Around the World in Trams: Potsdam 416

Posted on Saturday 1 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

It is another trip to the German city of Potsdam this evening as we take a look at another of the trams which make up the modern tramway fleet.

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Luas Red line services frequency reduced

Posted on Saturday 1 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

Services on Luas’ Red line have been seeing a lower frequency in services at the end of January as a result of tram availability. In a statement on their website Luas have warned passengers that at peak times they may have to wait an extra 5-10 minutes for a tram due to “a number of trams being unavailable due to their recent involvement in road traffic collisions”. It is anticipated that these trams will be returned to service in the first week of February after repairs and testing has been completed. Just as Luas made this announcement a further tram was involved in a collision on the Red line leading to the company reiterating their safety message when around the tramway.

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Woman hit by tram in Manchester

Posted on Saturday 1 February 2020 by Gareth Prior

A woman was hit by a tram on Manchester Metrolink during the early evening of Friday 31st January and had to be taken to hospital with her injuries. The woman was struck on the section of track just as the tram – which was heading to Ashton-under-Lyne – had left the Piccadilly undercroft. Services were suspended between Piccadilly and Clayton Hall for approximately an hour while the emergency services dealt with the woman who was then taken to hospital with unknown injuries.

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Historic Bradford Cabmen’s Shelter gets funding for restoration at Crich

Posted on Friday 31 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

The Bradford Cabmen’s Shelter which has been located at Wakebridge for over 40 years is to be fully restored to its 1877 condition after the Crich Tramway Village has received funding from three different sources. The blue and white shelter will be familiar to anyone who is a regular visitor to Crich but in recent years it has been locked out of use but its future will now be secured for generations to come.

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Full Tyne and Wear Metro system closed for 90 minutes after signalling problems

Posted on Friday 31 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

All Tyne and Wear Metro services were suspended for 90 minutes on Thursday 30th January after a signalling fault in the control room. No trains ran from just after 1030 until shortly after 1200 while the problem was resolved. To complicate matters the fault didn’t allow updates to passengers on the platforms during the fault which led to some staff having to leave the control centre at South Gosforth to let those there at least know what was the problem.

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Works starts in Dudley to bring the Metro to the town

Posted on Thursday 30 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

Another sure sign of the continued expansion of the West Midlands Metro has been seen this week with work commencing in Dudley Town Centre – part of the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill extension due to open in 2023.

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In Pictures: 267 back in fleet livery in Edinburgh too!

Posted on Thursday 30 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

Not previously reported, or shown, is that Edinburgh Trams 267 is now also running in fleet livery. 267 had previously been advertising Spotify with the ads having been applied back in August 2019 – 262 also received the same adverts at the same time and returned to fleet livery during December. At around the same time 267 was also back into standard fleet livery.

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Picture in Time: Blackpool Brush 626

Posted on Thursday 30 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

This evening we are back in Blackpool for another instalment of “Picture in Time” and it’s the 1990s again.

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Seaton Tramway to celebrate 50 Years with August Gala Weekend

Posted on Wednesday 29 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

It has now been confirmed that to mark the 50th anniversary of the start of operations at the Seaton Tramway a gala weekend will take place over the August Bank Holiday weekend (29th to 31st August). Exact details of what will be taking place over the weekend will follow in the coming months but mark those dates in your diary if you want to help the tramway celebrate this significant milestone.

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In Pictures: Sheffield 264 in service at Beamish

Posted on Wednesday 29 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

With Beamish still only open five days a week (closed Mondays and Fridays for a couple more weeks until the school February Half Term break) it is still a fairly quiet place if you take a visit, although Tuesday 28th January saw slightly larger crowds with the region enjoying pleasant weather with Sheffield 264 the sole tram in service for those visitors. It is thought that so far in 2020 four trams have seen use with 264 joined by Sunderland 16, Blackpool 31 and soon to be withdrawn Oporto 196.

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Stadler wins Tyne and Wear Metro train order

Posted on Tuesday 28 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

In what is bound to be a controversial decision in some quarters Nexus has announced that the contract to build new trains for the Tyne and Wear Metro network has been awarded to Stadler. The £362 million investment includes £337 million from central government and will see the original Metrocars replaced when the new vehicles are introduced, likely to start in 2022.

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T68s on the move

Posted on Tuesday 28 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

After a period of very little movement with the four remaining T68s/T68As on Manchester Metrolink metals it looks set to be a busier period as Keolis Amey Metrolink look to start to clear the space they take in preparation for the delivery of 27 more M5000s, on order and due to start arriving later this year. Both 1020 and 1023 are set to depart Trafford Depot in the coming days – for one of them it will be a new start while for the others it doesn’t look as if it will be such a happy ending!

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Still standing! Hall Street Depot, St Helens

Posted on Tuesday 28 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

Some of the buildings which are included in this occasional series have found reuse for very different purposes than that which they were built for but the old depot in Hall Street, St Helens still remains in use for the storage of vehicles as it is now the home of the North West Museum of Road Transport.

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In Pictures: A brief sojourn on Nottingham Express Transit

Posted on Monday 27 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

Its back to Nottingham again in this brief pictorial article for a selection of photos taken on 23rd August 2019 on the Toton Lane line showing both the original Bombardier Incentro trams and the newer Alstom Citadis vehicles. David Mee is the photographer.

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In Pictures: Trams at Sandtoft

Posted on Monday 27 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

Sandtoft is most known for its Trolleybus museum – it has the UK’s largest collection of trolleybuses – with 60+ trolleybuses on site, many of them operational, but in addition it is also home to a couple of trams. More specifically they are unrestored tram bodies which are serving a new purpose to provide information and a home for some smaller exhibits in the museum collection.

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Picture in Time: Snaefell Mountain Railway 5

Posted on Sunday 26 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

We are again on the Isle of Man in the 1970s for this week’s traditional tram archive image with the Snaefell Mountain Railway again featuring.

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In Pictures: Fleet livery returns to 257 in Edinburgh

Posted on Sunday 26 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

After the best part of two years with adverts for Johnnie Walker’s #Jointhepact campaign, Edinburgh Trams 257 has been spied operating in standard fleet livery once again. It had received its advert back in the March of 2018 and was the first of the trams in Edinburgh to receive sponsorship for this firm but was not the last! There currently remain three others trams with adverts for Johnnie Walker, two of which have only recently been applied but to a different design.

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In Pictures: Ingrow Shelter

Posted on Sunday 26 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

When we usually think about transport preservation we usually think about the actual vehicles – that is after all what normally attracts us to this hobby – but there are also many other artefacts that are saved for posterity which are as vital as any vehicle in telling the history of transport in this country. One such item is an old waiting room which can now be found at the Keighley Bus Museum in Yorkshire.

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What’s New on British Trams Online?

Posted on Sunday 26 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

Photos coming from last September are the main feature this week:

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Building work begins on depot for Cardiff tram-trains

Posted on Saturday 25 January 2020 by Gareth Prior

The UK’s second fleet of tram-trains will soon have a home to call their own with work having now commenced on building a depot at Taff’s Well in Cardiff. 36 Citylink tram-trains are on order from Stadler for use on the South Wales Metro with delivery set to begin in 2022.

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