Police and Crime Commissioner visits Tyne and Wear Metro

Posted on Friday 14 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

The Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Kim McGuiness, has visited the Tyne and Wear Metro to see how it is kept safe and secure for passengers while also pledging to get tough with anti-social behaviour on the network.

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Peter Cushing named new Midland Metro Alliance Director

Posted on Friday 14 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

Peter Cushing, former Metrolink Director at Transport for Greater Manchester, has been named as new Director of the Midland Metro Alliance, replacing Alejandro Moreno who had been in the role since 2016. Mr Moreno is returning to parent company Colas Rail as Managing Director for Lundy Projects Ltd.

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Metro points in central Newcastle replaced in single weekend

Posted on Thursday 13 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

Two sets of track point switches between Haymarket and Monument stations in central Newcastle have been replaced as part of the ongoing Metro: all change modernisation programme. The work took place over a single weekend and saw the 40 year old equipment replaced at the Prudhoe Street crossover.

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Winter Gold weekend cancelled

Posted on Thursday 13 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

With more stormy weather forecast for this week Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours have taken the sensible decision to cancel the planned Winter Gold weekend. Storm Dennis is due to menace the UK with a severe weather warning in place for both Saturday and Sunday for wind and ran. Gusts of wind are expected to widely exceed 50mph with some gusts exceeding 60mph leading to BHTT taking this difficult decision to cancel the planned event. Heritage trams are currently due to operate daily for the February Half Term school holidays and will continue to run the two tram service on Friday 14th February and then each day of the week commencing Monday 17th February. As always you are advised to check on social media for the latest updates regarding the heritage service.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Balloon 702

Posted on Thursday 13 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

After last week’s mystery – thanks to everyone who solved the conundrum of exactly the trams were in the photos! – we are on firmer ground regards the tram for this week’s archive Blackpool tram image!

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Crich and VERA recognised at HRA Awards

Posted on Wednesday 12 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

The annual Heritage Railway Awards took place in Birmingham on Saturday 8th February and two systems we regularly features on these pages were recognised – both the Crich Tramway Village and the Volk’s Electric Railway Association. and amongst the nominees was the Crich Tramway Village, for their new Michael Holroyd Smith exhibition which opened during 2019.

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Contracts signed for new Metro fleet

Posted on Wednesday 12 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

Nexus and Stadler have officially signed the contracts for the delivery and maintenance of a new fleet of trains for the Tyne and Wear Metro. 42 new trains will be supplied up until 2024 to replace the current fleet, which has been in service since the Metro opened in 1980.

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NET first in UK to receive prestigious assets standard

Posted on Wednesday 12 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

Nottingham Express Transit are celebrating once again after becoming the first tramway in the UK to receive a prestigious international standard. Nottingham Trams Limited, as the operator of NET, have been awarded the catchy sounding ISO 55001:2014 (Assets) certification which it says will enable it to drive further improvements in service reliability.

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Storm Ciara causes disruption across UK

Posted on Tuesday 11 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

“Storm of the Century”, named Ciara in the alphabetical naming sequence used by the Met Office in recent years, has seen severe disruption for UK tramways with not only strong winds but heavy rain leading to service changes. Blackpool, Edinburgh, London Tramlink, Manchester Metrolink and Nottingham Express Transit have all reported disruption in recent days with Blackpool in particularly badly affected with complete service suspensions on two occasions due to the strong winds battering the Fylde Coast.

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Strathallan Depot to be officially opened as part of Rush Hour on the Railways

Posted on Tuesday 11 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

The first of two big general transport events on the Isle of Man for 2020 will see the official opening of the new Douglas Bay Horse Tramway Depot at Strathallan. Rush Hour on the Railways takes place over the Easter weekend (10th to 13th April) and as well as the opening of the depot there are many events to keep you occupied including parallel runs, depot tours and intensive services.

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Still standing! Tram rosettes in Horwich

Posted on Tuesday 11 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

Some of the remnants of first generation tramways are more difficult to spot than others but probably the most common remains can be seen on the side of various buildings around the UK with the rosettes which the overhead span wires used to connected to. One such location is in Horwich.

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In Pictures: Edinburgh Trams move the crowds for the rugby

Posted on Monday 10 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

One of the major benefits of having a modern tram system in Edinburgh is its ability to move large crowds of people in quick succession, which is especially useful when there is a big event at Murrayfield Stadium. One of these events was on Saturday 8th February when the Calcutta Cup Six Nations Rugby Union march between Scotland and England took place which led to an intensive service running to make sure the crowds got to the match.

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In Pictures: Inside the Workshop at Crich

Posted on Monday 10 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

The Crich Tramway Village may be closed to visitors over the winter period but that doesn’t mean that nothing is going on – far from it! We’ve already recently seen the track renewal north from Victoria Park but away from the infrastructure the Workshop also remains a busy place – on Friday 7th February there were four trams present, including the three major restoration and overhaul projects of London County Council 1, Newcastle 102 and London Transport 1622 as captured in the below images from Keith Chadbourne.

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£15 billion plan unveiled to improve rail travel in West Midlands

Posted on Monday 10 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

Where would we be without grand transport “visions”?! The latest region to reveal their vision is the West Midlands with current Mayor, Andy Street, unveiling a £15 billion plan for improvement to the Metro and rail network by 2040. A new map of what the transport network could look like in 20 years time has been released which would include not only new Metro lines but also improvements to the rail network and the potential for an underground Metro route – while it is presumed much will be extensions to the Metro the map doesn’t actually commit itself to which mode would be used for some of the routes.

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Picture in Time: Snaefell Mountain Railway 2

Posted on Sunday 9 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

For one final time in this batch we head to the Isle of Man and the Snaefell Mountain Railway during 1979.

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T68A 2001 scrapped

Posted on Sunday 9 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

Following swiftly after T68 1020 met its end at the hands of the scrapman, T68A 2001 has also now been scrapped on site at Manchester Metrolink’s Trafford Depot. 2001 was reduced to scrap metal on Wednesday 5th February.

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In Pictures: Track relay progress at Crich

Posted on Sunday 9 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

With the Crich Tramway Village opening again for another season in a little over four weeks good progress continues to be made on the major winter maintenance work – the relaying of the double track from Victoria Park/Bandstand up to the single line post on the way to Wakebridge.

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What’s New on British Trams Online?

Posted on Sunday 9 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

There are construction photos from Birmingham now added to the website:

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Significant fall recorded in tram passengers on the Isle of Man

Posted on Saturday 8 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

After the past few years have seen increases in passenger numbers on the Isle of Man’s main tramways and railways, 2019 has seen a significant fall in all three tramways with just the Steam Railway seeing a rise. Many reasons have combined to see these figures recorded, not least the Douglas Prom redevelopment works leading to a much truncated horse tramway and a new way of recording passenger journeys on the MER but nonetheless they are disappointing numbers at what had appeared to be one of the brightest spots in the lines history in recent memory.

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Around the World in Trams: Potsdam 415

Posted on Saturday 8 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

We are staying in Potsdam for this week’s overseas tram image and it is another Siemens Combino featuring.

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