What’s New on British Trams Online?

Posted on Sunday 19 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

We head back into the archives again this week with images coming from Midland Metro in 2004:

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In Pictures: Nottingham Station at night

Posted on Saturday 18 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

This small pictorial article takes us to Nottingham Station stop on Nottingham Express Transit for views taken of the trams on a cold and wet evening in mid-December 2019. Taking a look at various examples of the two fleets that operate the services we see both the Incentro and Citadis trams heading in their respective directions across the city to Hucknall and Phoenix Park and Clifton South and Toton Lane. Photographs from Ian Nightingale.

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Around the World in Trams: Vienna 4010

Posted on Saturday 18 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

We’re back a bit closer to home for the next few weeks as we head to the Austrian capital – Vienna.

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