In Pictures: Portsmouth 84 at Milestones Museum

Posted on Saturday 18 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

It’s the fully intact tram which is closest to British Trams Online headquarters but barely gets mentioned (indeed I’ve personally only ever seen it once in a visit many years ago!) so its time to change all that! The tram we are talking about is the sole surviving Portsmouth tram, no. 84.

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Children make banner thanking NET drivers

Posted on Friday 17 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

Whilst many of us are currently in lockdown and not able to go out to work it can easily be forgotten that despite a reduced service running on most tramways in the UK a service is still running which requires drivers (and on some systems conductors) to still go to work each day. One such system is Nottingham Express Transit and to show their thanks to these drivers transporting other key workers around the area two schoolboys have paid tribute to them by designing a bright and colourful banner.

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Tram Pub Signs: The Longford, Warrington

Posted on Friday 17 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

This entry into the “Tram Pub Signs” series is a historic one as we are heading back all the way to 1980 for a view of The Longford in Warrington.

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Seaton 7 set to start the road to a return

Posted on Thursday 16 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

At this time of lockdown and the continued closure of all our heritage tramways, a lot of them are trying to keep people entertained with various archive images and challenges and sometimes included in these are snippets of information set to interest us. One recent post on the Seaton Tramway Facebook page has done just that as it mentions a restoration for tram 7 with the aim that it is “back in operation as fast as we can”.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool & Fleetwood 2

Posted on Thursday 16 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

We move forward a little more in time for the next couple of weeks as we reach 1990 for some more images from the archives at Crich.

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Wirral Heritage Tramway plan reopening special

Posted on Wednesday 15 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

This past Easter weekend should have seen the Wirral Transport Museum and Heritage Tramway celebrating their 25th anniversary but with the Coronavirus pandemic this had to be shelved (although if you head to their Facebook page they celebrated the occasion there instead). But not to be put off by the cancellation – and to give us all something to look forward to once this is all over – they have announced that they plan a 25th Anniversary and reopening celebration, although obviously no date has yet been put in the diary for this as no-one knows how long it may be before things get back to some sense of normality.

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Former Apprentice appointed into senior Nexus role

Posted on Wednesday 15 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

Stuart Clarke, who started at Nexus in 1997 as an apprentice electrician, has recently been appointed into the role of Metro Infrastructure Director. In this role he will head up all the maintenance and modernisation work on the 77km Tyne and Wear Metro network.

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Metro track replacement work to go-ahead as planned

Posted on Tuesday 14 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

Work on a 250 metre stretch of the Tyne and Wear Metro trackbed will go-ahead this coming weekend as part of the Metro: all change modernisation programme. The work will be taking place on Crossgate Viaduct over a four day period from Thursday 16th April with full social-distancing protocols in place for those working on the project.

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Still Standing! Cambridge Horse Tram Depot

Posted on Tuesday 14 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

Its off to Cambridge for this edition of “Still Standing!” as we take a look at the only tram depot to stand in the city and one which last saw use in 1914.

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L&CBERS appeal for funds after cancellation of Llandudno Victorian Extravaganza

Posted on Monday 13 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

The Coronavirus pandemic continues to make its presence felt with more events having to be cancelled as we all put social distancing and the effective lockdown into full practice. One of the latest events to be cancelled is the Llandudno Victorian Extravaganza which was due to take place over the VE Day Bank Holiday weekend. This is the most important weekend of the year for the Llandudno and Colwyn Bay Electric Railway Society who display their tram throughout the weekend, raising some much needed funds in the process for the upkeep of the tram and to ensure it can continue to visit the local area and to keep the history alive. Without this fundraising avenue the Society are now appealing for funds to keep no. 7 stored undercover.

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Tram Pub Signs: Tramway Tavern, Chesterfield

Posted on Monday 13 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

We always knew there were likely be other pubs other there that featured trams on their signs and we weren’t wrong! Today we head to Chesterfield to feature the Tramway Tavern which can be found just a short distance from the location of the site of the old Chesterfield Corporation Tramways.

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Trams in Video: Seaton Tramway in the 1980s

Posted on Monday 13 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

As an extra Easter Bank Holiday treat we have an additional “Trams in Video” today as we head back into the 1980s at the Seaton Tramway in this nearly one hour video. The tramway was different to that which we see today and it is well before consideration was given to building the three new higher capacity, disabled access trams so it’s the older fleet that we see. We also see Works Car 01 in use as the ticket office/shop at Seaton and take a trip along the line. It is a truly fascinating look at the Seaton Tramway as it was and we are grateful for Mike Poole sharing the footage, shot by John Money, with us.

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Trams in Video: Heaton Park Tramway – 2nd July 2016

Posted on Sunday 12 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

This latest video comes from Manchester’s Heaton Park Tramway and features footage from 2nd July 2016. That weekend saw the tramway running specially decorated trams to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, including Blackpool 619 complete with flags.

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Ryde Pier Tram continues restoration

Posted on Sunday 12 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

Once upon a time a number of pleasure Piers around the coast of the British Isles had a tramway or railway running along them both as an added attraction for visitors but also enabling people to be transported from one end to other – often with their luggage having arrived by boat. One such pier was that in Ryde on the Isle of Wight and a project is currently ongoing to restore one of the 1927 built petrol-engined rail-cars used on the pier, with the hope it will be completed in time to return to the Isle of Wight during 2020.

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In Pictures: Robert Whetstone Models in operation

Posted on Sunday 12 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

It was planned that once again in 2020 once a month  at Crich that if you ventured into the Great Exhibition Hall you may have seen some trams actually running. They may not be full scale trams – those in the Exhibition Hall are, of course, non operational, but they are high quality models showing the skills involved in creating products such as this. There are a couple of different model collections which can be seen and in this short pictorial we take a look at the Robert Whetstone Models being demonstrated during the weekend of Crich 60 (21st/22nd September 2019).

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What’s New on British Trams Online?

Posted on Sunday 12 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

This week we bring you two Photo Galleries as an extra Easter treat.

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In Pictures: All batteries now included on West Midlands Metro

Posted on Saturday 11 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

In just under two years the entire fleet of Urbo3 trams on the West Midlands Metro have had their batteries fitted and entered service following the first use in fare revenue earning service by 26 on Friday 10th April. 26 becomes the 21st and last of the current fleet of trams to receive batteries, a task which was started by 18 – the only tram to receive the work back in Spain – which had been accepted for service on 18th April 2018, meaning it just under two years for the whole fleet to be completed.

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Around the World in Trams: Melbourne 981

Posted on Saturday 11 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

Melbourne is again the location for this week’s overseas tram image and this time we move away from the more modern trams and feature a W class vehicle.

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London and its horse trams

Posted on Saturday 11 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

Have you ever wondered just where London’s horse trams went? Well, if you have, wonder no longer! Thanks to extensive research by one of their members the Branch Line Society have published an atlas of all horse tram routes in the capital as they were around 1896 and it can be found on the Branch Line Society website.

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Fylde Coast Councils unite to get tram loop extension feasibility study funding

Posted on Friday 10 April 2020 by Gareth Prior

Despite the fact that we are currently in incredibly uncertain times the latest report of the Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Economic Prosperity Board (BFWEPB) has given assurances that they remain committed towards bidding for government funding toward a feasibility study on the plans to construct a Fylde Coast Tram loop. Funding through the Future High Street Fund (FHSF) is likely to be delayed in light of the Coronavirus pandemic but all three councils who are part of the BFWEPB are still progressing with their bids.

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